Liberatore's great effort vs. Reds derailed by one pitch

CINCINNATI -- Two of the National League’s top rookies were at the center of the sequence that saw the Reds wrestle control of Wednesday night’s game at Great American Ball Park away from Matthew Liberatore and the Cardinals.

With the Reds looking for damage down 2-0 in the sixth inning, Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt nearly added to his tally of 22 Outs Above Average to lead all NL infielders. But a leaping attempt on an Elly De La Cruz line drive grazed off his leather and rolled into the outfield grass.

The next batter took Liberatore deep to center field.

Sal Stewart made his indelible mark on the proceedings with a three-run blast to put the Reds ahead.

The Cardinals fell to the Reds, 5-4, but they had life down to their final swing. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Jordan Walker hit a two-run home run, his 25th of the season, to cut the deficit back to one run.

José Fermín followed with a double and reached third as the tying run on a wild pitch, but Masyn Winn’s dribbler in front of the plate was fielded and delivered to first base cleanly by Reds closer Emilio Pagán.

“The grass was, like, super wet,” Fermin said, his crossing home plate negated by the force out. “He made a good play.”

The Cardinals' infield didn’t have the same experience in the Reds’ two-run bottom of the eighth that proved costly in light of Walker’s late power surge.

Cincinnati’s insurance came on a pair of bunts -- one resulting in a throwing error by third baseman Blaze Jordan and another that was simply a perfect safety squeeze up the first-base line by Dane Myers, who then reached safely when no fielder covered the bag at first.

“I mean, you look at the bunts,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “The one down the first-base line was well executed. You’re not going to make a play there at home. Both of them go to the ball, and it’s a well-executed bunt.

“The other one -- Blaze has done a really nice job at third. So, it looks like the game is [won or lost] in that inning, but it’s just baseball sometimes.”

Liberatore had allowed just one hit through five innings in an effort that was shaping up brilliantly until things unraveled in the sixth.

Liberatore had flipped the script on his typical usage on Friday in Chicago, letting spin steer the ship. He threw sliders 35% of the time in that game, up from his season average usage of 24%.

Conversely, Liberatore’s fastball usage dipped from his season average of 31% to just 20% in that outing, a less-is-more approach that allowed the fastball to provide more purpose to the repertoire when he did throw it.

“Once you flip the script, they flip the script, so it’s a cat-and-mouse game constantly,” Marmol explained prior to Liberatore’s outing Wednesday. “But it’s close to what you would want that usage to look like in order for there to be success, yes. Because he got a lot of outs on the fastball. He used it less. But he still got a decent amount of outs on it. So, that balance is key.”

But as the game unfolded Wednesday, it was clear that Liberatore was striking a counterbalance relative to his spin-heavy start in the Windy City, leaning on his fastball a whopping 45% of the time against the Reds.

Of course, it wasn’t a problem until it was. Prior to Stewart’s home run, the Reds' lineup had only managed to put his four-seamer in play twice -- and both swings resulted in flyouts.

Stewart’s swing did not.

“Just kind of what the game called for,” Liberatore said. “This was a lineup that you could throw a little more heaters to, but … really want one pitch back.”

In a 1-2 count, Liberatore left a 94.1 mph fastball center cut. The Reds’ rookie slugger deposited it onto the batter’s eye in center field.

“Wasn’t really trying to throw that pitch anywhere close to the zone,” Liberatore said. “Unfortunately -- it’s not a miss that I make a lot where I yank a heater down. I usually miss upper arm side. I just aimed a ball or two above the zone and tried to let it rip, knowing that would probably buy me some spin back and just kind of reset his eyes a little bit, maybe we get a chase.

“Yanked it right into his honey hole.”