Roundtable Sports' John Denton details Ivan Herrera ending his 0-for-60 caught-stealing skid and Joshua Baez going 0 for 9 with three strikeouts in Monday's two games. The team’s flashy home run chain dangling from his neck, Ivan Herrera was all smiles as he made his way through the Cardinals dugout after blasting his 14th home run of the season in the fourth inning of Monday’s nightcap of a doubleheader. That’s when a teammate playfully yelled to others in the dugout to not high five Herrera too hard to not injure his lethal throwing arm. Herrera, who had thrown out the speedy Elly De La Cruz a half inning earlier to end a drought that had incredibly reached 60 straight steals, couldn’t help but smile even wider. As it turns out, Herrera’s strong throw and homer proved to be the brightest moments from a late-night loss where the Cardinals fell after being one out away from a win in the bottom of the ninth. Peter Strzelecki, pitching in a high-leverage spot after the Cardinals used five relievers in the earlier win, surrendered a pinch-hit homer to Dane Myers with two outs in the ninth inning. Then, after the Cards couldn’t score in the 10th, Elly De La Cruz drilled a 110.9 mph single past Blaze Jordan at third base to score Tyler Stephenson to give the Reds a 6-5 extra-inning victory. "We unloaded (the bullpen) in that first game, and I think that gave us the best chance to win in a one-run game," manager Oliver Marmol said to Cardinals TV. "You go into Game 2 short, but Peter did a nice job. To go out there and give us three innings ... he made one mistake that went a long way. He was a pitch away from being able to take that one home, so he pitched well and gave us everything that he had."
Throw 'em out, then hit it out! pic.twitter.com/CAbWVoNbXp — St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 17, 2026 The Cardinals, who saw their modest three-game winning streak end, won Game 1 2-1 earlier in the day. Alec Burleson doubled in two runs in the first inning and rookie starter Quinn Mathews and five relievers made it stand up. Burleson took the MLB lead in RBI (92) and extended his MLB lead in doubles (34) in that makeup game from a May 22 rainout. The five relievers who pitched in Game 1 – Luis Gastelum, Gordon Graceffo, George Soriano, Ryne Stanek and Riley O’Brien – were unavailable for Game 2. That forced Strzelecki and Bruihl (0-1) in the game. Strzelecki pitched well over three innings, but Myers drilled his two-out sinker into the seats in left field to knot the score in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cards grabbed a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning when Bryan Torres punched a two-out single through the left side to score Jordan Walker, who had a three-hit night. Joshua Báez, who made MLB history on Saturday with three home runs in his first three MLB at bats, went 0 for 5 with two strike outs in the nightcap. He went hitless in four at bats as the Cardinals' leadoff hitter in Game 1, and he's gone 0 for 15 with six strikeouts since his third homer at Wrigley Field on Saturday.
Bryan Torres comes up big! pic.twitter.com/QhYJc66cGC — St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 18, 2026 Andre Pallante came into the night at 8-4 with a dazzling 2.18 ERA in 21 career games (11 starts) against the Reds. However, he didn’t have his great stuff on this night, and it was evident from the start. Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart and JJ Bleday opened the bottom of the first with singles, and De La Cruz scored on a line drive sacrifice fly by Eugenio Suarez. De La Cruz reached on a walk in the third inning and didn’t wait long to take off and try to swipe second. He appeared to have done just that when JJ Wetherholt’s tag hit the speedster on the backside as he slid in headfirst. Cardinals’ video specialist Chad Blair suggested a challenge, and that showed Wetherholt catching a tailing throw from Herrera and getting the tag down just before De La Cruz’s hands touched second base. That ended Herrera’s 0-for-34 drought this season, 0-for-15 run in 2025 and 0-11 finish to the 2024 season. It weas Herrera’s first-caught stealing since Sept. 1, 2024 – when Mets star Juan Soto still played for the Yankees. Herrera playfully asked that the baseball be thrown out and it was authenticated in the Cardinals dugout as a keepsake for the parttime catcher. Herrera got high fives all throughout the Cardinals dugout as he ran off the field at the end of the inning. "Everybody in the dugout was excited about it and had some fun with it," Marmol said. "It feels a lot better if you take this game, but it's obviously still a good thing for him." Riding the momentum of his strong throw, Herrera drilled a 395-foot homer to right-center to tie the game at 1. Burleson and Walker followed the Herrera homer with singles, and the Cardinals first baseman came around to score when Winn hit and 0-2 pitch into right field for his 50th RBI of the season.
Masyn goes through the gap for the lead! pic.twitter.com/FDlTzy1127 — St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 17, 2026 The Cards made it 4-1 following RBI hits by Nathan Church and Blaze Jordan, but it wouldn’t stay that way long. The Reds retied the game with three runs in the sixth off Pallante following four singles in the inning. In six innings of work, Pallante was tagged for 10 hits – nine of them singles in MLB’s second-most hitter-friendly ballpark in terms of extra-base hits. The four earned runs allowed by Pallante raised his ERA to 3.57.