Heriberto Hernández on fire, homers again

Armstrong was just backing up home plate when a misstep left him what looked like a pretty serious strain. He’ll probably go on the IL on Saturday. Will Dion, who was sent down Friday, could come right back to the majors.

Suárez transformed a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 advantage with his 435-foot (110.5-mph EV) two-run blast off of George Soriano in the seventh inning. That proved to be the difference in the ballgame. With his two-hit attack, the 35-year-old slugger is now slashing .213/.285/.414 with 14 homers and 39 RBI in 291 plate appearances on the season.

De La Cruz singled with one out in the fifth inning and swiped second base, but the Reds were unable to cash him in from there. He also led off the ninth inning with a walk, stole second base, took third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Sal Stewart. On the season, the dynamic 24-year-old shortstop is now slashing .276/.352/.500 with 17 homers, 46 RBI and 18 stolen bases over 372 plate appearances on the season.

The 35-year-old stopper was exceptional in this one, needing just 11 pitches (10 strikes) to retire the Cardinals in order — including strikeouts of Ivan Herrera and Lars Nootbaar. It has been a mixed bag of results in an injury-plagued season for Pagan, who holds a 5.31 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 21/8 K/BB ratio across 20 1/3 innings on the season while converting 10 of his first 13 save chances.

The right-hander punched out four batters on the evening while issuing two walks. Lowder carried a no-hit bid into the fifth inning but ran into trouble as he plunked Ivan Herrera and then issued a two-out walk to Nathan Chursh. Blaze Jordan followed with a two-run double, which would be the lone hit that Lowder would allow, and caused all the damage against him. He got nine whiffs on 76 offerings on the night, posting a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll try to get back in the win column as he carries a 5.61 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and a 65/37 K/BB ratio (77 innings) into Wednesday’s matchup against the Guardians.

Jordan did his damage off of Rhett Lowder in the fifth inning, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage. It would be short lived though. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the evening. The 23-year-old slugger has held his own thus far, slashing .245/.257/.367 with one homer and 20 RBI in his first 105 plate appearances with the Cardinals.

May allowed seven hits on the evening while issuing just one base on balls. The lone tally against him came on an RBI double off the bat of Tyler Stephenson in the fourth inning. Aside from that, he was in complete command. He exited after six innings with a 2-1 lead and in line for a victory, but the Cardinals’ bullpen was unable to hang on for him. May generated 14 whiffs on 89 pitches on the night, registering an elite CSW of 36 percent. He’ll bring a 4.59 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and a 103/33 K/BB ratio (104 innings) into Wednesday’s divisional showdown against the Cubs.

The Astros stormed back with an eight-run sixth inning here after an early five-run deficit. Smith had the biggest hit in that inning with a two-run shot off reliever Bryan Hudson to give Houston their first lead of the contest. It was his 13th home run of the season and came as he was mired in a brutal 1-for-28 slump heading into this game and had been riding the bench since last Sunday seemingly to clear his head. The tools remain loud though and Smith remains the type of player who you could catch lightning in a bottle with.

Things looked great for Antonacci and the White Sox early in this one. He singled to start the game, stole second base, and came around a few batters later as part of a three-run first inning. Eventually, they opened up a 5-0 lead before letting up nine unanswered runs from the sixth inning on to let this game slip away. Regardless, Antonacci continues to be productive. That stolen base was his 14th on the season as that mark continues to climb and he was also hit by his 19th pitch, second-most in the league. In all, he has a .281 batting average and .373 on-base percentage as a perfect spark-plug out of the lead-off spot.

Martin breezed through the first five innings here and it seemed like he was on his way to putting his recent cold stretch behind him. Then, he lost it in the sixth inning. Starting the frame with just 75 pitches and having allowed only four base runners to that point, he gave up three hits, hit a batter, was pulled, and all of the runners reliever Bryan Hudson inherited came around to score. Martin threw a first-pitch ball to all four batters that inning and only threw a first-pitch strike to seven of the 23 batters he faced in this game. His star is fading fast with a 5.82 ERA since June 1st and it’s difficult to trust him moving forward. Next up is a meeting with the Yankees at home.