Iván Herrera hits 3 home runs to help Cardinals beat Angels 12-5

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Iván Herrera hit three home runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Angels 12-5 on Wednesday.

Herrera hit his third home run of the game, and of the season, off Brock Burke to cap a seven-run eighth inning for the Cardinals. Herrera hit a two-run homer in the sixth, and a solo shot in the fourth off Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi to give him his first career multi-home run game.

Willson Contreras drew a bases-loaded walk off Burke to break a 5-5 tie after Ian Anderson (0-1) allowed three straight hits to open the bottom of the eighth inning.

Contreras stroked an RBI double to left field for his first hit of the season to score Masyn Winn, and Lars Nootbaar scored on shortstop Nicky Lopez’s errant throw to tie the game at 5-all in the bottom of the seventh.

Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe hit his second home run of the season and second career grand slam off Sonny Gray in the top of the seventh.

Gray allowed five runs on five hits and hit a batter while striking out nine in six-plus innings.

JoJo Romero (1-1) recorded the final four outs for the Cardinals.

Kikuchi allowed three runs on four hits and five walks and struck out six.

Mike Trout hit his first home run of the season in the first inning to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

After Jordan Walker led off the eighth inning with a single, Victor Scott II and Winn reached base on bunt singles to load the bases for Contreras.

Herrera is the first catcher in Cardinals history to hit three homers in a game.

RHP José Soriano (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will start the Angels’ home opener against Cleveland and RHP Gavin Williams (0-0, 3.60 ERA) Friday night.

RHP Erick Fedde (1-0, 1.50 ERA) is slated to oppose RHP Walker Buehler (0-1, 8.31 ERA) on Friday in Boston.

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