Cardinals vs Twins Recap: Herrera and Walker lift St. Louis in 9-6 win

The Cardinals arrived at Target Field hungry for a win. They'd dropped their last two games and needed to turn things around. Minnesota came in limping at 32-39, so St. Louis smelled an opportunity. The moment the game started, Ivan Herrera showed he was ready to work. Connor Prielipp threw his first pitch to the Cardinals catcher, and Herrera absolutely crushed it. The ball rocketed 417 feet to left-center field—a monster shot that made the crowd gasp. Winn scored ahead of him. Two runs in, Cardinals leading 2-0 before anyone could blink. The next inning, the Cardinals kept pushing. Pedro Pages lined a double to right field. Jordan Walker came around to score. Then Masyn Winn lifted a sacrifice fly to center, and Pages tagged up and scored. Now it was 4-0 Cardinals. The early storm was on.

The Twins felt the heat and fought back hard. Byron Buxton stepped in against Matthew Liberatore in the fourth inning and smashed a 420-foot bomb to center field. One run in. The crowd got louder. Royce Lewis followed right after, launching his own home run to left—366 feet of pure power. Now it was 4-2. The Cardinals' lead was shrinking fast. The Twins kept the pressure on. Luke Keaschall came up in the fifth inning and cranked another homer to left field, 371 feet. Ryan Kreidler scored ahead of him. The game was tied 4-4. The home run derby was happening right before your eyes. Both teams were swinging hot bats. St. Louis and Minnesota were trading blows like heavyweight fighters. The tension kept building as we headed toward the late innings.

Everything changed in the seventh inning. The Cardinals' bats came alive like never before. Justin Lawrence threw a 95-mile-per-hour sinker to Ivan Herrera, and Herrera connected for his second home run—403 feet to left field. Cardinals up 5-4. Then Jordan Walker stepped up and launched a 454-foot missile to left field. That was one of the longest balls of the game. Cardinals led 6-4. But wait, there was more. Blaze Jordan got up and demolished a 418-footer to left-center that scored two more runners. Now it was 9-4 Cardinals. The game was over. The Twins scratched back one run in the eighth and another in the ninth, but it wasn't enough. Final score: Cardinals 9, Twins 6. St. Louis improved to 38-30. They'd answered the bell.