Tuesday night was an opportunity for the St. Louis Cardinals to rebound from a profoundly disappointing end to the road trip returning home from Philadelphia, but would it? Much of that would depend on which version of Matthew Liberatore took the mound for the Cardinals. The answer is not the one most Cardinals fans were hoping for and the end result was appalling. Not to spoil this for you if you didn’t see the game, but everyone in Busch Stadium that was not an Oriole’s fan should demand their
money back.
The game would get off to an auspicious start in the top of the 1st inning when Matthew Liberatore fielded Jackson Holliday’s dribbler on the 1st base side of the mound and fired the ball over Alec Burleson’s head into right field. Pete Alonso followed that with a solid single into left field with Holliday running on the play which gave the Orioles runners at first and third with no outs. Matthew would find a way out of the jam as he got Gunnar Henderson to pop out and then struck out Mayo and Encarnacion-Strand.
The top of the 3rd inning would be similar to the top of the 1st, but the result would be much different. Taveras reached as he beat out an infield hit. Jackson Holliday whistled a single into center which brought up Pete Alonzo who was not fooled by an 88 mph changeup which he sent soaring 435 feet deep into the left field stands for a 3-0 Baltimore lead. Two outs later, Encarnacion-Strand absolutely annihilated a 94 mph four-seam Liberatore fastball 450 feet even deeper into the left field stands for a 4-0 Orioles lead. That’s the longest home run in Busch Stadium this season.
The Cardinals would not go away silently. Nathan Church waited on a 72 mph curveball from Orioles pitcher Chris Bassett and ripped it 405 feet into the Cardinals bullpen giving St. Louis a run making the score 4-1.
That brief moment of St. Louis Cardinals optimism was short-lived. Matthew Liberatore would not survive the 5th inning. Jackson Holliday led off with his third hit of the night followed by another single from Cardinals nemesis Pete Alonzo. Matthew Liberatore then walked Gunnar Henderson to load the bases with no one out. Liberatore’s last batter was Mayo who he surrendered a single to making it 5-1 Orioles and even though Matthew was done, Baltimore wasn’t done scoring. Liberatore’s replacement was Peter Strzelecki who didn’t fare much better than his predecessor. He immediately gave up a single to Encarnacion-Strand which plated two more Orioles upping the Baltimore lead to 7-1. Stzelecki did accomplish one good thing during his relief outing. He struck out Basallo and…yeah, that’s it. Next he hit Franklin with a pitch, gave up a single to Taveras, a single to Holliday and a double to Alonzo. When the dust settled, it was 12-1 Orioles and by the time the horrific 5th inning was done, Caleb Ferguson was in the game as the designated “you’re pitching until you’re too tired to pitch for the rest of the game” guy.
As many of the regulars for both teams sat going into the top of the 6th inning, the Orioles decided to score again just for fun when Ferguson gave up back-to-back doubles to Franklin and Beavers. 13-1 Baltimore. Someone please make it stop. Oh, did I say that out loud?
The Cardinals brought in Ryan Fernandez to take care of the Oriole’s 7th inning. After Carlos Narvaez hit a double, it’s almost like the Orioles had to try hard NOT to score. When Henderson grounded out, he seemed to just stroll to third as if he felt guilty about possibly scoring another run. Fortunately, Fernandez was able to get out of the inning without further humiliation. By contrast, the Orioles starter Chris Bassitt pitched deep into the bottom of the 7th inning when he was finally lifted for Baltimore reliever Cano.
Instead of going into any more details about the nuts and bolts of what happened for the start of the St. Louis Cardinals homestand, I can sum it up in 3 words: THAT. WAS. UGLY.
I’ll add just one more thought before calling it a night. Was Matthew Liberatore’s performance sub-par? Sure it was, but that’s no excuse for what I perceived as an overall lack of energy from the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night. The fact that the game completely got out of hand in the 5th inning didn’t help, but if they expect fans to fill the stands anytime soon, a better effort isn’t just expected. It is demanded. I know it’s a long season and we’re nearing the end of it, but I’d like to see some resemblance of the young, hungry team we saw during the first couple of months. I started watching Tuesday night’s game believing the Cardinals could muster a run to grab the third Wild Card slot. Now? Give me a break. Put a fork into this season. This team is done. I’d love to be proven wrong.
The St. Louis Cardinals will try again against the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday night. Michael McGreevy gets the start for the Cardinals while the Orioles will send Kyle Bradish to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium while the game broadcast is available via Cardinals.tv.
