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As the innings got deeper into Wednesday afternoon’s series finale between the Cardinals and Angels at Busch Stadium, Ivan Herrera’s swings seemingly got mightier and mightier and mightier.

What that led to was a feat that makes him the catcher in Cardinals history to reach.

With his team looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Angels in the final game of their season-opening homestand, Herrera belted three home runs and drove in six runs as a part of a 12-5 comeback win that featured seven Cardinals runs in the eighth inning. The performance makes him the first catcher in his franchise’s history to homer three times in a game.

“It’s amazing doing something that has never been done before,� said Herrera, a native of Panama. “All the grind that you did during all of your career. Growing up, I didn’t have any money — anything. Being able to accomplish these things means a lot for me, for my family, for my country. We don’t have that many people in the big leagues, but the people that get there could do good things.

“I’m just trying to keep it that way.�

Herrera’s first home run gave his club its first run. The second provided its first lead. The third punctuated its late-game offensive outburst.

“In sports, I think is the best moment of my career,� Herrera said. “I don’t think I’ve ever hit three home runs in my career. Doing it here in the big leagues, to get us started, to keep us going — it’s a feeling I can’t share right now.�

Herrera began his historic day with a 395-foot solo home run that got the Cardinals on the scoreboard in the fourth inning against starter Yusei Kikuchi. After walking against Kikuchi in the first frame, Herrera pounced on a first-pitch curveball and sent it over the left field wall for a leadoff homer to tie the game at one run apiece after Angels star Mike Trout homered off Cardinals starter Sonny Gray in the first inning.

Two innings later, Herrera gave his team a 3-1 lead with a two-run homer that banged off the neon Big Mac Land sign in left field. The 24-year-old’s second home run off the left-handed starter traveled 414 feet.

In the eighth inning, to highlight a seven-run frame that included a go-ahead RBI from Willson Contreras on a walk with the bases loaded, Herrera unloaded on a 97-mph fastball from left-hander Brock Burke and sent it 425 feet to left field and into the seats of Big Mac Land.

“He can hit. He can really hit,� Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Herrera. “He puts together incredible at-bats. Rarely swings and misses. Just takes a professional at-bat, but those were three really, really good swings. Happy to see that out of him. The clubhouse is absolutely loving it right now. A very positive day.�

At 24 years and 305 days old, Herrera became the youngest St. Louis catcher to have a multi-homer game and the fifth-youngest catcher in MLB history to have three homers in a game. He is the first Cardinal at any position to have three homers in a game since his former teammate Paul Goldschmidt did so on May 7, 2023. The 12 total bases Herrera collected set a franchise record by a Cardinals catcher, besting the 10 totaled by Willson Contreras (2024), Mike Gonzalez (1918), Yadier Molina (2017, 2018, 2021), and Ted Simmons (1979 and 1980).

“That’s MLB history right there,� Contreras, now a first baseman, said on Herrera being the first Cardinals catcher with three homers in a single game.

Following the historic game, Herrera said he received a call from his mother, Dona, who Herrera said was “so happy� and “about to cry.� He added that he cried a “little bit.�

The 24-year-old credited his mother and father for their continued support throughout his journey as a baseball player that brought him to St. Louis in part because one of the catchers who held down his position for nearly two decades and one whom he had the opportunity to learn from.

“I chose the Cardinals over money because I saw that Yadier Molina was here and, to me, (he’s one) of the best catchers in this game,� Herrera said. “I try to get the defense right. ... I’m trying to get to that level one day.�

Herrera, the Cardinals minor league player of the year in 2023 and once the club’s top catching prospect, reached the majors in 2022 and got brief time in the big-leagues in 2023 before getting his longest run in the majors (72 games) a season ago. He delivered a .301 batting average and held an .800 on-base plus slugging percentage over 229 at-bats in that stretch.

Coming into this season as one half of the catching tandem the Cardinals will lean alongside Pedro Pages, Herrera began his fourth season in the majors with an opening day start against the Twins on Thursday. In that start, he’s provided his club with eight RBIs and batted .467 through his first 15 at-bats of 2025 and etched his name into franchise record books.

“He’s a confident kid regardless of how it’s going,� Marmol said of Herrera. “He just carries himself that way. He’s hit his whole career, and he’s doing it against some of the best here. No one knows what that ceiling looks like, but it’s high.�