The St. Louis Cardinals received one of the strongest starts of the year from Matthew Liberatore as they faced the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves Saturday night at Busch Stadium. Lars Nootbaar provided the necessary power to give the Cardinals one for the win column.
The St. Louis Cardinals offense got off to a fast start Saturday night scoring in the top of the 1st inning. After JJ Wetherholt grounded out, Iván Herrera reached on an infield single to second. After Alec Burleson lined out to center for the second out, Jordan Walker hammered a single into right field giving the Cardinals two on with two outs. Lars Nootbaar did not miss a 76 mph curveball from Braves starter Lopez crushing a no-doubt 435-foot no doubt home run into the right-center field stands giving the Cardinals an early 3-0 lead. Noot-bomb indeed!
Lars would be involved in the Cardinals scoring in the bottom of the 4th inning, too. He drew a leadoff walk and then two batters later scored on a RBI single by Blaze Jordan right up the middle upping the Cardinals lead to 4-0.
When’s the last time I can provide a backstory about a start by Matthew Liberatore without any drama for the first 6 innings? I honestly can’t remember, but happy to report that was the story Saturday night at Busch Stadium. Through the first 6 innings, Matthew only allowed one Braves runner in scoring position and that was only because Ozzie Albies advanced to second on a wild pitch in the top of the 1st inning. The Braves were unable to do anything against Liberatore – at all.
St. Louis Cardinals reliever Luis Gastelum was greeted in the most unfriendly way as Mauricio Dubon crushed his first pitch which was an 80 mph sweeper 401 feet into the visitor’s bullpen in left field cutting the Cardinals lead down to 4-1. Luis also gave up a one out double to left by White, but did not surrender any more runs. George Soriano came in to handle the top of the 8th inning and he set the Braves down 1-2-3.
The Cardinals bats wouldn’t score after the 4th inning, but it fortunately didn’t matter. Riley O’Brien was handed the ball to close out the Braves in the top of the 9th and did so without major issues other than a leadoff walk and one hit-by-pitch that amounted to nothing.
The Cardinals will go for the series sweep Sunday as Dustin May will get the start for St. Louis. RHP JR Ritchie will take the mound for the Braves. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm central time and the game TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.
