The Cardinals used the long ball to break a 4-4 tie and defeated the Twins, 9-6, at Target Field on Saturday afternoon. St. Louis went to work on Minnesota reliever Justin Lawrence in the seventh inning to take the lead. At first, he had his way by striking out Nathan Church and Masyn Winn to start the frame. But the Cardinals made adjustments on Lawrence and turned things around. Iván Herrera hit a solo shot over the left-field wall, his second homer of the game, to give the Cardinals the one-run lead. “Hitting is one of the hardest things to do in sports. It's about making adjustments,” Herrera said. “It was the best swing I felt. It felt clean, smooth and that’s when I did my best.” Jordan Walker followed and proved once again that no stadium is too big for him, hammering a monster shot into the facing of the third deck in left field to give St. Louis a two-run lead. The ball went into the seats at 116.6 mph and traveled 454 feet. That’s the Cardinals’ second hardest-hit home run in the Statcast era (since 2015) and the second hardest-hit home run in the Major Leagues this season. “I want something I can drive,” Walker said. “Lawrence is really good, so you gotta really pick one pitch, one location. When you get it, you can’t miss it because he has really good stuff.”
