ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays certainly have no regrets about the trade they made with the Cardinals on Jan. 9, 2020. That four-player deal brought them Randy Arozarena, the 2020 postseason hero, 2021 American League Rookie of the Year and 2023 All-Star starter who single-handedly fills the special “Randy Land” sections in left field at Tropicana Field on Friday nights.
There is no doubt the Rays have gotten the better end of that deal. But Matthew Liberatore reminded them what they gave up to make it happen.
Liberatore, the pitching prospect who went to St. Louis in the Arozarena trade, put together the best start of his MLB career and shut down the Rays for eight innings in their 5-2 loss to the Cardinals on Thursday night. Tampa Bay has lost consecutive games for the first time since July 22-23, which was also the last time the club had dropped a series.
For obvious reasons, Arozarena was among those curious to get an in-person look at Liberatore.
“Just because I was interested to see who they traded me for,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “He got into a nice rhythm those eight innings. As far as I know, I think that might have been the best game he pitched all season.”
Coincidence or not, the former Rays prospect’s first appearance against his original team was indeed his best start in the Majors -- by far.
Liberatore, the 23-year-old lefty taken 16th overall in the 2018 Draft by Tampa Bay, pitched a career-high eight scoreless innings, allowed only two hits, struck out a career-best seven batters without a walk and induced 15 swings and misses in his 101-pitch outing.
He retired his final 14 batters and faced the minimum after the first inning, completely neutralizing a lineup that had owned a .700 winning percentage (14-6) against left-handed starters this season.
"I think everybody was pretty complimentary of his stuff. We have been for a long time -- we drafted him first,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He pitched a good ballgame. I didn't see anything different from what he's done in the past, but he got in a really good rhythm, in sync well and mixed, executed like you would want a pitcher to do."
The Rays got a quality start of their own from Zack Littell. The right-hander gave up three runs, two of them on a fourth-inning homer by Andrew Knizner, while striking out five and completing a career-high six innings for the second consecutive start. He was efficient, too, needing only 73 pitches to get through the outing.
Cash said he remains “just so impressed and encouraged” with Littell’s successful transition from the bullpen into the rotation, and Littell noted it was the best he’s felt in his limited experience as a big league starter.
“Feel like a little bit of the routine kind of kicking in, starting to get to the point where I'm peaking on that fifth day. I was happy with it,” Littell said. “Wish I could take the pitch [to Knizner] back, obviously. … The goal is just to eat innings, and the only way you're going to do that is just pound the zone.”
Littell permitted another run on a strange sequence in the sixth inning. With Nolan Arenado running from first base with two outs, Alec Burleson rolled a single up the middle. The ball scooted through the infield, and center fielder Jose Siri ran in to retrieve it. Arenado dashed home, beat Siri’s throw to the plate and scored from first on a 67.2 mph ground ball.
“Everything went right on that play for them, and everything went wrong on that play for us,” Cash said.
Littell’s effort went to waste, however, because the Rays couldn’t get much going despite loading their lineup with right-handed hitters against a lefty who entered the night with a 6.47 ERA in 19 big league appearances. Liberatore said his performance had nothing to do with the opponent.
“Maybe looking back on it, it’s something that's a little hidden gem in the game tonight,” he said. “But once that first pitch is thrown, it’s another team.”
Liberatore gave up a first-inning single to Arozarena, coincidentally, who then stole second and third to put himself in scoring position. But Harold Ramírez grounded out, and that turned out to be the Rays’ best chance until Wander Franco -- who was picked off at second in the fourth inning by his former Minor League teammate -- ripped an RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch in the ninth.
“I don't feel like we made probably enough adjustments early on in the ballgame, and then we've seen when good pitchers settle in, they kind of get on cruise control,” Cash said. “That's kind of how it felt.”