Diamondbacks Break Open Fourth, Hand Cardinals Second Straight Loss

The Cardinal Chronicle
Diamondbacks Break Open Fourth, Hand Cardinals Second Straight Loss
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals had a chance Wednesday night to settle things down.

Instead, the fourth inning blew the game apart.

Arizona scored six runs in the top of the fourth, turning a one-run Cardinals lead into a five-run deficit, and the Diamondbacks rolled to a 9-4 win at Busch Stadium. It was the second straight loss for St. Louis in the four-game series and another night where the Cardinals had flashes of offense but not nearly enough pitching to stay in control.

The final score was not misleading.

Arizona hit. Arizona answered. Arizona kept adding on.

The Cardinals did not.

St. Louis struck first in the second inning. José Fermín worked a walk, stole second, moved to third on Lars Nootbaar’s groundout, and scored when Blaze Jordan doubled deep to left. It was another good at-bat from Jordan, who continues to show he can drive the baseball and provide run production in the lower half of the order.

That gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

For a little while, Matthew Liberatore looked like he might make it stand.

Liberatore worked around traffic in the first, struck out Corbin Carroll, and got Nolan Arenado to pop out with two runners aboard. He retired Arizona in order in the second and third, and through three innings, the Cardinals had the lead and some early rhythm.

Then came the fourth.

That inning changed everything.

Carroll opened with a single to left, and Gabriel Moreno walked. Arenado reached on a fielder’s choice, putting runners at the corners with one out. Tommy Troy followed with a single to shallow right, scoring Carroll and tying the game at 1-1.

That was only the beginning.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. popped out, giving Liberatore a chance to escape with limited damage. Instead, Ildemaro Vargas doubled to left, scoring Troy and Arenado to put Arizona ahead 3-1.

Then LuJames Groover hit the swing that made the inning feel much heavier, launching a two-run home run to left field. It was his first career homer, and it pushed Arizona’s lead to 5-1.

Ketel Marte followed with a solo home run to left-center, his 13th of the season, and the Diamondbacks suddenly had a 6-1 lead.

Six runs. Five hits. Two home runs.

Just like that, the game had flipped.

The Cardinals answered in the bottom half, but only enough to keep the door cracked. Fermín singled, Masyn Winn followed with a base hit, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Jordan lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Fermín and cutting the deficit to 6-2.

It was a productive at-bat, and Jordan had driven in both Cardinals runs at that point.

But the Cardinals needed more than one run there.

They did not get it.

Liberatore’s night ended in the sixth after allowing another scoring threat to build. His final line was rough: 5 1/3 innings, eight hits, six earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts and two home runs allowed. He threw 98 pitches, 68 for strikes, but the damage in the fourth inning defined the start.

That has become the hard part with Liberatore.

There are still stretches where the arm looks capable. There are innings where he attacks, fills the zone and seems close to giving the Cardinals what they need. But when things go wrong, they tend to go wrong fast. Wednesday night was another example.

For three innings, he had control.

In the fourth, the game was gone.

Gordon Graceffo took over and could not slow Arizona enough. The Diamondbacks added two more runs in the seventh when Moreno walked, Troy doubled to right-center, and Gurriel doubled to left. That made it 8-2 and took most of the remaining drama out of the night.

Justin Bruihl covered the final two innings, allowing one unearned run in the eighth after Groover scored on Moreno’s sacrifice fly. Bruihl at least gave the Cardinals length and kept the bullpen from being completely drained, but by then the game was already firmly in Arizona’s hands.

The Cardinals made a small push in the ninth.

Fermín led off with a solo home run to left, his third homer of the season. Nootbaar followed with a triple, and Jordan singled to center to bring him home. That cut the deficit to 9-4 and gave Jordan his third RBI of the night.

But the rally ended there.

Alec Burleson singled, bringing two runners aboard, but JJ Wetherholt grounded out to end the game. It was a late push, but not nearly enough to erase the damage done earlier.

Fermín was the Cardinals’ best player Wednesday night. He finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored, an RBI, a home run, a walk and a stolen base. He gave St. Louis energy, reached base, created a run with his legs in the second, and added power late.

Jordan also had a strong night, going 2-for-3 with a double, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs. On a night when the Cardinals’ offense was not deep enough, Jordan still gave them real production.

Those were the bright spots.

There were not enough of them.

Wetherholt went hitless out of the leadoff spot. Iván Herrera went hitless before being lifted. Jordan Walker had one hit but struck out twice. Nelson Velázquez went hitless. Jimmy Crooks went hitless. The Cardinals finished with eight hits, but most of the meaningful offense came from Fermín and Jordan.

Arizona, meanwhile, got production up and down the order.

Marte homered and had two hits. Troy had two hits, scored twice and drove in two. Gurriel had two hits and drove in a run. Vargas doubled and drove in two. Groover homered, walked twice, scored twice and drove in two. Moreno reached three times and drove in a run. Arenado went 1-for-5 and scored during the decisive fourth inning.

The Diamondbacks finished with nine runs on 12 hits.

The Cardinals finished with four runs on eight hits and one error.

That tells the story well enough.

After Monday’s 3-2 win behind Andre Pallante and Riley O’Brien, the Cardinals had a chance to control the series. Instead, Arizona stole Tuesday’s game with a four-run ninth inning, then came back Wednesday and put the Cardinals away with a six-run fourth.

That is two straight losses, two very different kinds of frustration.

Tuesday was a late-game collapse.

Wednesday was a middle-inning knockout.

The result was the same.

The Cardinals now trail the four-game series two games to one and will need Thursday’s finale to earn a split. That may not sound dramatic in June, but these are the kinds of games that matter over the long grind of a season. A four-game home series can either give a club momentum or leave it feeling like another missed opportunity.

Right now, the Cardinals are sitting on the wrong side of that line.

The good news is that Fermín and Jordan gave the lineup something. The bad news is that the starting pitching did not hold, the offense went quiet for too long, and Arizona looked like the sharper club for the second straight night.

The Cardinals do not need speeches.

They need a cleaner game Thursday.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit - Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB