Pro baseball: Herrera gets tested in new role at Triple-A

When Danny Ray Herrera received his second call-up to the major leagues on June 10, he walked into Dusty Baker's office to tell the Cincinnati Reds manager that he was back.

"Good," Baker said. "Albert Pujols is waiting for you."

Pujols is the first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, the team playing in Cincinnati that night in the opener of a three-game series.

Herrera didn't pitch in the game, but he might have missed Pujols even if he had because the first baseman left the game in the seventh inning when he aggravated a calf injury sustained as he left the batter's box in the sixth inning.

Pujols was placed on the 15-day disabled list on June 11, and Herrera went back to Baker's office.

"Can you believe that Pujols is ducking me?" asked Herrera, a Permian graduate.

The left-handed pitcher was joking, but the story has made his dad laugh ever since.

Herrera was sent back to Triple-A Louisville on June 14, and the Bats have been testing him as left-handed specialist since his return.

"He was a little disappointed, but that's just part of (the game)," Danny Sr. said about his son's return to Triple-A. "He still has the lowest ERA at Triple-A Louisville, and we're kind of hoping he makes it back by the end of the year."

Herrera is 0-3 at Louisville, but he has a 2.73 ERA, seven holds and three saves in 29 2-3 innings covering 27 appearances. He has 22 strikeouts and six walks, and he has given up 27 hits, including one home run.

Based on the way he has pitched in two games for Cincinnati this season, a September call-up could be a possibility. Herrera struck out Philadelphia's Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard in his major-league debut on June 3, but he allowed three runs in two-plus innings against St. Louis in 10-0 loss on June 11.

Cincinnati trailed St. Louis 7-0 after five innings when Herrera entered the game.

"It was a situation where (Baker) wanted me to eat up a lot of innings," Herrera said. "He sent me out there to pitch as long as I could."

Herrera struck out two in a scoreless sixth, but he gave up his first major-league homer to Ryan Ludwick leading off the seventh before getting Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus and Chris Duncan on grounders.

Herrera was lifted in the eighth after he allowed three consecutive hits, including a double to pitcher Braden Looper and a run-scoring single to Brendan Ryan, without retiring a batter.

Herrera was sent back to Triple-A Louisville shortly after the game in a move that had nothing to do with his performance. He had been recalled because reliever Gary Majewski had left the team to be with his wife, who had just given birth to the couple's first baby.

"I knew it was going to be a short stay," Herrera said. "It made it easier to accept being called back down."

Herrera had been accustomed to pitching multiple innings before his two stints in the majors, but Louisville has begun to use him in more specialized situations in the month since he was sent back to the Bats of the International League. He still gets his share of multiple-inning appearances, but he also has entered games to retire one left-handed batter and then left the game.

"I'm not too comfortable with the lefty-on-lefty thing yet," Herrera said. "I like to try to get to as many batters as possible."

And that philosophy doesn't change - not even if the batter in the on-deck circle is someone like Albert Pujols.