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Based on his conversation with shortstop Masyn Winn, Cardinals utilityman Jose Fermin had an idea of what Braves reliever Jesse Chavez might offer him if he stepped to the plate in the sixth inning of a tied game with Winn on base.

“He’s like, ‘Hey, if I get on base, this guy likes the sinker to get a double play. And that was my approach. I’m like, ‘Be ready for a sinker,’” Fermin said.

The pitch Fermin expected to see was offered to him. The result he produced showed he was, in fact, ready for it.

On the first pitch he got from Chavez, Fermin lifted a sinker to left field that traveled 367 feet, gave the Cardinals a two-run lead in their rain-delayed 5-4 Sunday win over the Braves at Busch Stadium and marked the first home run of Fermin’s big league career.

“That’s pretty special. I was really happy. I’ve been looking for that for two years now, and to be able to hit it in that spot, it was pretty special to me,” said Fermin, who debuted in the majors in 2023 after the Cardinals acquired him in a trade with the Guardians that previous offseason.

The sixth-inning homer came in Fermin’s 76th big league game. Fermin, 26, went 137 at-bats before homering in the major leagues. Fermin’s home run propelled the Cardinals to a win after two rain delays combined to pause their Sunday series finale for four hours and two minutes.

The first of the two rain delays knocked Cardinals starter Sonny Gray out of the game after allowing one run and striking out five batters in three innings. Once play resumed with the game tied 1-1, lefty Steven Matz allowed two runs (one earned) to score on a single by Braves first baseman Matt Olson as rain began to pour once again. Coming out of the second delay, which lasted two hours and 41 minutes, Willson Contreras delivered two runs on a double in the fifth inning to pull the Cardinals into a 3-3 tie.

Relief work from Gordon Graceffo (1 2/3 innings and one run allowed), Riley O’Brien (1 2/3 scoreless innings) and closer Ryan Helsley’s 19th save protected the two-run lead provided by Fermin. The win, powered by Fermin’s milestone swing, helped the Cardinals avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Braves and sent them into the All-Star break with a 51-46 record.

“Actually, (it) took a lot. It felt like more than two delays,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of the win. “We were there for a while, but they stayed ready. If you’re going to wait around that long, it’s good to win, for sure. I’m glad to take that one and then go into the break.”

Fermin received a start in left field on Sunday while Lars Nootbaar was moved to the 10-day injured list because of a costochondral strain in his left side. (A costochondral sprain is a sprain where a rib meets its cartilage.) The Cardinals were also without Nolan Gorman after his lower back “locked up on him.”

After beginning the year with Class AAA Memphis following a strong spring showing, Fermin returned to the majors on June 25 when right fielder Jordan Walker (appendicitis) landed on the 10-day injured list. Fermin, who slashed .292/.352/.479 in 20 spring training games as he competed for a bench spot on the Cardinals’ opening day roster, produced a .308 batting average, a .431 on-base percentage and hit five homers in 55 games for Memphis before his call-up.

A utility infielder who began playing the outfield in 2024, Fermin appeared in nine games and produced six hits in 14 at-bats in his limited role off the bench entering Sunday.

“I know that’s my role here,” Fermin said. “Every time I come to the field, in my mind, I’m ready to play. It’s like if I was in the lineup, and I try to put in the work (in the) infield, outfield, (and) in the cage every day to stay ready for whenever I get the opportunity.”

The opportunity he received Sunday came when the Cardinals needed a win to send them into the All-Star break following a 3-8 stretch.

“We’ve had him here before. He just grinds. He understands his role in this whole thing, and he’ll never complain, but he’s always ready,” Marmol said. “To come up big in that spot during a day like today was fun.”

As he played left field following the homer to left, Fermin said he had not taken a moment to look at where his first homer landed until around the eighth inning. By the time he met with reporters after the Cardinals wrapped the wet win, Fermin said he watched the replay of his homer at least three times and would “probably” watch it more later on.

He had not yet spoken over the phone with his family in his native Dominican Republic. The 26-year-old described excitement about waiting to call family and noted that his father, who was his coach growing up and who would pitch him kernels of corn as a part of his training, would be the first person he called.

“He’s been with me since Day 1 when I started playing baseball,” Fermin said of his father, to whom he plans to give his first home run ball. “I started playing when I was 5. ... Reflecting on that, I’m pretty happy about it. I know he is, too.”