Cardinals power way to final home win in 2026 with blasts from Ivan Herrera, Leo Bernal

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sep 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ST. LOUIS — Jolted to a tied game in the eighth inning thanks to a homer from Ivan Herrera that marked his second of Sunday’s home finale at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals were lifted to a lead later that inning with a swing that produced the same result.

Down 3-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning vs. the Nationals, the Cardinals powered their way to a 5-3 win on a two-run homer from rookie Leo Bernal that came three at-bats after Herrera slugged them into a tie.

The homer Bernal hit off Nationals reliever Yovanny Cruz and the one Herrera hit off lefty Erik Tolman gave the Cardinals one more late finish for the home fans in 2026.

For Bernal, the two-run homer earned him a curtain call from the 27,814 fans on hand to see the Cardinals play their final home game of the year.

The homers also lifted the Cardinals (76-80) to a win after their rookie left-hander delivered one of his most impactful starts of the season.

In his penultimate start of the season, left-hander Quinn Mathews set a career high in innings with seven. He kept the Nationals to three runs on seven hits and two walks. The only runs the rookie allowed came in the second and sixth innings.

Mathews gave up a pair of singles to open the second inning, which put runners on first and third base and set up Jacob Young to lift a sacrifice fly to center field to score Daylen Lile from third. Following three consecutive scoreless innings, the next two runs Mathews allowed came on a homer he surrendered to CJ Abrams.

The homer Mathews allowed to Abrams was the fourth he’s given up in the majors and third in his previous three starts.

Behind Mathews, the Cardinals received a scoreless eighth inning from Luis Gastelum, who struck out two of the three batters he faced.

Cardinals closer Riley O'Brien pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his 38th save of the season. O'Brien was aided on defense by Victor Scott II, who made a diving catch in the left-center field gap after entering the inning as a defensive replacement in the two-run game.

Going deep again

Responsible for the Cardinals’ first run in their home finale, Herrera didn’t wait long in his at-bat in the eighth inning to provide his team the run that pulled them even with Washington.

Herrera saw a change-up called for a strike from Tolman and then sent a 97.8 mph fastball to left-center field for a solo homer that jolted the come-from-behind eighth inning.

The homer gave Herrera his second multi-homer game of the season and the third of his career. Herrera hit two homers on June 13 in Minnesota and had a three-homer game on April 2, 2025.

A hiccup before the seventh

The homers the Cardinals and Nationals received Sunday erased deficits.

Able to keep the Nationals mostly quiet despite seeing 11 of the 23 balls put in play against him have exit velocities above 95 mph, it was the sharp contact Mathews allowed in the sixth inning that hurt his pitching line the most.

After allowing Brady House to hit a 108.7 mph single to left field to open the inning, Mathews gave up a two-run homer on a slider Abrams lifted 397 feet to right field.

The at-bat against Abrams began with Abrams fouling off a sinker and a slider to fall behind in the count 0-2. Mathews fired two four-seam fastballs that missed the strike zone. He offered Abrams a fastball on the inner half of the plate that was fouled away and then threw him a 2-2 slider that was pulled for a go-ahead homer.

Slugging leads to scoring

In both instances where the Cardinals pushed across runs vs. Washington starter Jake Irvin, extra-base hits either pushed runs across or set up scoring chances.

The first offense the Cardinals produced came two batters into the bottom of the first inning.

Having gone without a homer in 12 games since Sept. 5, Herrera lasered a 3-1 four-seam fastball just high enough over the left field wall for a solo homer. The homer, which had a 107.5 mph exit velocity, marked Herrera’s 17th of the season. It was his 14th in his 103rd game as the Cardinals’ designated hitter in 2026. The other three homers Herrera hit this season have come in 51 games as a catcher.

After the homer, the Cardinals’ next base hit didn’t come until Jose Fermin stepped to the plate to lead off the third inning. Fermin lined a four-seam fastball to right field for a double.

Fermin’s advanced to third base on a wild pitch during the next at-bat and scored later that inning on a single JJ Wetherholt dropped into right field to give the Cardinals a one-run lead that lasted until Abrams’ homer.

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