Matthew Liberatore was his best self Friday afternoon as the St. Louis Cardinals entered the gauntlet of Wrigley Field to play the Cubs for the start of a crucial weekend series. The problem was that Cubs starter Clay Holmes was even better. The first 2/3 of the game was a scoreless and nearly hitless duel. Wheels would start to come off for the Cardinals in that last third of the game, though.
There are no offensive highlights to share with you from the first half of the game. However, there were a couple of defensive gems provided by the middle infield of the Cardinals. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Pete Crow-Armstrong was robbed by Masyn Winn. ROBBED!
The very next batter Suzuki was also denied base access, this time by future Gold Glove second baseman JJ Wetherholt. ROBBED AGAIN!
The Cubs would threaten to break through the scoring drought in the bottom of the 6th inning when Liberatore handed out a leadoff walk to Taylor. Dansby Swanson singled to center which gave Chicago runners at first and third with no outs. Matthew was able to get PCA to foul out to third for the first out, but that would be the end of Liberatore’s strong outing Friday. George Soriano was brought in to face Suzuki. During his at-bat, Swanson stole second giving the Cubs two runners in scoring position. The stolen base wouldn’t matter as Suzuki connected on an 88 mph changeup as it cleared the wall in left field traveling 390 feet and giving Chicago a 3-0 lead.
The Chicago Cubs 6th inning wasn’t over yet as Soriano followed the Suzuki homer with a walk to Alex Bregman and a single to Michael Busch still with just one out. Fortunately, JJ Wetherholt and Masyn Winn combined on a double play on a grounder from Nico Hoerner to end the inning with the damage already being done. The final stat line for Matthew Liberatore would look less impressive than the eye test where he looked extremely sharp for the first 5 innings. Matthew tossed 5 1/3 innings striking out 6 and only walking 1, but those 2 earned runs that crossed the plate along with the 1 Soriano was responsible for were a killer.
Peter Strzelecki handled the Cubs in the bottom of the 7th after the Cardinals failed to generate an offensive threat in the top of the inning. He pitched around an infield single by Carson Kelly to keep Chicago from adding to their lead. Ryan Zeferjahn was the Cubs solution for the top of the 8th inning. He struck out Masyn Winn, but Bryan Torres managed to pull a single into right field to give St. Louis a tiny bit of hope. José Fermín fought through a tough at-bat to draw a walk to give the Cardinals runners at first and second with just one out and the potential tying run coming up. César Prieto was that potential tying run, but all he could manage was a flyout to center for the second out. That brought up JJ Wetherholt who has had a solid season against Chicago pitching. Could he come up with a clutch hit? Nope. JJ struckout to end the Cardinals 8th. Wetherholt was 0-4 Friday.
Peter Strzelecki remained in the game to deal with the Cubs in the bottom of the 8th inning, too. He allowed a one-out double to Suzuki and also a two-out walk to Bregman to give Chicago runners at first and second for one more scoring chance. Fortunately, Strzelecki got Hoerner to ground out to keep St. Louis within 3 runs.
The St. Louis Cardinals top of the 9th inning would start with Iván Herrera. He would face Cubs reliever Jacob Webb who he would rip a single off of. Alec Burleson was next and he grounded into a fielder’s choice where Swanson and Bregman forced Herrera at second for the first out. It was Jordan Walker’s turn next. He quickly struck out on three pitches. Last hope for the good guys was Nathan Church. He flew out to end the game as the Cubs grabbed the victory.
It’s game 2 of the weekend series tomorrow as the St. Louis Cardinals battle the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field Saturday afternoon. Cardinals will give the ball to Michael McGreevy while the Chicago Cubs will start Matthew Boyd. First pitch is set for 1:20pm central time with the game broadcast available through Cardinals.tv.