ST. LOUIS -- If rookie catcher Iván Herrera had any doubts about whether he could help keep the Cardinals afloat while injured catcher Willson Contreras is out the next three weeks, all he¡¯d have to do is think back to the middle of May and most of June.

When the Cardinals lost Contreras to a fractured left forearm on May 7, the club quietly feared for the worst with two largely unproven rookie backstops -- Pedro Pag¨¦s and Herrera -- tasked with handling the pitching staff and controlling the opposing running game. All that duo did was team up to man the catching duties during a stretch from May 8 through June 23 where the Redbirds went 24-17 -- their best stretch of baseball on the season. Thinking back to that success, Herrera said he hopes the Cardinals can go on another run with him behind the plate.

¡°For me personally, I feel like the only thing I struggled with back then was throwing runners out and I did a pretty good job in every other aspect, and I helped the team win,¡± said Herrera, who was behind the plate on Monday when the Cardinals lost 7-4 to the Padres at Busch Stadium. ¡°I went to [Triple-A] Memphis and thought about everything I did and now I¡¯m back trying to help this team make the playoffs. I can¡¯t wait to try and help the team win again.¡±

Contreras, who fractured the middle finger on his right hand on Saturday when he was hit by a pitch by Minnesota pitcher Pablo Lopez, will be out of action for three weeks, but will not need surgery. Oliver Marmol, the Cards' manager, said the club hopes to get Contreras back before the end of the season despite him needing three weeks without contact to promote healing in his finger. After that three-week absence, Contreras will likely need a Minor League rehab assignment to gear up for MLB pitching.

Of course, the club is also hopeful Contreras can come back earlier than expected, just as he did after fracturing his forearm and catching again seven weeks later. While some medical projections had Contreras out until the mid-July MLB All-Star Game, the catcher with the titanium plate in his forearm was behind the dish on June 24.

Starter Kyle Gibson, who was hurt by four walks and a first-inning homer by Padres star Manny Machado on Monday, said the Cardinals know they can win with their young catchers behind the plate because they¡¯ve done it before.

¡°They were around Willson a lot and they¡¯ve learned a lot from him and each of those guys have caught our pitching staff a lot,¡± said Gibson. ¡°We¡¯ve got a lot of confidence offensively and defensively with those guys.¡±

Offense has never been a question for Herrera, the Cardinals' Minor League Player of the Year in 2023. In 55 MLB games this season, he¡¯s hit .276 with a .714 OPS while mashing three home runs and driving in 19 runs. Placed on the 10-day IL on June 22 with a fluke back injury suffered while throwing his equipment bag onto the team bus, Herrera spent the past two months in Memphis where he showed off his elite bat-to-ball skills with nearly as many walks [19] as strikeouts [20]. In 27 games with Triple-A Memphis, he slashed .280/.402/.473/.875 with five homers and 16 RBIs.

¡°There was a lot of mental stuff with just trying to stay ready because you never know [what could happen with injuries],¡± said Herrera. "I talked to my agent, and he reminded me that I had to stay ready because one hit-by-pitch or an injury running the bases, and anything can happen. It doesn¡¯t help me if I¡¯m just wasting my time in Triple-A. I wanted to put up good numbers and play good defense. Even when I¡¯m playing for Memphis, I want to win. And, coming here, that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to try to do.¡±

To help the Cardinals win, Herrera knows he must do a better job controlling the running game. Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts stole bases with him behind the plate on Monday, making him just 3-of-49 in throwing out runners at the MLB level in 2024.

¡°I feel healthy now and I¡¯m a lot better now,¡± he said. ¡°It was just something hurting a little bit when I was here before [with his arm], but I¡¯m healthy now. I can¡¯t wait to [throw] well again.¡±