Matthew Liberatore’s start went south from the very first pitch, but he avoided a meltdown as the St. Louis Cardinals were playing catchup from the beginning of the game. The question would end up being whether their less than spectacular offense lately would muster enough runs to overcome the Rockies fast start. Short answer? No.
Pitch one of inning one to the Colorado Rockies was a 95 mph four-seam fastball from Matthew Liberatore to Jake McCarthy and it traveled 420 feet into the right field stands of Busch Stadium for an immediate 1-0 Rockies lead. It could have been worse as Matthew then walked Karros and many of us in Cardinals fandom started fearing a 1st inning meltdown like we’ve seen from Liberatore a few times this season. Fortunately, one run is all the Rockies would get after a bonehead baserunning error as Karros was doubled off of second on a ball caught by Winn.
The St. Louis Cardinals would seize back the lead in the bottom of the 1st inning when Iván Herrera ripped a two-out double to left. Alec Burleson would strike out, but reach first on a passed ball charged to Goodman. That would bring up José Fermín who would provide a true big league 8-pitch at-bat eventually pulling an 82 mph knuckle-curve into the left field corner scoring both Herrera and Burleson giving the Cardinals a temporary 2-1 lead.
Liberatore would run into trouble in the top of the 3rd inning, too. With one out, McCarthy would reach first on an infield single. Matthew then hit Karros with a pitch giving Colorado runners on first and second. Both those runners would steal off of of Herrera before Carrigg would double to center scoring both runners and giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead. They would add more more when Goodman singled to right making it 4-2 Colorado.
The Cardinals would miss a great chance to either tie or take the lead in the bottom of the 4th inning when they would load the bases on a Fermín walk, a Blaze Jordan single and a hit-by-pitch from newcomer Everson Pereira. With two outs, JJ Wetherholt would hit a laser shot with the bases loaded that unfortunately was directed right at Rockies centerfielder Cole Carrigg to end the threat.
Colorado would up their lead to 3 in the top of the 5th inning when Carrigg would hit a one-out double to left. Two batters later, Rumfield would single through the hole at shortstop scoring Carrigg and making it 5-2 Rockies.
The St. Louis Cardinals would have another great opportunity in the bottom of the 5th inning when they would load the bases again, this time with just one out when Herrera doubled, Burleson and Fermín would walk. That brought up Masyn Winn with a chance to do damage. His damage would be light, but effective. He flied out to centerfield and the throw home was not handled by Rockies catcher Goodman as Herrera scored cutting into the Colorado lead making it 5-3. The St. Louis threat wasn’t over. A wild pitch by Meija would move the Cardinals runners up to 2nd and 3rd and then he walked Bryan Torres to load the bases again. Nathan Church ripped a 95 mph four-seam fastball that was unfortunately grabbed by Rockies second baseman Castro who threw him out at first to end the Cardinals 5th.
Matthew Liberatore’s night would end after 5 laborious innings. He surrendered 9 hits, 5 earned runs while striking out 3 and walking 2. Luis Gastelum took over in the top of the 6th inning and he was helped by a great recovery by Alec Burleson on a pop fly from Burk. Two batters later after a walk to Tovar, Gastellum grooved a 94 mph four-seam fastball to McCarthy who sent it flying 417 feet to center giving the Rockies a commanding 7-3 lead.
The Cardinals would fight back in the bottom of the 6th inning when Everson Pereira drew a leadoff walk. After Wetherholt and Walker were unable to drive him in, Pereira would score when Herrera would come through again inching the Cardinals closer as the Rockies lead was cut to 3 at 7-4.
The St. Louis Cardinals bottom of the 7th would get interesting quick when Fermin drew a leadoff walk followed by a solid single to left by Masyn Winn giving St. Louis runners at first and second with no outs. Bryan Torres followed with a lineout to left. Nathan Church barely missed the pitch he was looking for as he just got under an 82 mph sweeper flying out to right for the second out. Pereira weak flyball to right would end the Cardinals 7th leaving them with another opportunity missed.
The top of the 8th inning would be handled by one of the newest members of the Cardinals bullpen, Peter Strzelecki. He set the Rockies down 1-2-3 to keep St. Louis within (somewhat) striking distance. The definition of “striking distance” depends on how optimistic or not you are about the Cardinals offense ability to rally at this point of the season. Jordan Walker gave us all hope when he broke his homerless streak since his historic Home Run Derby ripping a mammoth 432 foot blast off of a 79 mph changeup cutting the Rockies lead to 7-5.
Strzelecki stayed in the game for the top of the 9th, but could not keep the Rockies from adding to their lead. After McCarthy reached on a one-out bunt single, he stole second easily on Herrera and then advanced to third on a balk by Strzelecki. Karros then hit a sacrifice fly that scored McCarthy upping the Colorado lead to 8-5.
Colorado Rockies reliever Jordan Romano was brought in to shut down the Cardinals in the bottom of the 9th. José Fermín welcomed him to the game with a leadoff single. He stole second because the Rockies didn’t care about his run, but it got the Cardinals out of a double play situation. Masyn Winn flew out to left on the 7th pitch he saw for the first out. Bryan Torres grounded out to first for the second out. Nathan Church ripped a RBI single to right scoring Fermín cutting the Rockies lead to 8-6 and bringing up the tying run in the form of pinch-hitter Cesar Prieto who sadly struck out to end the game.
The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their weekend series against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday as Michael McGreevy gets the ball for the good guys while the mountain people will start RHP Michael Lorensen. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm at Busch Stadium and the TV broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.
