Matthew

Liberatore

The Cardinals will then follow with Sonny Gray on Saturday and Miles Mikolas on Sunday, which means Erick Fedde will likely start Monday against the Rockies in Coors Field, and Matthew Liberatore will follow on Tuesday.

Liberatore gave up nine hits, walked one and struck out none. The 25-year-old left-hander had allowed six runs in his last four starts (24 innings) combined. Liberatore will take a 4.13 ERA and 80/22 K/BB ratio in 100 1/3 innings into the All-Star break.

Liberatore walked four, but he mostly got away with it, as just two of the 15 balls in play against him were hard-hit. One of those was a wind-aided homer from Michael Busch. Liberatore has allowed a total of six runs over his last four starts, lowering his ERA from 4.17 to 3.70. He’ll likely face the Braves on Friday.

Liberatore walked five today, but he was facing a team that just isn’t hitting at the moment. The Guardians had three hard-hit balls (all against Liberatore) today, two of which were routine flies from José Ramírez. JoJo Romero, Riley O’Brien and John King each pitched hitless innings afterwards to complete the shutout. Liberatore improved to 6-6 with a 3.70 ERA. He’ll pitch in Wrigley against the Cubs next weekend.

Liberatore threw just 85 pitches to get 21 outs. Interestingly, the spin rates on all his pitches tonight were 100-160 rpms better than his season averages. His fastball was up most of all, averaging 2,242 rpms versus a season mark of 2,083. Whatever he was doing differently, we hope it sticks. He’s due to face the Guardians on Sunday.

It snaps a three-start losing skid. Liberatore allowed five hits, walked none and struck out four, which sounds pretty good. Of course, he was facing a bottom-five offense, and his 86 pitches produced just four missed swings and 11 hard-hit balls. Liberatore should be avoided in mixed leagues for now. He’ll pitch at home against the Reds next.

The good news is that Liberatore’s fastball was all of the way back today after he left his previous start with “fatigue” amid a velocity drop. Still, it was another mediocre outing for the left-hander, who was stuck facing nothing except for righties and switch-hitters today, He’s given up 14 earned runs over 14 innings in his last three starts, taking his ERA from 2.73 to 3.93. He gets the White Sox next, so that should help.

The 25-year-old hurler had allowed six runs on eight hits and a walk in his four-plus frames before departing with a trainer in the fifth inning. His velocity and spin rate were both down on Thursday, which may have sparked concern and been part of the reason for his removal. Manager Oliver Marmol said there was “no injury, no pain” after the game, so we’d tentatively expect Liberatore to make his next scheduled start against the Blue Jays.

Only Mother Nature can keep rookie sensation Jac Caglianone from stepping onto a big-league diamond anymore. Both teams were going to have to endure several hours of waiting out rain showers before an extremely late start, so they’ve decided instead to play a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon. Wednesday’s original starting pitchers— Noah Cameron and Miles Mikolas — will presumably take the ball at some point during Thursday’s twin bill at Busch Stadium. Royals ace Cole Ragans (groin) will return from the injured list to start the nightcap affair against Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore.

For the first time in a long time, Liberatore ran into trouble during this start. The Rangers jumped on him for five runs through the first two innings and his command was off. His sliders didn’t have their usual bite and Josh Jung and Wyatt Langford turned around some cutters that got a hair too much of the plate. Still, he managed to settle down through the middle innings and saved his ratios a bit. He’s scheduled to face the Royals at home next time out.