WASHINGTON -- As St. Louis catcher Iván Herrera neared a return from left knee inflammation that kept him out a little more than a month, squatting and batting caused him no pain. The only lingering issue was running.
Which makes what happened in his final rehab assignment game at Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday all the more encouraging.
“I stole a base,” Herrera said. “I felt a little fast, so I went for it.”
The Cardinals activated Herrera from the injured list Friday. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI double and a sac fly in the team's 10-0 win against the Nationals.
St. Louis optioned first baseman Luken Baker to Memphis after Wednesday’s game, leaving the team with three catchers. Pedro Pagés, Friday’s starter, and Yohel Pozo remain on the roster, and the Cardinals plan to gradually increase Herrera’s workload.
“We kept the third catcher and sent Baker out to protect against the knee early on,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “So for the next couple weeks, we can ease our way into DHing, catching, DHing, give him an off-day, but play it however needed.”
Herrera said Wednesday was the first time since he went on the injured list on April 7 that he didn’t feel any pain running. His bat isn’t in question after he homered in his first rehab game and hit .391 in six games at Memphis.
Prior to the injury, he was hitting .381 with four homers and 11 RBIs in seven games. Even now, he is still just a home run shy of the team lead shared by Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbaar.
“I think that was the longest period of time I’ve been out from an injury,” Herrera said. “I think the longest I was out was a week or a week and a half. It was something new for me. It was frustrating. It was annoying, to be honest. I didn’t feel great about it, but it’s something I can’t control.”