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When he steps to the plate late in games, Cardinals designated hitter Ivan Herrera this season is looking for hard contact.

What he did with a 1-1 sweeper in the sixth inning Tuesday night at Busch Stadium against the Athletics again demonstrated 25-year-old’s ability to rise to the occasion in crucial spots.

Batting with Victor Scott II standing on third base as the potential game-tying run in a ballgame his team trailed 1-0, Herrera launched a ball 107.7 mph off his bat for a 414-foot home run to center field off reliever Michael Kelly. The two-run homer was Herrera’s 13th of the season and helped lead a 2-1 Cardinals win.

It was his sixth go-ahead home run in the sixth inning or later this season. Herrera, who spent 55 days on the injured list because of a left knee injury sustained in early April and a left hamstring strain that sidelined him near the middle of June, is tied with Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber for the most such homers in the National League.

“It means a lot. All we care about is winning. That put us in a really good position to win the game,� Herrera said of his go-ahead homer.

Herrera’s swing lifted the Cardinals to a one-run lead after starter Miles Mikolas scattered five hits and a walk across six innings to limit the Athletics to one run. The 2-1 lead provided by Herrera was protected by relievers Matt Svanson and JoJo Romero. Svanson tossed two scoreless innings in relief of Mikolas. Romero collected his sixth save of the season with a clean ninth inning.

“He’s had an up-and-down year with those injuries, but the thing that’s been consistent is his bat,� Mikolas said of Herrera. “When he’s in the lineup, he’s always a power threat. He swings the heck out of that bat. He always seems to come up big. I think the majority of his hits and homers come late in the game and in some big spots. ... It’s been fun and awesome to watch some of these younger guys, including him, really mature and take on those leadership roles.�

During a season that began with an opening day start at catcher but paused by those two stints on the IL, Herrera is batting .287 with 53 RBIs. He owns an .818 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 85 games. Throughout the second half of the season, Herrera has been kept mainly in the designated hitter spot and made four appearances in left field to free up the designated hitter spot for other position players.

The move to keep Herrera primarily as a designated hitter has kept him a constant presence in the Cardinals lineup and will likely keep him receiving at-bats over the final month of the regular season.

“Just keep doing what I’m doing lately,� Herrera said. “I started feeling really good a week, two weeks ago, after I understood what I was missing. Sometimes people tell you why you’re missing, but you don’t understand the way they tell you. And then you talk to somebody else, and they tell you the same thing. It just clicks. ... I just want to finish strong and do everything I can to just stay healthy and have a good end of the year.�

Ahead of his heroics in the 2-1 win, Herrera entered Tuesday with a hit in seven consecutive games, including a solo home run he belted in a Monday loss against the Athletics. The hit streak comes after the 25-year-old batted .189 over 13 games in the heart of August.

While Herrera did not collect an extra-base hit in 53 at-bats and had a .232 on-base percentage across the 13-game skid, it revealed areas of improvement for him.

“He’s had a couple low points, and I would say he’s made an adjustment between the two,� Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “At first, you can see (him) wear it pretty hard and not (be) himself, as far as just bringing that joy and kind of the goofiness that he normally brings.

“The second time he went through it, which is the most recent one, he was more of himself, regardless of what was going on. Still very talkative in the dugout and not just in his own shell, which is what you want to see. But that comes with just experiencing growth. He’s handled it well, which is going to serve him well down the road.�

To get through his most recent scuffle at the plate, Herrera said he made an adjustment that was more of a mental change to go with some mechanical tweaks.

He found he was letting pitches travel too deep. Now, he’s become more “aggressive� after a stretch during which he was “defensive.� It’s an illustration of how he feels he’s “evolving� as a hitter.

“Every year, I’m feeling like I’m getting more confidence,� Herrera said. “I feel more aggressive at the plate, and I believe in myself. You put in all the hard work back home, at some point, it’s going to pay off. And now it’s just going to keep going, so I feel really good about where I’m at right now.�