Ivan Herrera's jolt provides lead, bullpen protects it in Cardinals' 2-1 win over Athletics

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sep 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — Designated hitter Ivan Herrera elevated the Cardinals Tuesday in thunderous fashion to a 2-1 win against the Athletics, backed by strong relief.

Down a run with two outs in the sixth inning, Herrera belted a two-run homer to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead that relievers protected the rest of the way. The home run afforded the Cardinals their first lead since the first inning Sunday in a road loss against the Cincinnati Reds.

The one-run lead proved to be enough, held tight by relievers Matt Svanson and JoJo Romero.

In relief of starter Miles Mikolas after he threw six innings and allowed one run, on a double in the third inning, Svanson turned in two scoreless innings and collected a pair of strikeouts in the process to whittle his ERA down to 2.03. The outing was the rookie's ninth this season of two or more scoreless innings. Romero collected one strikeout in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to collect his sixth save in seven opportunities this season.

The Cardinals (68-71) went into the sixth inning trailing by a run after Athletics starter Luis Severino kept their lineup scoreless through five innings. Severino, who missed nearly a month on the injured list because of a left oblique strain, was removed at the start of the sixth inning after he threw 61 pitches in an outing that marked his first big league start since Aug. 5.

Despite five balls in play with exit velocities above 100 mph and three others with exit velocities of 95 mph or higher, per Statcast, Mikolas limited the Athletics to one run on five hits. Facing an Athletics lineup with a knack for swinging early in counts, Mikolas walked one batter and did not record a strikeout in the 67-pitch outing. The start was Mikolas’ longest outing since completing 6 2/3 innings on Aug. 11 against the Rockies.

Herrera counters bullpen move

With the right-handed Herrera due up and lefty Hogan Harris through the three consecutive lefties in the Cardinals’ lineup, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay turned to his bullpen for the right-handed Kelly.

Kelly offered Herrera a slider he fouled off, missed with a slider above the top of the strike zone, and saw Herrera capitalize on a sweeper thrown on the inner half of the plate. Herrera’s home run carried 414 feet to center field.

The homer jumped off his bat at 107.7 mph, per Statcast. It lifted the Cardinals to their first lead of the night. Herrera’s homer was his 13th of the season and marked his second in as many days.

Herrera had just two homers in a stretch of 89 at-bats before he homered during Monday's loss.

Rookie’s blunders

Making his first start in right field with Victor Scott II back in the lineup at center field, rookie Nathan Church had a fielding error that allowed JJ Bleday to take an extra base to lead off an inning during which they scored the game’s first run. In the bottom half, the rookie was picked off at first base when the Cardinals had runners on the corners with one out and the top of their order due up.

At the top of the third inning, Church raced to the wall down the right-field line to field Bleday’s line drive as it rolled toward the wall, but he misplayed it and had it roll by him. The fielding error allowed Bleday to reach third base to open the frame. Bleday advanced to home two at-bats later for the game’s first run when Nick Kurtz lined a double with a 113.3-mph exit velocity.

After Scott singled to the opposite field with one out in the bottom half of the third, Church’s single to center field allowed the speedster to race to third base. Scott represented the first runner in scoring position for the Cardinals.

The momentum with multiple runners on base for the first time Tuesday night slowed when Church was picked off by Severino during leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar’s at-bat. Nootbaar, who opened the first inning with a single that had a 108.2-mph exit velocity, grounded out to second base to end his at-bat and the inning.

Skirting Kurtz to strand Butler

When Kurtz faced Mikolas for a third time Tuesday night as Lawrence Butler stood on third base with two outs in the fifth inning, the Cardinals chose to intentionally walk the A’s rookie first baseman.

Avoiding Kurtz, whose double in the third inning had the highest exit velocity from Tuesday’s game, set up Mikolas to face Jacob Wilson, the American League’s starting shortstop in this year’s All-Star game. Mikolas missed with a slider to begin the at-bat then ran a sinker in on the hands of the Wilson to get the All-Star to hit a weak pop up to second base to end the inning.