By MATT PIKE
Blaze Jordan hit his first major league home run and Iván Herrera went deep twice for the St. Louis Cardinals who hit four home runs overall in a power-fueled 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.
Herrera got the Cardinals going with his first home run in the first inning, a two-run shot after Masyn Winn led off the game with a walk against Connor Prielipp for an early lead. Jordan, who made his MLB debut on Friday, tripled to start a two-run second inning against Prielipp, scoring on a double from Pedro Pagés. Pagés later scored on a sacrifice fly from Winn to extend the lead to 4-0.
Since being called up, Jordan is 4-for-8 with four RBI's in two games. The 23-year-old was summoned from Triple-A to replace the demoted Nolan Gorman at third base.
Prielipp recovered from the early 4-0 hole, after Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis homered for the Twins in the fourth inning, to cut the lead in half, before Luke Keaschall hit a two-run shot in the fifth inning against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore, driving in Ryan Kreidler, to tie up the game at 4-4.
In a five run seventh inning, Herrera and Jordan Walker hit back-to-back home runs off reliever Justin Lawrence, and Jordan followed with a three-run shot against Travis Adams, scoring Lars Nootbaar and Alec Burleson, for the 9-4 lead. The multi home run game for Herrera was the second of his career.
Matt Svanson, who earned the win improving to 2-1, retired all five batters he faced in relief of Liberatore, striking out two in 1.2 innings. Riley O'Brien walked the bases loaded to start the ninth before recovering to finish it with only one run across, Brooks Lee scoring as Josh Bell reached on a force out at at second base for the second out of the inning.
At the plate, Herrera was 2-for-3 with a walk to go with the two home runs and three RBI's. Jordan was 2-for-4 with a triple, home run, and three RBI's. Walker 1-for-5 with the home run and an RBI.
St. Louis and Minnesota wrap up their series tomorrow before the Cardinals return to Busch Stadium on Monday. Michael McGreevy (3-5, 2.99 ERA, 49K's) starts for St. Louis against Taj Bradley (5-3, 4.02 ERA, 73K's) for the Twins. First pitch is at 1:10pm, coverage begins at 1 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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