The Cardinals made late night changes with their rotation after last night’s game two loss, those plans were to call up Matthew Liberatore for his season debut vs a team that’s abysmal vs LHP. And boy, did it pay off big time.
Libby came out the gates aggressive with the heater up in the zone, spotting a handful of 97-98mph fastballs thru his first couple innings of work.
He started his evening with a quick, 12-pitch, 1st inning- striking out Miller (looking 96mph FB) and Adames (swinging 98mph FB).
The Cardinals would scratch an early run across the plate vs Burnes in the bottom half of the 1st. After a Noot fly out to CF, Goldy drew a walk, Norm roped a single into RF to move Goldy to 3B, and Nado came through by tapping and infield single to Anderson for his 1,000th career rbi.
Burnes went shutdown mode through his next four frames, but what was fun to see was Tommy Edman (batting right-handed vs Burnes to avoid that nasty cutter as a LHB) lining a single back up the middle at 102.5mph.
Libby would cruise through his final 4 innings, adding two more k’s vs Wiemer along the way, getting him in the 2nd on a curve and in the 5th looking at 95mph gas. The biggest moment for Liberatore came against Tyrone Taylor in the 4th with 2 outs. Taylor would jump on the first offering, sending what looked like a game tying HR to CF. Oli would elect to get the play looked at, and after replay review, the call would be overturned to a double.
The pen would toss 4IP scoreless in relief of Libby- Pallante (1IP/ 1k), Gio (1.2IP/ 3k), Helsley (1.1IP/ 1k).
The biggest blow of the game came from Pauly Deez vs Burnes in the bottom of the 6th with two outs and Donovan on 1B. Deez would get a center-cut cutter, smashing it to Freese’s Lawn for his 5th HR of the season, breaking the game open to a 3-0 Cardinals lead.
That’s all the Cardinals would need, as Helsley would finish off the final four outs for his 5th save of the year.
I also don’t want it to go unnoticed because it’s a wonderful story, but Óscar Mercado would make his Cardinals debut in the 7th, replacing Burleson on defense in LF.
The Cardinals (18-26) welcome the Dodgers (28-16) to town tomorrow night for the start of a four-game set. Uncle Charlie (0-0, 7.20) makes his third start of the season, facing off vs the lefty, Julio Urías (5-3, 3.61).
First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm c/t.
Cheers, Stew