Sunday’s Game Report: Cardinals 5, Cubs 1
By Rob Rains
There were two critical points in Matthew Liberatore’s win against the Cubs on Sunday night when the outcome could have quickly gone in the other direction.
Liberatore’s two most difficult innings in his first 11 starts going into this game had been the first inning and the fifth. The Cardinals’ starter immediately found himself in a jam just two batters into the game. In the first inning of his first 11 starts he had allowed eight innings.
Singles to the first two batters, put Liberatore in an immediate jam, but he worked out of it by striking out Alex Bregman, retiring Seiya Suzuki on a pop out and then striking out Ian Happ.
His teammates rewarded Liberatore with two runs in their half of the first and added three more in the third, giving him a 5-0 lead going into the fifth inning, In his 10 games when he pitched into the fifth inning to begin this season, Liberatore had allowed 11 runs as opponents posted a .404 average.
This time, he allowed a one-out single by then retired Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner to get through the inning. He then retired the only batter he faced in the sixth before coming out of the game.
The win was the second in the three-game series against the Cubs and allowed the Cardinals to finish May with a 13-13 record.
Here is how Sunday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: JJ Wetherholt started both of the rallies with a single and each time came around to score. Jordan Walker drove him in in the first inning and Alec Burleson got an RBI on a groundout for the 2-0 lead … In the third, Wetherholt beat out an infield single, Ivan Herrera added his second single and Burleson got his second RBI, this time on a single, before Masyn Winn capped the inning with a two-run single … That turned out to be the Cardinals’ final hit until Nelson Velazquez singled leading off the eighth.
On the mound: Liberatore threw 85 pitches, pulled from the game after retiring Pete Crow-Armstrong to open the sixth. After Crow-Armstrong’s single in the first, Liberatore retired 16 of the last 18 hitters he faced, allowing only a leadoff walk to Swanson in the third and a one-out single to Kevin Alcantara in the fifth … Hunter Dobbins, recalled from Memphis before the game, relieved and was greeted by a Bregman home run, but that was the only run he allowed as he pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to earn his first professional save.
Key stat: For only the second time in 23 games at Busch Stadium since the start of the 2023 season, the Cardinals held Happ hitless in four at-bats and also kept him from drawing a walk. The only other time that happened during that stretch was on June 23 last season.
Worth noting: Dobbins’ reward for saving the Cardinals’ bullpen will likely be a return trip to Memphis. He had been the scheduled starter for the Triple A team but was summoned to St. Louis after the Cardinals exhausted their bullpen in the first two games against the Cubs. To make room for Dobbins on the roster, reliever Matt Pushard was designated for assignment. If Pushard clears waivers, as a Rule 5 draft selection, he will have to be offered back to the Marlins … Lars Nootbaar served as the DH for Springfield on Sunday and was 1-of-3 and also walked twice.
Up next: The Cardinals’ homestand continues on Monday night with the opener of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers, managed by former Cardinal Skip Schumaker. Michael McGreevy is the scheduled starter against Jason DeGrom.
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