For Cardinals, Tuesday's surge from Wetherholt and Herrera was only a matter of time

ST. LOUIS -- If you had only glanced at the season-long numbers for the top two hitters in the Cardinals lineup prior to Tuesday night’s win over the Guardians, you might have had some real concerns about both JJ Wetherholt and Ivan Herrera.

The duo entered the day, each with a respective OPS in the low-.600s on the year. But in watching their plate appearances amid a recent downturn in production, it had never really been a matter of desperation at the plate -- Neither Wetherholt nor Herrera looked out of place with their approach, as both had already produced double-digit walk totals on the young season.

The problem was the type of issue that probably goes unnoticed in elite hitters if it happens in the middle of June or July -- because by that point, you’ve built up enough of a cushion in your season-long numbers. A small dip isn’t going to register as prominently as compared to when it happens at the beginning of a season, with little sample size to hide a slump from the overall numbers.

But because both players had the underlying comfort in their approach -- just with a lack of comfort with their swings -- it was only a matter of time before the results started filtering back into the mix.

We saw it Tuesday, as Herrera launched a first-inning home run in the same game that Wetherholt logged his first-career multi-homer day in the big leagues. The swings helped power the Cardinals to a come-from-behind victory in extra innings, 6-5.

“It was good for Herrera to get that one because he took a swing the day before where he felt like, man, that’s a lot closer to what I want it to feel like,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “So it was nice to hit that one early in that game and kinda feel good about it.”

Wetherholt, too, had been taking his walks. He just needed to find the next level to the quality of contact.

“JJ has got some real adjustability to him,” Marmol said. “For him to be able to turn on that one and then go backside on a lefty -- that was fun to watch.”

For fans taking stock of the ebbs and flows of the lineup on a daily basis, scrutinizing and searching for those opportunities to put on their proverbial managerial caps to suggest a shuffle to the batting order, stretches like these are tempting.

But the team takes a more holistic approach to evaluating players through the ups and downs of baseball -- so for Marmol, there wasn’t ever a worry that Wetherholt or Herrera would stay down for long.

“Those are two guys when you look at (Wetherholt) and Ivan,” Marmol said. “Then Burly getting on ahead of Walk -- that’s a big part of our lineup.”