Matthew

Liberatore

It’s the fourth time in five starts that Liberatore, whose velocity was down one mph today, has allowed at least three runs while getting no more than 15 outs. The Cardinals won anyway, so they’re 9-4 when he pitches this season, even though his ERA stands at 4.48 and he’s completed six innings only three times. He’ll pitch in Minnesota next weekend.

Liberatore allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five. That’s just half as many strikeouts as the career-high 10 he had last time out, but it is a fifth straight start with at least five strikeouts. He reached that mark just once in his first seven starts. Last year, he struck out five in 13 of his 29 starts (and went 6-4 when he did, compared to 2-10 the rest of the time.) Liberatore has a 4.35 ERA and a 58/24 K/BB in 62 innings on the season. He’ll face the Reds next weekend.

Given what Jacob Misiorowski was doing to Cardinals hitters today, it was pretty easy to miss Liberatore setting a career high for strikeouts for a second straight outing. He’d never topped eight before fanning nine Pirates on Tuesday, and now he has 10 for the first time. His 17 whiffs were just two fewer than Misiorowski’s total (he also had two fewer strikeouts), and while he did give up seven hits, he actually allowed only four hard-hit balls. Liberatore dropped to 2-3 with a 4.76 ERA, but his stock is climbing as he misses more bats. He’ll likely face the Cubs on Sunday.

Mautz was supposed to start Sunday’s game against the Reds and make his MLB debut, but that game was postponed. The 24-year-old will instead be a bullpen option with Matthew Liberatore getting the nod for Monday’s tilt against the Brew Crew.

Liberatore cruised through four before giving up two singles to start the fifth. He was able to retire two more batters while giving up one run, but the wheels came off afterwards, as Bryan Reynolds doubled, Marcell Ozuna walked and Oneil Cruz singled before he was lifted. Fortunately, Gordon Graceffo was able to strand both runners he inherited at that point. Liberatore finished up with 13 whiffs and a 32 percent CSW. His previous high for strikeouts was eight, though he’d topped out at six in his previous nine starts this season. He has a 4.70 ERA, and he rates as a poor play Sunday in Cincinnati.

Liberatore’s velocity was a little better than usual tonight and he had great success in amassing a 58 percent CSW on the 19 curveballs he threw, but thanks to Nick Kurtz’s grand slam in the fifth, the results just weren’t there in the end. The loss leaves him 2-2 with a 4.40 ERA. That’s not much different than his 4.21 ERA from last year, but his strikeout and walk rates are both significantly worse now than they were then. If he’s just going to be a fifth starter, it might be worth dropping his changeup and cutter and taking another look at him as a reliever at some point.

Michael King matched Liberatore through six, but Liberatore still got the win due to a Masyn Winn RBI triple in the top of the seventh that every MLB right fielder besides Nick Castellanos and Joc Pederson would have caught. It makes Liberatore 2-1 with a 4.07 ERA in eight starts. That’s solid, but given that he’s well below average in terms of generating strikeouts and groundouts, he still seems like a weak bet going forward. He’ll face the A’s next week.

Liberatore held the potent Dodgers’ lineup in check for most of the night, with his two blemishes coming on an RBI double by Max Muncy in the second inning and a sacrifice fly RBI by Kyle Tucker in the sixth inning. It was a much-needed bounce-back game for Liberatore, who was fresh off allowing five earned runs in his last outing against the Mariners. He’s allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his seven starts this season and will look to stay on track in his next start, which is set for Wednesday against the Brewers.

Liberatore allowed three homers, and amazingly — for a variety of reasons — he still outpitched Bryan Woo in this one. That’s not really a compliment, as Liberatore was consistently in trouble and was bad from the jump; allowing a two-run homer to Julio Rodríguez in the first inning. Liberatore was good against the Astros last weekend, but hasn’t shown a lick of consistency in the first month of the season. His final start of the month comes against the Pirates on Thursday.

Liberatore left with a three-run lead, but that was blown in the eighth. It means he’s still winless in spite of a 3.67 ERA after five starts. Still, while he’s unfortunate to be winless, he’s probably lucky to have that ERA; he has a 16/10 K/BB with five homers allowed in 27 innings, which makes for a 5.46 FIP. Liberatore will take on the Mariners next time out.