FORT MYERS, Fla. — Whether it was the batter who, irritatingly, stepped out of the box or the opportunity he had to put a fierce, fastball finish on his most assertive start yet this spring, Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore felt the sensation he’d been seeking at his fingertips.
And he could sustain it.
“If you’re constantly behind in the count or there is a lot of hard contact, it’s hard to feel like you can stand there and puff your chest out and still act like the biggest, baddest dude on the field,†Liberatore said Tuesday. “When the stuff is there and I’m feeling like I’m giving myself an opportunity to compete with every pitch, it’s a lot easier to take that next step, ‘OK, I can tap into that next gear now.’â€
Liberatore finished his eventful but ultimately fruitful four innings against Boston at JetBlue Park with a 96 mph fastball for a called strike three and his fifth strikeout.
People are also reading…
On their two-day, two-game visit to Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Cardinals purposefully scripted back-to-back starts for Liberatore and Zack Thompson. The coaching staff wanted to compare and contrast on consecutive days the two young lefties auditioning for the same role. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ wanted to make the days as comparable to starts as possible with Liberatore driving over Monday night to get a full night in Fort Myers, as the Cardinals sometimes do in the regular season for the first starter of a series.
Although encouraged by the stride Sonny Gray made Monday to return to the mound from a hamstring injury, the Cardinals are still preparing alternative starters to open the year — either as a short-term substitute for Gray or as part of a six-man rotation to combat a grueling schedule.
What the Cardinals want to see from either lefty is the same.
“Consistency,†manager Oliver Marmol said.
What that means for each lefty is not exactly the same.
For Thompson, who starts Wednesday against Minnesota, there’s the shape and use of his breaking pitch and the development of pitches to play off his fastball in addition to steady speed from that fastball. For Liberatore, the Cardinals want to see him sustain the high-register velocity and not have inning-to-inning or outing-to-outing fluctuations. He has a sharp slider and a reliable curve — both of which are far more effective when his fastball zips. Liberatore reached 98 mph with a fastball this spring. He touched 96 mph with his final fastball of the first inning, 97 mph with his final fastball of the second inning and he was still getting 96 mph on his fastball in the fourth, according to the Cardinals’ internal data.
“I feel like I’m as close as I’ve ever been right now,†Liberatore said of maintaining his best through a start. “I feel like I’m more myself than I’ve ever been before, and I think that’s a huge advantage for me. That little bit of extra fire I had in the fourth inning today was something that I haven’t been able to get myself to in a while, and it felt really natural today. I was able to make my stuff play up because of it.â€
His pitching line was not without its welts, but that only added to what the Cardinals had a chance to see from Liberatore against the Red Sox.
Liberatore delivered a fastball straight over the plate to Trevor Story and saw it soar for a two-run homer over the mock Green Monster at the ballpark nicknamed Fenway South. The Red Sox tagged Liberatore for five runs on seven hits. Four of the runs came on two home runs. Five of the seven hits went for extra bases in a game the Cardinals ultimately won 8-6. It took him 71 pitches to get 12 outs. Through each inning, however, Liberatore maintained an aggressive use of his fastball — he didn’t ease back on his stuff because of the results. He leaned in.
“His line wasn’t reflective of how well he pitched, in my opinion,†Marmol said. “You could just tell there was a different determination to him. He wasn’t backing down. It was fun to watch.â€
It was like Marmol outlined before the game.
“Getting ahead is important. Landing the secondary stuff. It seems generic (because) you want everybody doing that,†Marmol said. “But the consistency of that has been kind of what keeps him from an up-and-down guy to a guy who can establish himself and do a nice job for us. He’s not just out there getting his work in, he’s competing.â€
In the third inning, the top of Boston’s lineup came up for a second time. The heart of the Red Sox order Tuesday was similar to what it could be opening day in Seattle, and right there for the Cardinals lefty was a test after a leadoff double. Liberatore got ahead 0-2 against All-Star Rafael Devers. Both pitches were fastballs, one elevated and accelerated so that Devers was late and under it. Liberatore missed with a curveball up and in that backed Devers away. The lefty followed with a slider in the dirt that caught Devers fishing for it.
Liberatore fell behind the next batter, Story, but rather than shy away from the Red Sox who already had a homer off of him, Liberatore challenged. He got a slider in for a called strike. He went back to the fastball in a better spot, and Story drove it to right-center. A catchable ball got caught between two approaching outfielders and hopped over for a ground-rule double. Liberatore struck out the next batter, Masataka Yoshida, on a curveball.
“I’m going right after guys,†Liberatore said. “I don’t care about the names so much. I’m trying to throw pitches, see how they react, read them and make a decision off of that. Felt like I competed my (expletive) off today.â€
The competition between him and Thompson has brought to the two lefties closer, Liberatore said, and it’s not just because of this spring. He said it felt like they were also seeing each other in passing this past year — one going up, the other going down, one going into the rotation, the other going into the bullpen. Liberatore said he was with the Cardinals in London and up at 3 a.m. to watch Thompson’s start in Class AAA. He’ll watch or catch up later on Thompson’s outing against the Twins.
And the Cardinals still have time this spring for them to do it all again in a few days, pushing the competition right up to the regular season.
“I know that I’m capable of pitching the way that I want to pitch, and I know I’m capable of pitching the way that other people want me to pitch,†Liberatore said. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how to bring that out of myself every fifth day. I’ve had flashes of it. But that’s not good enough. I want to be that way every time I touch the mound.â€