With JJ Wetherholt being sent to the injured list, the St. Louis Cardinals lineup for Sunday was somewhere south of inspiring. Matthew Liberatore on the mound, due to his recent struggles, wasn't a reason for optimism either. The good news is that baseball games are played on a field and not on paper or limited to expectations. The bad news is Pirate homers and sloppy play would doom the Cardinals Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium even though they made a game of it in the later innings.
Matthew Liberatore started the game with the one thing you don't want to start a game with: a walk to Pirates leadoff man Triolo. Fortunately, he didn't score in the top of the 1st as Matthew was able to pitch around it. The top of the 2nd inning wouldn't have the same result. After Brandon Lowe doubled to leadoff the Pittsburgh top of the 2nd, Esmerlyn Valdez did not miss a 93 mph Liberatore four-seam fastball as he blasted it just inside of the right field pole for a 2-run homer giving the Pirates an early 2-0 lead.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had their leadoff man reach base in each of the first 3 innings including the top of the 3rd when O'Neil Cruz hit a ball off of the bottom of the left-centerfield wall to leadoff. Liberatore was able to strike out both Reynolds and Flores Jr. and looked like he would get out of the inning unscathed when Lowe popped up to Gold Glover Ramón Urías
at third. Unfortunately, the Gold Glover would not perform at Gold Glover standards as the ball hit his glove and fell helplessly to the ground allowing Cruz to score and up the Pirates lead to 3-0. If the past couple of weeks for the Cardinals could be summed up in one play, this would be it.
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The Cardinals would begin to show some signs of life in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Thomas Saggese slapped a one-out single to right field. Bryan Torres followed that by beating out an infield single. Both St. Louis runners advanced to second and third on Herrera's groundout which brought up RBI stud Alec Burleson. He tomahawked a high Ashcraft fastball to deep right-centerfield, but it was hauled in by Mangum for the final out of the Cardinals 3rd inning. So close.
While the St. Louis bats remained quiet, the Pittsburgh offense kept the game from being completely boring as Triolo crushed an 84 mph changeup and launched it into Big Mac Land in the upper deck of left field increasing the Pirates lead to 4-0.
The Cardinals would finally score in the bottom of the 5th inning when Ashcraft handed out a 2-out walk to Torres after Thomas Saggese singled. Ivan Herrera would make them pay with a solid single up the middle scoring Thomas and giving St. Louis a run cutting the Pirates lead to 4-1.
Alec Burleson would reach the 100 RBI mark with a single to right after that bringing the Cardinals a little closer at 4-2. Jordan Walker's broken bat pop-out would end the Cardinals 5th inning.
How to assess Matthew Liberatore's performance Sunday? Well, he almost got the team through 6 full innings. That's a plus. He also struck out 9 which is moderately impressive. Matthew walked 2 and gave up 3 earned runs not counting the Urias blunder. He ended Sunday with a pitch count of 107. Add one pitch clock violation to his numbers, too. Not his best outing of the season, but not his worst either. This likely won't quiet down the discussion about whether Liberatore should remain in the rotation or go back to being a middle innings reliever anytime soon.
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Ryne Stanek was brought in to finish the top of the 6th inning for the Cardinals. He came in throwing strikes and kept the Pirates from adding to their advantage keeping St. Louis close. The Pirates answered in the bottom of the 6th inning as they took Ashcraft out of the game and brought in Kirby Yates in relief. Nolan Gorman barely missed greeting him with a leadoff home run that landed in the glove of right-fielder Valdez standing with his back next to the wall. Jose Fermin followed that with a weak pop-out for the second out. Nathan Church struck out to end the Cardinals 6th.
Luis Gastelum got himself into trouble in the top of the 7th inning as he walked two and gave up a two-out single to Lowe which scored one and gave the Pirates back their 3-run lead at 5-2. Fortunately, he struck out Valdez stranding two Pittsburgh runners on base and keeping the damage to just one Pirate run.
The Pirates would try to help the Cardinals climb back into the game in the bottom of the 7th inning when relief pitcher Doval would walk Urias to leadoff the inning. That would cost Pittsburgh as Thomas Saggese moved Urias to third base when he singled up the middle and then Torres would lift a sacrifice fly to center scoring Ramon and reducing the Pirates lead to just 2 at 5-3. That lead would be cut to just one after Ivan Herrera turned on a 99 mph fastball and ripped it into the left field corner for a RBI double scoring Saggese making it just 5-4.
Alec Burleson, who earlier in the game became the first Cardinal with 100 RBI's since Albert Pujols, was up next with a chance to bring St. Louis even or give them the lead. Doval walked him on 4 straight pitches bringing up Jordan Walker with an opportunity to do big damage. Both runners moved up a base on a really slow delivery from Doval putting both of them into scoring position. Jordan unfortunately couldn't do anything with that opportunity as he struck out on an 88 mph slider for the second out. Pittsburgh went to the bullpen for Yohan Ramirez to face Nolan Gorman. Nolan barely missed giving the Cardinals the lead when he turned on a two-strike 81 mph sweeper, but pulled it foul by just a few feet. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, though. Gorman kept the next 98 mph four-seam fastball fair, but lined out directly into the glove of right-fielder Valdez to end the Cardinals 7th.
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Manager Oli Marmol brought in Gordon Graceffo to handle the top of the 8th inning. He was able to shut the Pirates down 1-2-3 with a couple of groundouts and a strikeout. The Pirates brought in Luke Weaver to try and keep the Cardinals down in the bottom of the 8th inning. Jose Fermin greeted him with an opposite field single to put the potential tying run on first. Nathan Church was unable to move him into scoring position as he flied out to left for the first out. Ramon Urias struck out on three straight pitches for the second out. Thomas Saggese grounded out for the final out of the Cardinals 8th.
Gordon Graceffo stayed in the game for the top of the 9th. Other than a two-out single he gave up to Reynolds, he was successful in at least giving the Cardinals a chance in the bottom of the 9th inning after he struck out Flores Jr. after 11 pitches. The Pirates handed the ball to Mason Montgomery in the bottom of the 9th inning. Joshua Baez was sent up as a pinch-hitter on his t-shirt day at Busch Stadium. He led off with a hard groundout to third for the first out. Ivan Herrera was up next for the Cardinals. He popped out to first for the second out. The Cardinals final hope was 100 RBI man Alec Burleson. He unfortunately grounded out to second for the final out.
The St. Louis Cardinals begin a long west coast swing as they'll take on the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday night. The Cardinals have not yet announced a starter yet, but the Dodgers are expected to start LHP Eric Lauer. First pitch scheduled for 9:10pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
