Cardinals Blanked at Wrigley

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Cardinals Blanked at Wrigley
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

For five innings Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field, Matthew Liberatore gave the St. Louis Cardinals exactly what they needed.

He matched Clay Holmes.

He kept the Chicago Cubs quiet.

He gave the Cardinals a chance to grab the opener of a critical weekend series.

Then the sixth inning arrived, and one swing changed everything.

Seiya Suzuki hit a three-run homer off George Soriano in the bottom of the sixth, and the Cubs beat the Cardinals, 3-0, sending St. Louis back to .500 and opening the final Cardinals-Cubs series of the regular season with a frustrating shutout loss.

This one was there.

That is what makes it sting.

The Cardinals did not get buried early. They did not pitch poorly. They did not hand the Cubs a parade of free bases. For most of the afternoon, this was a tight, tense, old-fashioned pitching duel.

The problem was simple.

Chicago found the swing.

St. Louis did not.

Clay Holmes, making his first start at Wrigley Field since coming over from the New York Mets at the trade deadline, was outstanding. He retired the first 16 Cardinals he faced before José Fermín broke through with a single in the sixth inning.

That was the first real crack.

It was also one of the few the Cardinals found all afternoon.

Holmes worked 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out three. He threw 80 pitches, 50 for strikes, and kept the Cardinals off balance with early-count contact, ground balls and just enough movement to keep St. Louis from doing anything meaningful.

The Cardinals finished with only three hits.

Fermín had one. Iván Herrera had one. Bryan Torres had one.

That was it.

No extra-base hits. No big inning. No sustained pressure.

For a club trying to stay in the National League Wild Card race, that is not enough.

Liberatore deserved a better fate. He opened the game sharply, retiring the Cubs in order in the first, second, third and fourth innings. Chicago did not get its first hit until Nico Hoerner singled in the fifth.

That was the best version of Liberatore.

He worked with tempo. He challenged hitters. He used his stuff in the zone instead of nibbling around it. He did not look like a pitcher trying to survive. He looked like a pitcher competing with conviction.

For five innings, that was enough.

The Cardinals just could not reward him.

St. Louis did not get a baserunner until Fermín’s sixth-inning single. César Prieto grounded out. JJ Wetherholt lined out to center. Herrera grounded back to Holmes to end the inning.

The Cardinals had finally put a man on base, but nothing came of it.

Then the bottom of the sixth changed the game.

Dansby Swanson reached to open the inning, and Tyrone Taylor followed by getting aboard. Liberatore retired Pete Crow-Armstrong on a foul popup, but with two runners on and one out, Oliver Marmol went to Soriano.

Suzuki made the move hurt.

On Soriano’s fourth pitch, Suzuki drove a changeup to left-center field for a three-run homer. Just like that, a scoreless game became a 3-0 Cubs lead.

That was the entire ballgame.

It was not a long rally. It was not a slow bleed. It was not a bullpen collapse spread across multiple innings.

It was one pitch.

One mistake.

One swing.

The Cardinals had their best chance in the seventh. Jordan Walker walked with two outs, bringing Nathan Church to the plate as the tying run. Chicago went to Ryan Rolison, and Church grounded out to end the inning.

In the eighth, Torres singled and Fermín walked, giving St. Louis two baserunners and a chance to bring the tying run to the plate. But Prieto lined out, Wetherholt struck out, and the Cardinals again came away empty.

The ninth was no better.

Herrera singled to open the inning against Jacob Webb, but Burleson grounded into a double play. Walker struck out to end the game.

The Cubs closed it down.

The Cardinals went quietly.

That is the part that should bother St. Louis most.

The pitching staff gave the Cardinals a chance to win. Liberatore was strong. Soriano made one costly mistake. Peter Strzelecki gave the Cardinals two scoreless innings to keep the game within reach.

But the offense never gave the staff any margin.

St. Louis went 0-for-the-afternoon on the scoreboard and left 10 men on base. Wetherholt and Prieto each left three. The Cardinals did not produce a run-scoring chance with the kind of force needed to change the game.

That cannot happen in August.

Not against the Cubs.

Not at Wrigley.

Not with the Cardinals trying to chase down the final National League Wild Card spot.

The Cubs entered the day playing better baseball, and they showed why. Holmes controlled the Cardinals, Suzuki delivered the decisive swing, and Chicago’s bullpen finished the shutout. The Cubs did not need much offense because they were cleaner in the moments that mattered.

The Cardinals were not.

This was also the opener of a long road trip, and the tone matters. St. Louis came into Chicago after taking a meaningful series from Philadelphia, a series that gave the Cardinals something to build from.

Friday stopped that momentum cold.

The Cardinals are now 61-61. They remain alive in the playoff picture, but alive is not the same as gaining ground. Games like this are the difference between talking about a chase and actually making one.

Liberatore gave them a chance.

The offense gave them nothing.

And Suzuki gave the Cubs all they needed.

Cardinals 0, Cubs 3.

Key Storylines

Liberatore Deserved Better

Matthew Liberatore gave the Cardinals 5.1 strong innings, allowing two runs on two hits while walking one and striking out six. He retired the first 13 Cubs he faced and matched Clay Holmes for most of the afternoon.

Suzuki Changes the Game

Seiya Suzuki delivered the only run-scoring swing of the day, hitting a three-run homer off George Soriano in the sixth inning. That one swing turned a scoreless duel into a 3-0 Cubs lead.

Holmes Controls St. Louis

Clay Holmes retired the first 16 Cardinals he faced and worked 6.2 scoreless innings. St. Louis managed only one hit against him and never forced him into a sustained jam.

Fermín Breaks Up the Perfect Start

José Fermín singled in the sixth inning to end Holmes’ perfect-game bid. He later walked in the eighth, making him one of the few Cardinals to reach base more than once.

Offense Goes Quiet

The Cardinals finished with three hits and no runs. Iván Herrera, Bryan Torres and Fermín had the only hits for St. Louis.

Eighth-Inning Chance Gets Away

The Cardinals had Torres on with a single and Fermín aboard with a walk in the eighth, but Prieto lined out and Wetherholt struck out to end the threat.

Strzelecki Keeps It Close

Peter Strzelecki gave the Cardinals two scoreless innings after the sixth, keeping the game at 3-0 and giving the offense a chance to respond. The response never came.

Wild Card Ground Slips

The loss dropped the Cardinals back to .500 and cost them ground in the National League Wild Card race. This was the kind of game St. Louis needed to steal, especially with Liberatore pitching well.

Bottom Line

Matthew Liberatore pitched well enough to win.

The Cardinals did not hit well enough to give him a chance.

Clay Holmes shut St. Louis down, Seiya Suzuki delivered the three-run homer in the sixth, and the Cubs took the series opener, 3-0.

One swing decided it.

The Cardinals never found theirs.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs | MLB