Sunday’s Game Report: Red Sox 11, Cardinals 3
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals have struggled to find somebody to start in place of the injured Steven Matz since he hurt his back at the end of April but that is far from the only hole in the rotation.
Matthew Liberatore got the start on Sunday against the Red Sox at Busch Stadium, the “best option” according to manager Oli Marmol, in what turned out to be another loss in a game started by somebody other than Sonny Gray.
When Gray has started a game this season, the Cardinals are 5-2. When anybody else starts they are now 15-24 – with the team having a losing record in games started by every other pitcher.
After having success as a reliever to begin this season, the Cardinals moved Liberatore into the rotation to replace Matz because they didn’t believe any of their pitchers at Triple A were ready, including Zack Thompson, who began the year starting when Gray was still recovering from his spring training injury.
Liberatore worked three-plus innigns on Sunday, pulled from the game after hits by the first two batters in the fourth. He was charged with four earned runs, which left him with an 8.10 ERA as a starter, compared to a 3.78 ERA when he was part of the bullpen.
“He’s filled a need for us and I appreciate the way he’s handled it,” Marmol said. “We have to look at that to see what’s best all the way around.”
The result of Sunday’s game likely wasn’t affected by who started on the mound. The Cardinals had only one hit, a home run by Lars Nootbaar, in six innings off Nick Piveta.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Four of the Cardinals other five hits came in the seventh, when they scored their other two runs. Paul Goldschmidt was credited with a double when the Boston left fielder lost his fly ball at the warning track in the sun, followed by singles by Nolan Arenado, Alec Burleson and Brendan Donovan. One of the runs scored on a wild pitch … The Cardinals matched their season high by striking out 15 times. It was only the seventh time in Busch Stadium 3 history that they had that many or more strikeouts in a nine-inning game, the most since they fanned 17 times against the Angels on May 3 last season.
On the mound: The Cardinals have been outscored 135-84 through the first five innings this season, when the starters are generally still in the game … The first run off Liberatore was a first-inning home run by former Cardinal Tyler O’Neill … After Liberatore, Chris Roycroft allowed three runs, Ryan Fernandez two and Nick Robertson, who came to the Cardinals in the trade for O’Neill, two. Robertson retired seven batters in a row before allowing a home run with one out in the ninth.
Key stat: The Red Sox loaded their lineup with seven righthanded batters against Liberatore and they were a combined 6-of-11 against him. Lefthanders were 0-of-4. For the season righthanders are now 22-of-62 against Liberatore, a .355 average, while lefthanders are 5-of-35, a .143 average.
Worth noting: The Cardinals are now 1-7 on Sunday’s and 2-13 in the final game of a series … They also fell to 0-6 when they had a chance to complete a series sweep … Rafael Devers became the first visiting player to hit a home run in all three games of a series at Busch Stadium since Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals hit four in a series in 2015 … Liberatore was charged with an extra earned run when a play originally scored as a three-base error on Arenado when he dropped a popup was later changed to a triple.
Looking ahead: Gray will get the start on Monday night when the homestand continues with the first of three games against the Baltimore Orioles. The Cardinals will miss former Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes in the series after he started Sunday’s game for the Orioles.
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Oliver Marmol
