Homer-happy Cardinals beat Twins 9-6 behind Blaze Jordan's first in MLB and Iván Herrera's pair

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Blaze Jordan hit his first major league homer and Iván Herrera went deep twice for the St. Louis Cardinals in a power-fueled 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

Herrera and Jordan Walker had back-to-back home runs off reliever Justin Lawrence that broke a seventh-inning tie, and Jordan followed with a three-run shot against Travis Adams. Lawrence (0-3) surrendered four straight hits after striking out the first two batters.

Jordan, who made his MLB debut on Friday, tripled to start a two-run second and is 4 for 8 with four RBIs in two games. The 23-year-old was summoned from Triple-A to replace the demoted Nolan Gorman at third base.

Herrera got the Cardinals going with a two-run shot after Masyn Winn led off the game with a walk against Connor Prielipp, who recovered from a 4-0 deficit to complete six innings.

Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis homered for the Twins in the fourth and Luke Keaschall hit a two-run shot in the fifth against starter Matthew Liberatore to even the game.

But another bullpen failure by the Twins helped the Cardinals make up for their own late-inning relief struggles in a 9-8 loss in the series opener.

Herrera delivered the second multihomer game of his career. Then Walker crushed a 2-0 sweeper from Lawrence into the second deck above left field, measured at 454 feet with an exit velocity of 116.6 mph.

Matt Svanson (2-1) retired all five batters he faced in relief of Liberatore. Regular closer Riley O'Brien walked the bases loaded to start the ninth before recovering to finish it with only one run across.

Buxton has 22 homers in his last 46 games. Lewis is 10 for 26 with three homers in seven games since being recalled from Triple-A.

Michael McGreevy starts for St. Louis on Sunday. Taj Bradley pitches for Minnesota.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB