ST. LOUIS -- All eyes were on Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore on Wednesday.
Arguably the most consistent member of the Cardinals’ rotation for the first third of the season, Liberatore left his previous start after just four-plus innings with what the club deemed fatigue-related issues.
There was no health-related early exit against Toronto, but the struggles continued as the Cardinals lost 5-2 to the Blue Jays, to get swept in the three-game series.
“Felt better physically today,” Liberatore said. “Shapes, bends, everything felt like it was in a much better spot today. So, feel confident in that moving forward.”
While Liberatore’s four-seam fastball velocity dipped as low as 91.3 after starting in the mid-90’s, it was still a far cry from dropping as low as 89.5 in his last outing.
“It was still [about] average velo over the course of the entire outing,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It was still better than last time. He felt much better, so that's a plus. So, him coming out of this outing feeling positive ... just physically getting through that outing, we're in a good spot.”
Liberatore (3-6) allowed five runs (three earned) in five innings. The Blue Jays stung him for eight hits, while Liberatore struck out four and walked one.
Liberatore has allowed at least five runs in each of his past three outings. He is 0-3 in the span with a 9.00 ERA and he hasn’t had a positive decision since May 6.
The struggles have come after a strong start to the season. Liberatore worked six innings or more in eight of his first 10 starts this season, with one of those two sub-six inning efforts being a rain-shortened start in Cincinnati on May 1.
“This outing, compared with the previous two outings, there was really good adjustment than in the last two,” Cardinals catcher Yohel Pozo said. “So, the next outing is going to be better.”
Liberatore got through the first two innings against the Blue Jays unscathed, establishing his fastball early. He threw about 50% fastballs the first time through the order, with a heavy dose of offspeed as the game unfolded.
“Strategy, I mean, you got a lot of righties,” Marmol said. “You got to flip the script to some degree in order to navigate that lineup. It's a good lineup, and the curveball was a really good pitch point today.”
Trouble started when Tyler Heineman reached on a two-base fielding error by second baseman Nolan Gorman to lead off the third. Bo Bichette followed with an RBI single and George Springer capped the rally with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2, with both runs being unearned.
“I think it's just placing a higher importance on getting your chase pitches to your chase locations and I tried to do that to the best of my ability,” Liberatore said. “I felt like I didn't make some really good swing-and-miss pitches that they fouled off in the second that weren't in the chase locations. They were all over them, and that's what this lineup does.”
Myles Straw led off the fourth with a bunt single and eventually scored on a Bichette sacrifice fly. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with an RBI single to score Jonatan Clase to give the Blues Jays a 4-2 lead.
Ernie Clement turned on a 93.2 mph fastball from Liberatore for a solo homer to add to the Toronto lead in the fifth.
Willson Contreras capitalized on an Eric Lauer throwing error that put Masyn Winn on third with an RBI single to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the first.
Pozo added to the lead with a solo homer in the second, his second of the season and first since his season debut on April 7.
The Cardinals will try to snap a four-game losing streak as they kick off a seven-game road trip with the first of four in Milwaukee on Thursday night.
“It's easy to look at it and say we got swept, but two out of those three games are some of the most competitive games we've played all year, and nine times out of 10, come out and score nine runs, you're going to win a ballgame,” Liberatore said, referring to Tuesday night’s 10-9 loss. “So, you know, hopefully our offense just keeps doing what it's doing, and I know our pitching staff is going to do a better job.”