KANSAS CITY -- Matthew Liberatore’s team-high 15th start this season was one he would like to forget.
From the first inning when Bobby Witt Jr. smacked a solo homer, to the second inning when the Royals turned double-happy and put up six runs, Liberatore couldn’t find his groove. The Cardinals left-hander lasted only 1 2/3 innings and was charged with seven hits and seven runs (five earned) as St. Louis started its I-70 series with a 14-6 loss.
In recent weeks, Liberatore hadn’t been pitching deep into games, but was able to keep the Cardinals in a position to win. They had figured out a way to emerge victorious in four of Liberatore’s last five starts prior to Thursday’s outing at Kauffman Stadium.
But this time, the hole grew too deep early as the Royals got after Liberatore with a barrage of solid contact in the second. The Royals batted around and wound up with five doubles in the inning. It marked the first time that had happened to the Cardinals since they allowed five doubles in an inning to the Mets in a 2000 NLCS game.
Given a 2-0 lead in the first, Liberatore couldn’t sustain the momentum. His earned run average jumped from 4.71 to 5.23 and his last seven starts have all been five innings or less. It seemed for a moment as though Liberatore might have found something after Witt’s first-inning homer. The left-hander finished the inning by striking out Jac Caglianone and Starling Marte.
But the Royals got right back to work in the second. An error by left fielder Nelson Velazquez on Michael Massey’s fly ball complicated the issue and Liberatore wound up leaving after throwing just 48 pitches.
“The loss is on me tonight,” Liberatore said. “We jump out to a lead and I go out and squander it. Just not a good way to create momentum for the team and set the team up for success.”
Liberatore said he would need some time to study Thursday’s outing before he could fully put it in perspective.
Upon quick reflection, Liberatore said Witt’s homer in the first and Salvador Perez’s leadoff double that started the second-inning uprising stood out to him as mistake pitches.
“The changeup to Salvy and the sinker down to Bobby were not executed pitches,” Liberatore said. “Honestly, a majority of them were. So maybe some re-evaluating on my end as far as the strategy goes and understanding the hitters. I think I’m going to need some time to dig deep into this one and evaluate it more before I can give a solid answer.”
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol credited the Royals’ offense for its approach against Liberatore.
“I think those guys did a really nice job against him today,” Marmol said. “So, we’ll look at it as far as pitches thrown and sequence and location. And we’ll see if we can come up with a better solution for Libby.”
On a night when the Cardinals couldn’t keep Kansas City down, the St. Louis offense kept trying to battle uphill. JJ Wetherholt had three hits and reached base five times, lifting his batting average to .266. Masyn Winn chipped in three hits and Blaze Jordan, José Fermín and Jordan Walker added two hits apiece.
“That was a real positive in being down that many runs and still not giving in to anything,” Marmol said. “We left a lot of guys on base (15), but we created a lot of opportunities.
“You learn from it. You flush it and keep moving. We’ll be just fine.”