Herrera’s Ninth-Inning Homer Lifts Cardinals Past Rockies, 7-6

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Herrera’s Ninth-Inning Homer Lifts Cardinals Past Rockies, 7-6
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals were three outs away from letting another one get away.

Iván Herrera changed that with one swing.

Herrera hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning Friday night at Coors Field, turning a two-run deficit into a 7-6 Cardinals win over the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series.

It was Herrera’s 15th home run of the season.

It was also the swing that rescued the night.

St. Louis had built a 4-1 lead behind Andre Pallante, then watched Colorado storm back with four runs in the sixth and another in the seventh. The Cardinals had controlled the game early, lost control in the middle innings, and entered the ninth trailing 6-4 against Rockies closer Jordan Romano.

Then Thomas Saggese and José Fermín got aboard.

Herrera did the rest.

He drove a fly ball to center field, clearing the bases and giving the Cardinals a 7-6 lead. In a place like Coors Field, no lead ever feels completely safe, but Herrera’s swing gave St. Louis one more chance to finish the game.

Riley O’Brien took care of the final out, striking out the only batter he faced to close it down.

That was enough.

Barely.

The Cardinals left Denver with a win that was both encouraging and messy. It was encouraging because they found a way to win a game they had nearly lost. It was messy because they had nearly lost a game they had largely controlled.

That is September baseball for this club.

Nothing has come easy.

Friday night was no different.

Colorado scored first in the bottom of the opening inning without a hit. Jake McCarthy walked, stole second and moved to third on Mickey Moniak’s groundout. Hunter Goodman followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring McCarthy and giving the Rockies a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals answered in the second.

Jordan Walker singled to center, Leo Bernal walked and Joshua Báez reached to set up the bottom of the order. Nolan Gorman lined a single to right field, scoring Bernal and tying the game, 1-1.

Saggese followed with a double to center, a ground ball that deflected off Ryan Feltner and carried into the outfield. Báez scored on the play, and the Cardinals had a 2-1 lead.

That was a useful inning for St. Louis.

Walker helped start it. Bernal reached. Báez was in the middle of it. Gorman delivered. Saggese followed. The Cardinals did not need the home run ball early. They just needed traffic and contact.

They got both.

Pallante gave the Cardinals five strong innings in his return from the injured list. He was not overpowering, but he limited damage. Colorado managed just two hits against him, and while the four walks made the line a little uneasy, Pallante kept the Rockies to one run over five innings.

It was a start the Cardinals could win with.

For a while, it looked like they would do that comfortably.

St. Louis added two more runs in the fifth. Nathan Church reached and Bryan Torres walked before Herrera loaded the bases. Alec Burleson singled on a ground ball to shortstop, scoring Church and moving everyone up a base.

That made it 3-1.

Walker then lifted a fly ball to center field that became a sacrifice double play. Torres scored from third, but Herrera was thrown out trying to advance, ending the inning with the Cardinals in front, 4-1.

It was not a clean inning.

It did give St. Louis a three-run lead.

At Coors Field, three runs can disappear quickly.

They did.

The sixth inning turned the game.

Rincón took over for Pallante and immediately ran into trouble. TJ Rumfield singled, Cole Carrigg followed with an inside-the-park home run to right-center field, and suddenly the Cardinals’ lead was down to 4-3.

The inning did not stop there.

Connor Norby singled. Troy Johnston singled. Adael Amador followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Norby and tying the game, 4-4. Zac Veen then dropped down a bunt that brought Johnston home, giving Colorado a 5-4 lead.

A game the Cardinals had controlled had flipped in one inning.

It was the kind of Coors Field inning that can drive a manager crazy, and Oliver Marmol was ejected during the sixth as frustration boiled over.

The Rockies had momentum.

The Cardinals had to chase.

Colorado added another run in the seventh when Rumfield homered to right-center off Justin Bruihl, stretching the lead to 6-4. That run felt big at the time. By the ninth inning, it looked even bigger.

The Cardinals had gone quiet since the fifth. Colorado’s bullpen had settled the game down. The Rockies were six outs, then three outs, from taking the opener.

Herrera would not let them.

His ninth-inning homer was the kind of swing that changes the feel of an entire road trip. The Cardinals had just come from Los Angeles, where they took two of three from the Dodgers but missed a sweep with a ninth-inning loss. They had played good baseball, frustrating baseball and late-inning baseball all in the same week.

Friday added another chapter.

This time, the late inning went their way.

Herrera finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored. Burleson drove in another run. Walker had a hit and a sacrifice fly. Gorman drove in a run. Saggese doubled, scored twice and drove in a run. Bernal reached three times with a hit and two walks. Báez scored a run. Church added a hit and scored.

It was not a perfect offensive night, but it was enough.

The Cardinals finished with seven runs on nine hits and did not commit an error. Colorado also had nine hits, but the Rockies’ one error helped keep the ninth inning alive long enough for Herrera to punish them.

That is how thin these games can be.

One mistake.

One swing.

One final out.

For the Cardinals, the bullpen line was not clean. Rincón was charged with three runs while recording just one out. Bruihl allowed two runs over an inning. Cooper Winquest stabilized the game with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one.

That mattered.

Winquest kept the Cardinals close enough for Herrera’s homer to matter. Without that bridge work, the ninth inning could have been cosmetic. Instead, it became the inning that won the game.

O’Brien then entered for the final out and handled it with three strikes.

That is the job.

The Cardinals have leaned on O’Brien all season, and once again, he was there at the end. It was not a full clean inning. It was not a long save. But in a one-run game at Coors Field, with the tying run never far away, every out matters.

The final one mattered most.

St. Louis improved to 71-71 with the win, pulling back to .500 again. That number has followed the Cardinals all season, but Friday night at least gave them another chance to move past it.

The Cardinals are still chasing.

They are still imperfect.

They are still living on narrow margins.

But they are also still finding ways to make September interesting.

Herrera’s swing made sure of that Friday night.

The Cardinals had the lead.

They lost it.

Then Herrera took it back.

St. Louis beat Colorado, 7-6, in the kind of game that was never going to be easy at Coors Field.

But it counted.

And right now, that is the part that matters.

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