Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals

Iván Herrera’s face said it all. Despite his first-career All-Star Game appearance landing in the middle of it, the Cardinals' catcher has been mired in one of the most challenging skids of his Major League career for more than a month. He came into Saturday’s game against the Reds at Busch Stadium batting .163 with a .435 OPS since June 23. The ordinarily disciplined on-base machine had racked up 25 strikeouts in those 26 games, posting just two extra-base hits in that span. So, when the Cards’ embattled batsman roped a two-run double to kickstart what became a big sixth inning of a 7-0 Cardinals win, he let out the dictionary definition of a sigh of relief while standing atop second base. “I don’t remember the last time I hit the ball hard,” Herrera smiled, some of the weight lifted from his shoulders. Two innings before the payoff of his first extra-base hit since July 7, Herrera led off the fourth with a sinking liner into center field, struck with an exit velocity of 106.4 mph, the second-hardest-hit batted ball of the game, by either team. Reds center fielder TJ Friedl took a hit away with a sliding snare, but the moment still served as a building block for Herrera. “I’ve been feeling like I could not hit the ball hard,” Herrera said. “The second at-bat, it gave me some confidence to do that. I was just working on something new, and it paid off.”