PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The hitless and scoreless start to spring training for Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore ended Monday night in an 8-0 loss at Clover Park against the Mets.
After retiring the first three he faced to begin his relief outing in the sixth inning, 25-year-old Liberatore had his hitless streak end vs. New York on a one-out single from Jose Azocar. Two batters and two singles later, Liberatore’s stretch of 8 1/3 consecutive innings without giving up a run ended when Mets prospect Luisangel Acuna singled home Azocar.
Liberatore recorded a lineout and issued a walk before being replaced by right-hander Andre Granillo, who recorded a strikeout to end the inning with the bases loaded. Liberatore returned to pitch the eighth inning and retired the side to end his outing.
Before Monday’s relief appearance, Liberatore allowed just two walks through his first three games this spring. Liberatore has a 1.86 ERA and five strikeouts through four Grapefruit League outings following Monday.
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Liberatore was one of three Cardinals pitchers to give up multiple runs on Monday.Â
In his second Grapefruit League start, righty Sonny Gray allowed four runs on six hits that included two homers.
Gray began his outing with a scoreless first inning that included a strikeout of Mets star Juan Soto. A double from Jeff McNeil with two outs in the second inning pushed across the game’s first run. Gray allowed two more runs to score in the following at-bat when he surrendered a two-run homer to Luis Torrens. In the third inning, Soto belted a first-pitch cutter off Gray for a solo homer to begin the frame.
Reliver Ryan Fernandez allowed two runs in his lone inning of work. Both runs scored on a home run from Mark Vientos.
Cardinals batters combined for three hits against a Mets pitching staff that rolled out right-handed starter Griffin Canning. The Cardinals collected one hit — a line drive single from designated hitter Luken Baker — and struck out five times against Canning before he exited the game after 3 2/3 innings.
Jose Barrero, who substituted into the game at left field in place of starter Brendan Donovan, and Nolan Gorman, who started at third base, provided the only other two hits by a Cardinal in the loss.
