ST. LOUIS -- With the Cardinals having been eliminated from contention earlier in the weekend series against the Nationals, there were no real stakes in Sunday’s home finale at Busch Stadium.
Nobody told the club’s catching duo, though.
Iván Herrera and Leo Bernal, both proud Panamanians, teamed up to power the Cardinals to victory in dramatic fashion. Their pair of eighth-inning home runs turned a one-run deficit into a two-run advantage to set up Riley O’Brien’s NL-leading 38th save of the season in a comeback 5-3 win.
“We’ve known each other for a long time, and you know I’m always cheering for my Panamanian fellow,” Herrera said of Bernal, flashing a smile in the Cardinals' clubhouse. “It’s been pretty cool having a friend. … Seeing him having success at an early stage of his career is pretty awesome to watch.”
Like O’Brien after a more turbulent stretch late in the season, Herrera -- who was the Cardinals' designated hitter on the day -- found a way to finish the home slate on a high note with his contributions Sunday. He was a key cog in the win, launching home runs 17 and 18 of the campaign.
Following consecutive seasons with his OPS nestled at .800 or better, Herrera entered 2026 looking to use the year as a launching pad to further establish himself as a centerpiece of the developing core in St. Louis.
To an extent, that happened. Herrera was named to his first All-Star team and took strides defensively, quadrupling the number of games caught behind the plate (51) relative to an injury-riddled 2025 that took a toll on his lower body and saw him only appear at catcher in 14 games.
But Herrera’s numbers at the plate diminished at times throughout the season, particularly following his All-Star Game appearance in Philadelphia. Herrera came into Sunday’s game sporting a .677 OPS post-All-Star break after a .771 mark in the first half.
After his marquee day on Sunday, though, there’s little doubt that he will finish another big league season with his numbers landing several paces beyond league-average production.
“He’s a good hitter,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He doesn’t have to try to hit homers to hit homers. He has to take a good at-bat, and those come. … He’s capable of being a 20, 25-homer guy and using the whole field and hitting for more average -- that’s more than possible for him.”
After multiple stints on the IL a season ago, the Cardinals got production from Herrera, but the availability was limited. That meant making his health a top priority for his story in 2026, a successful endeavor that shouldn’t be lost amid nitpicking over the numbers.
“If you asked me in Spring Training if I was going to play 160 games, I would tell you you’re crazy, out of your mind,” Herrera joked after his 155th contest of the season on Sunday. “That’s something I’ve learned about this year. I have to maintain my body [to be] ready for the games. [This is] the first year I’ve played every game, and I still feel really good. So, that’s pretty awesome that I did that for the first time in my career.”
Herrera’s second long ball of the afternoon, a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth, had the Cardinals seeking one more electrifying swing.
As a consistent run producer since the moment they called him up at the beginning of the month, the rookie catcher Bernal seemed destined to provide it. His two-run blast was the fourth of his debut stint, vaulting Bernal to 17 RBIs in September -- tied for fourth most among all National League hitters.
Bernal's hot start joins rare company in Cardinals history: 17 RBIs in his first 18 career games is good for third most since RBIs became an official stat in 1920, trailing only Tom Alston (1954, 20 RBIs) and Chick Hafey (1924, 18 RBIs).
Facing the high-octane stuff of Nationals reliever Yovanny Cruz in his decisive eighth-inning at-bat, the rookie demonstrated the confidence of a veteran as he battled for six pitches, fouling off three separate offerings before Cruz missed location on a slider.
Bernal punished it for the game-winning swing, explaining how his background as a catcher made him acutely aware of how a long at-bat grinds down a pitcher.
“We’ve got a guy that throws 100, 101, we’re going to be looking fastball all the way,” Bernal said. “But he showed me the slider a couple times. He showed me the split. Yesterday, we faced him, he showed me the sinker, too.
“So, obviously I was on the fastball, but the confidence [after] I’ve already seen those pitches. So, make the adjustment in that at-bat, pitch by pitch, and then we see the result.”