Forrest Gump once said that life is like a box of chocolates because you never know which kind you’re going to get. The same can be said for Matthew Liberatore this season. Will you get good Libby or bad Libby? Saturday, the Cardinals ended up with both versions, but it would be more late inning magic powered by Jordan Walker and Lars Nootbaar that would help St. Louis overcome Cincinnati again.
Saturday’s Cards/Reds matchup started out almost completely opposite of what went down Friday night. Instead of coming back from a 3-run deficit in the early innings to tie the game, the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Alec Burleson and José Fermín opened up the inning with back-to-back singles. Bryan Torres then bunted both of them over and ended up on first base himself when he beat the throw to load the bases. After Pedro Pagés flew out to left, Victor Scott II came through with a partial-swing single dumping the ball into right field and scoring both Burleson and Fermin. St. Louis would get a sharp single from Masyn Winn, too, giving St. Louis their early 3-0 lead.
The St. Louis Cardinals enjoyed Good Libby for the first two innings as he didn’t allow any hits or baserunners and got through both innings throwing just 19 pitches. In the Cardinals edition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Bad Libby took the mound in the top of the 3rd and allowed the Reds to rally. He walked the first two batters, Marte and McLain. After getting one out on a bunt popup gone wrong, Liberatore got the ground ball he needed from JJ Bleday, but it went under the glove of Alec Burleson and first scoring the two runners that Liberatore walked cutting the St. Louis lead down to 3-2. Spencer Steer would hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3-3.
Cincinnati took their first lead of the game in the top of the 4th when Dunn singled and then two batters later, McClain hit a 381 foot home run on a 85 mph Liberatore slider making it 5-3 Reds. That would end Matthew’s day as Oli Marmol brought in Gordon Graceffo to put out the fire which he did. Matthew Liberatore’s final stat line for Saturday was 4 1/3 innings allowing 4 hits, 5 runs total, 3 of them earned with 4 strikeouts and 3 unfortunate walks.
Not so fast say the comeback Cardinals. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Jordan Walker hammered a 94 mph full-count sinker and sent it off of the railing above the right-center field wall for his 16th home run of the year cutting the Reds lead to just 1.
The Cardinals and Reds would team up in the bottom of the 6th to try and cause trouble for Cincinnati. José Fermín ripped a single to center and then Bryan Torres would chop a ball into the ground toward third when Suarez would decide to not let the ball go foul and threw high to first base giving St. Louis runners on first and second with no one out. Fermin and Torres then stole the bases in front of them making it second and third with no one out. Lars Nootbaar was sent up as a pinch hitter, but the Reds intentionally walked him to load the bases because they apparently wanted Cincinnati to lose as much as we did. Oli Marmol then pinch-hit Jimmy Crooks for Pedro Pages, but he hit into a rally-killing double play. Masyn Winn’s ground out ended the inning with the Cardinals getting ZERO runs out of a bases-loaded nobody out opportunity. Even with the Reds tendencies toward self-destruction, we got nothing.
Gordon Graceffo did a solid job in relief. He allowed 2 hits, but got out of a couple jams allowing the Reds no runs during 1 2/3 innings of relief. Ryne Stanek was brought in to pitch what turned out to be a very uneventful 1-2-3 top of the 7th inning. It was George Soriano answering the bell in the top of the 8th inning. Other than a pitch clock violation and a double given up to Dunn, no real harm done as he did not allow the Reds to extend their lead.
The Cardinals would threaten in the bottom of the 8th inning when José Fermín hit the 7th pitch he saw for a single through the right side of the infield. Bryan Torres executed a perfect sacrifice bunt moving him up to second base. That brought up Lars Nootbaar who reminded everyone why we always scream NOOT! With one Lars swing, the Cardinals were back in the lead 6-5 on a 433 foot 2-run homer!
Riley O’Brien was brought in for the top of the 9th inning to confirm the win we all knew was coming in and he did, but not without drama. He allowed two 2-out hits giving Cincinnati the tying run 90 feet away. It was all down to Riley O’Brien versus Spencer Steer who he walked to load the bases for rookie Sal Stewart. That led to a Dusty Blake mound visit. Not sure what was said, but it led to a full count ground out to second to end the game. Thank you, Jimmy Crooks for that ABS appeal on the 3-1 pitch that was called a ball, but was overturned. Whew, that was too close. Somewhere, I’d like to think that former Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue is smiling watching the Reds be miserable again.
The St. Louis Cardinals will wrap up a long homestand on Sunday by trying to sweep the Cincinnati Reds. Michael McGreevy is scheduled to make the start for the Cardinals while RHP Rhett Lowder will take the mound for the Reds. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm central time at Busch Stadium and the broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.
