Leo Bernal hit a two-run, game-winning homer in the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals closed out the home portion of their 2026 season with a 5-3 defeat of the Washington Nationals. It was Bernal's fourth home run since being promoted on Sept. 1.
Having already shown his tremendous promise with a franchise-record 12 RBI in his first 10 MLB games, Leo Bernal showed once again on Sunday why he might have the St. Louis Cardinals’ catching position locked down for years to come.
Bernal, 22, stopped a Washington rally in Sunday’s fourth inning by throwing out Jocob Young on a stolen base attempt. Then, he added to his list of illustrious highlights by smashing a 424-foot, game-winning home run that lifted the Cardinals to a 5-3 defeat of the Nationals at Busch Stadium.
Showing the balance and patience of a player well beyond his years, Bernal didn’t panic when he was in a 1-2 count. He fouled off the next three pitches and then demolished a 92.1 mph slider in the middle of the plate for a smash that left his bat at 108.5 mph.
"We've just seen him take really professional at bats -- righty or lefty -- and he has an idea what he wants to do, and he misses where he wants to miss," raved manager Oliver Marmol, whose Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak. "There's a calmness to it. a presence to it and a ton of confidence. And it's a sneak peek of what's coming. There's a lot of excitement around what we've seen from him."
After crushing his fourth home run since his MLB promotion on Sept. 1, Bernal was showered with cheers in his first Busch Stadium curtain call. The homer gave the rookie catcher 17 RBI in his first 18 MLB games.
Fellow Panamanian catcher Ivan Herrera set the stage for Bernal’s heroics by hitting a game-tying home run three batters earlier in the bottom of the eight. Herrera hit two home runs of his third career multi-homer game and his second this season.
"(Panama) is a little country, but this is huge for us," Herrera said of the three homers he can Bernal crushed on Sunday. "We always joked that the people of Panama are doing it out there for the Cardinals. It's pretty awesome seeing him have success because we've known each other for a long time. I'm always cheering for my Panamanian friend and it's cool with us having success like this."
The final home game of the 2026 season at Busch Stadium attracted a crowd of 27,814. That brought the season attendance total to 2,233,906 for an average of 27,519 over the 81 home games.
President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom and Marmol have raved about the contributions from their young players, and they felt that Sunday's game was just another example of the club's bright future ahead. Jordan Walker recorded his ninth assist from the outfield, Quinn Mathews tossed seven strong innings, JJ Wetherholt drove in a run and Thomas Saggese made a stellar defensive play from shortstop to highlight the key moments from Sunday's win.
"It's sick, honestly," Walker said of the team's young players give a glimpse into potentially brighter days ahead. "For Ivan and Bernal to do what they did today, it's special. Now, I'm really excited to see what these next few years hold for us."
The Cardinals grabbed an early lead when Herrera jumped all over a 3-1 pitch from starter Jake Irvin and hit a solo homer. Herrera’s 17th homer of the season left the bat at 107.5 mph and just cleared the wall in left field.
After the Nats tied the game in the second inning with a Jacon Young sacrifice fly, the Cardinals moved back ahead on a Wetherholt single. Wetherholt’s 50th RBI of his rookie season plated Jose Fermin, who led off the third inning with an opposite field double.
Mathews cruised through the game’s first five innings while allowing just four hits and two walks. He got an assist from rookie catcher Leo Bernal, who threw out Young from his knees on a steal attempt at second base. It was the fourth runner Bernal has thrown out in 16 attempts since being called up on Sept. 1.
Matthews ran into trouble in the sixth when he hung a 1-0 slider to Brady House, who led off the inning with a single. Then, Nats star CJ Abrams hit a 2-2 slider into the seats in right field for a two-run shot that vaulted Washington into the lead.
Walker recorded his ninth outfield assist of the season later in the sixth when he threw out Daylen Lile, who tried stretching a double into a triple.
Mathews pitched a career-best seven innings for his third straight Quality Start, and his second straight game of recording outs in the seventh inning. He was the fifth Cardinals pitcher to twirl at least seven innings this season. He limited the Nats to seven hits, three earned runs and two walks while striking out three.
"You look at a game like that today, where there were a lot of high-leverage and high-pressure spots where a lot of our guys picked up the slack when we needed it, that was huge," Mathews said.
