ST. LOUIS -- Drilled in the left arm in his first at-bat of the game – possibly in response to a check swing that injured Brewers catcher William Contreras a night earlier -- Cardinals designated hitter Iván Herrera got his payback on the next pitch he saw two innings later.
Herrera, one of the team’s most consistent hitters all season, drilled his 17th home run of the season in the third inning and the Cards got five strong innings from starter Matthew Liberatore to beat the Brewers, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Liberatore limited the Brewers to five hits and one run over five innings as the Cardinals pulled within four games of the Mets for the National League’s final Wild Card slot. Liberatore, a building block for St. Louis’ rebuilding efforts, sits at a career-most 151 2/3 innings pitched for the season -- not far off the 182 1/3 innings he had pitched in the big leagues before 2025. He beat the Brewers for the second time in 2025 and improved to 4-0 all time against Milwaukee in 11 games (four starts).
“After what I went through in the second half [while battling arm fatigue] and coming out on top like this, and feeling like I do now, that’s very encouraging for next year, for sure,” Liberatore said.
In Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Brewers in 10 innings, Herrera had a somewhat awkward check swing where his bat hit Contreras’ left (glove) hand -- a play ruled as catcher’s interference. On the second pitch he saw from Robert Gasser on Sunday, Herrera was hit by a pitch in the upper arm. In the third inning, Herrera ripped a Gasser cutter a Statcast-projected 419 feet for a two-run homer.
Not only was it Herrera’s team-best eighth home run off lefties, it was the 10th time this season he has hit a go-ahead or tying homer.
“I’ve been getting hit a lot and I understand why, because I hit better away and they’re throwing up and in and it’s part of the game,” said Herrera, who noted after the game that he will most likely need surgery on his right elbow to remove loose bodies so he can return to his normal catching position in 2025. “But, you know, that [home run] was some payback right there.
“I didn’t try to hit [Contreras] on purpose. I was sitting on a curveball and I was late on a [fastball], and that’s just part of the game. I’m not trying to hurt anybody and I just want to play the game the right way.”
José Fermín drove in three runs -- two with a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning and another on a bases-loaded walk in the eighth.
On a day when the Cardinals honored the 30-year career of departing president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, St. Louis drew 32,723 fans for the final home game of 2025. For the season, the Cards drew 2,250,007 fans for an average of 27,778. Under Mozeliak’s direction, they made the playoffs 10 times, captured six National League Central crowns and won the 2011 World Series.