Liberatore outduels King as Cardinals take series opener

SAN DIEGO -- The Cardinals came into a loud, sold-out Petco Park to open a four-game series and didn’t flinch against a Padres team that feeds off the nightly fun vibe at the downtown ballpark.

The Cardinals got timely hitting to back Matthew Liberatore, who outdueled Michael King through six innings, and beat the Padres 2-1.

“You want to check certain boxes when you come to growth and development with this young group this year, and one of them is being able to play in tough environments,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “I’d like to see another group as young as ours that calm in an environment like this.”

Not only did the Cardinals quiet the large crowd, but they kept fireballer Mason Miller in the bullpen, and on his bobblehead night, no less. Riley O’Brien pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save to tie Miller for the MLB lead.

Masyn Winn hit a go-ahead triple past sliding right fielder Nick Castellanos to bring in Jordan Walker with the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.

The Cardinals won for the eighth time in 10 games while getting just five hits, but it was enough for Liberatore (2-1) to get the win after throwing six strong innings.

They also might have gotten a break because Fernando Tatis Jr., a two-time NL Platinum Glove Award winner in right field, was starting at second base for the eighth time this season. Rookie manager Craig Stammen has put Tatis at second to occasionally rest Jake Cronenworth, who is currently on the seven-day IL after experiencing concussion symptoms earlier this week.

Castellanos started in right field instead and couldn’t get to Winn’s line drive, with the ball rolling to the warning track to allow Walker to score from second. Walker had greeted reliever Bradgley Rodriguez with a leadoff double into the corner in left.

Alec Burleson homered off King for the Cardinals’ first hit, with one out in the fourth, to tie the game. The left-handed batter hit a first-pitch changeup 111.2 mph onto the party deck beyond the right-field wall.

It was the sixth homer of the year for Burleson, the reigning NL Player of the Week.

Liberatore settled down after allowing three straight baserunners with two outs in the first to fall behind 1-0. He walked Manny Machado and allowed a sharp single to left by Tatis before Xander Bogaerts singled on a check-swing blooper to right that fell in just in front of Walker to bring in Machado.

Liberatore picked off Bogaerts to end the inning, then allowed only three baserunners over the rest of his six-inning outing, two of which were erased on double plays. He gave up one run on three hits, struck out six and walked three.

“[Tonight] was probably the best his curveball’s been, which is the biggest differential in speed with all his pitches, so it allows him to keep guys off balance,” Marmol said.

“[The curveball] felt really good tonight,” Liberatore added. “Just the command of the off-speed stuff in general felt really good tonight and I think that helped me quite a bit.”

He enjoyed the atmosphere.

“That was a lot of fun. Really good arm going against us, it’s a really good lineup, great energy and great atmosphere in this ballpark. Couldn’t ask for a better ballgame than that, honestly. It is always fun when the crowd gets loud and you know they’re into it, you’re facing a good team in their ballpark, and all those things add to it a little bit.”

O’Brien retired the top of the order -- Jackson Merrill, Miguel Andujar and Machado -- for the save.

“It was exciting. I was definitely fired up,” O’Brien said. “Playing games in a full stadium always makes the game more enjoyable and a better environment.”