NEW YORK ¨C Left-hander Matthew Liberatore is looking like the pitcher the Cardinals were expecting after they acquired him from the Rays as part of the Randy Arozarena deal in 2020. It took a while for Liberatore to find his footing in the big leagues, but it looks like 2025 may be the year he has a season to remember.
On Saturday afternoon, Liberatore showed confidence on the mound and went deep into the game against the Mets at Citi Field. But one bad inning proved costly as St. Louis was blanked by New York, 3-0.
That costly inning occurred in the third, when New York took a 2-0 lead. Luisangel Acu?a scored the first run of the game on a two-out single by Juan Soto. Pete Alonso followed and doubled to left-center field, scoring Soto.
¡°You go back and evaluate: maybe change the sequence a little bit,¡± Liberatore said.
But Liberatore buckled down, struck out the side in the next frame and ended up going a season-high 6 2/3 innings. He left the game after allowing a single to Jos¨¦ Azocar with two outs in the seventh. In all four of his starts this season, Liberatore has gone at least six innings.
¡°He did a nice job,¡± Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. ¡°His slider was a really good pitch for him, especially against [the Mets¡¯] lineup. I really enjoyed watching him pitch today. That¡¯s what it¡¯s about. It¡¯s continuing to see growth in some of these guys. That¡¯s a perfect example of it. You give up two, and you just stay on the attack. That was against a really tough lineup. It was good seeing him go out there for that last inning.¡±
All Liberatore needed was confidence. From 2022-2024, one wondered if he was ever going to reach his potential. One minute, Liberatore was a starter. The next thing he knew, Liberatore was in the bullpen. He even spent some time with Triple-A Memphis in 2022 and ¡®23 in between big league stints.
But the turning point came on Aug. 5 of last year. Liberatore came out of the bullpen against the Mets, pitching two shutout innings and striking out four in a 6-0 loss in St. Louis.
¡°If you watch that outing against the Mets, I almost threw an immaculate inning, and I got a lot of swings and misses in the zone,¡± Liberatore said. ¡°I felt like that was kind of the pinnacle for me. I was like, ¡®OK, I can really challenge guys in the zone. My stuff plays at this level.'¡±
Liberatore was given another confidence boost from Marmol during the end of Spring Training. The skipper told him he was in the rotation to start the season; it wasn¡¯t an audition.
¡°Oli made it a strong point ¡ that this was not a one-shot look,¡± Liberatore said. ¡°That¡¯s nice to hear. As I matured more, I¡¯m trying to treat every outing the same, whether it¡¯s a one-time audition or a solidified spot in the rotation. I wish I had done a better job when I made my debut when I was up and down in 2022 and ¡®23. Knowing you are going to start every five or six days is definitely helpful.¡±
While Liberatore had all the confidence in the world on Saturday, the Cardinals couldn¡¯t score a run. They had their chances, but went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Their best chance to score off starter Kodai Senga came in the second inning. They had runners on second and third with one out, but Nolan Gorman struck out and Yohel Pozo flew out to Azocar.
¡°[The Mets] have a good run of arms. It was another tough one today,¡± Marmol said. ¡°Sometimes you get multiple opportunities and it¡¯s average pitching. If you don¡¯t get them early, you can still get them later. But against a good arm like that ¡ you have to find a way to capitalize there.¡±