Despite struggling as a group for most of July, the St. Louis Cardinals continue to hang close in the National League playoff picture.

Their next chance to make progress comes Sunday afternoon in the decisive contest of a three-game series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds.

To make a genuine postseason push over the final third of the regular season, the Cardinals will need production from slugger Ivan Herrera like he provided in their most recent victory.

Herrera went 2-for-4 from the cleanup spot Saturday night, lining a two-run double to help the Cardinals pull away for a 7-0 victory.

Herrera also caught right-hander Andre Pallante, who allowed two hits and tied a season high with eight strikeouts over seven innings.

After starting the month with an 8-13 record prior to Saturday’s win, the Cardinals closed within 1 1/2 games of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final wild-card spot.

“We’ve struggled with the offense, but we came up big today,” Herrera said. “It’s good to see guys coming up clutch.”

Herrera batted .284 with 19 home runs and a .464 slugging percentage in 2025, which led to big expectations at the plate. His production has not quite matched them — yet. While Herrera was named to the National League All-Star squad, but he’s not performing like teammates Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson or rookie JJ Wetherholt.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said he’s hopeful that Herrera’s swing is coming around. He hit two balls with exit velocities of 102 mph or faster against the Reds, including his double in the sixth against right-hander Hunter Greene that put the Cards on the path to a six-run inning.

“Things he’s been working on, he’s been able to carry over to the game,” Marmol said. “His misses were what they needed to be and his hits were too. A good combo.

“When he’s going well, it’s certainly helpful.”

Four trailing teams are within 1 1/2 games of the Cardinals, who send right-hander Kyle Leahy (7-4, 3.59 ERA) to the mound on Sunday against left-hander Andrew Abbott (5-6, 3.89) in the series finale.

Leahy allowed one run on three hits in six innings of a no-decision against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday.

He also recorded a pair of no-decisions versus the Reds this season, yielding a total of eight runs on 12 hits over nine innings. He has a 7.11 ERA without a decision in 10 career appearances (two starts) against Cincinnati.

Abbott lost for the second time in his last three outings on Monday despite allowing just one unearned run on four hits in six innings of an 8-0 setback to the Seattle Mariners.

He is 4-4 with a 3.94 ERA in nine career appearances (all starts) versus the Cardinals.

The Reds, who stand six games out of the projected playoff field, are 2-5 against the Cardinals this season.

Cincinnati couldn’t muster any rallies against Pallante, and while Greene performed well until the sixth inning, his third trip through the order against the Cards lineup unraveled his night.

“The mistakes he made were mainly with his breaking ball,” manager Terry Francona said.

–Field Level Media

Big Game Nate delivered. And Wyatt Langford showed he’s one tough opponent.

Nathan Eovaldi allowed one run on three hits over seven innings for his 10th victory of the season, and Langford went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI as the Texas Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners 7-1 Saturday night in Arlington, Texas.

The loss dropped the defending American League West champion Mariners into third place in the division. The first-place Rangers have won the first two games in the four-game series that will continue on Sunday afternoon when ace right-handers Logan Gilbert (8-6, 3.38 ERA) of Seattle and Jacob deGrom (7-6, 3.76) of Texas oppose each other for the third time this season.

Langford fouled back-to-back pitches off his lower body before delivering a run-scoring double in the second inning as the Rangers bolted to a 5-0 lead. He exited for a defensive replacement in the seventh. X-rays came back negative, and the Rangers hope to have him available for the final two games of the series.

“I think both (Eovaldi and Langford) stepped up in a big game tonight,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I don’t know if it’s a statement. I would just say that they showed up in a big way in a big game in the middle of July. That’s the biggest takeaway for me, one of the best games I’ve seen Evo pitch this year, and Wyatt Langford … that just shows you what kind of player he is.

“The toughness — he was not coming out of that game, no matter what, no matter how hard I tried. It just kind of shows you what he’s made of.”

The Rangers improved to 6-2 against Seattle this season, including 5-0 at home. Texas has won both head-to-head clashes between Gilbert and deGrom this season.

“To me, (winning the first two games), I think it makes me hungry for more,” Eovaldi said of the current series. “We got the first two. We got deGrom going out there again [on Sunday]. It’s important to win the series. You don’t want to just split it, and I think right now we’ve got momentum in our favor. It’s just about going out there and continuing to do what we’ve been doing.”

It was the fourth straight defeat for the Mariners, who dropped 2 1/2 games behind Texas and were passed in the AL West standings by Houston.

Mariners third baseman J.P. Crawford, who missed the previous four games with a sore wrist, returned and went 2-for-3 with a run-scoring double.

“We’re a way better team than what we’ve been playing like this whole year,” Crawford said. “We all know that, but yeah, it’s definitely frustrating. But we can’t do anything about the past, so we’ve just got to keep working hard to get going and finish where we need to finish.”

Gilbert is coming off a 6-3 victory against visiting San Francisco last Sunday in a game in which he allowed three runs on four hits over six innings, with one walk and 10 strikeouts.

He’s 5-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 18 career starts against the Rangers, though he has dropped two decisions against them this season — 2-1 on April 6 in Arlington, Texas, and 5-0 on April 17 in Seattle. Gilbert allowed two earned runs in each of those games.

For Texas, deGrom lost 10-3 to the visiting Chicago White Sox in his most recent outing on Monday, giving up five runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.

He’s 2-2 with a 2.95 ERA in nine career starts against Seattle. He didn’t get a decision in either of his previous starts against the Mariners this season. The 38-year-old deGrom allowed one run on one hit over five innings in the former and pitched four scoreless innings in the latter.

–Field Level Media

The Giants hope Rafael Devers continues to vent the frustration of a recent slump on Los Angeles Angels pitching when the interleague opponents complete a three-game series Sunday afternoon in San Francisco.

The hosts have opened the set with a pair of wins, a 7-6 walk-off victory on Friday night before a 9-2 romp the following afternoon.

Coming off a 3-for-24 trip that had him spinning in a 3-for-30 slump over a 12-day skid, Devers had a hand in both wins over the Angels that came in the wake of a five-game losing streak.

The slugger bounced what was later ruled an RBI single over the left-field fence to end Friday’s dramatic win, then three at-bats later cleared the barrier on a fly for a lead-extending home run in Saturday’s blowout.

In two days, he’s gone 5-for-8 with four runs, a double, two home runs, seven RBIs and a walk. The homers equal his total from the previous 13 games, while the RBIs are one more than he had over that same stretch.

Teammate Luis Arraez, who has five hits in the two wins, still was in amazement during a postgame television interview on the field Saturday.

“Raffy is the best hitter in this league,” Arraez said. “He’s got his approach. He can do a lot of damage. He plays hard every day.”

Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters shortly thereafter that it’s unfair to draw conclusions when a proven hitter is in a slump.

“If you give the guy a whole body of work, it’s going to show up on paper who Raffy is. And if you just go off a month or a couple of weeks, it depends where you catch him at,” Vitello said. “Overall, (this is) Raffy being Raffy, if you will.”

Devers has batted just four times in his career against right-hander Jose Soriano (8-6, 3.43 ERA), the Angels’ scheduled starter on Sunday, and has never hit the ball past shortstop. Then again, he has walked twice and been struck out once aside from the groundout.

Soriano hasn’t allowed a home run in any of his last four starts, a stretch in which he’s gone 0-2 despite a respectable 3.91 ERA. He’s winless in his last six starts overall, watching his record slip back toward .500 after opening the season 5-0.

A popular name in trade discussions, Soriano understands these are important times for both himself and the Angels, who find themselves once again looking to the future.

“I know I’ve had a tough time. But the last couple outings, I feel like I started getting back and that’s the goal,” he told reporters earlier in the week. “Trying to get back to where I was in the beginning (of the season).”

Soriano has faced the Giants just twice in his career, both times in relief, throwing two innings of scoreless ball without getting a decision.

He likely will be opposed by left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (2-0, 3.38), who is scheduled to be promoted from Triple-A to make his third big-league start of the season.

Whisenhunt, 25, has never faced an American League opponent.

–Field Level Media