Matthew Liberatore Surrenders First Grand Slam of Career in 6-2 Loss to Athletics

The pitch count numbers from Cardinals’ left-hander Matthew Liberatore in Wednesday night’s game almost defied logic.

Liberatore needed just 46 pitches as he breezed through the first four innings of the game, a count that was aided by a seven-pitch first inning and a five-pitch third inning.

However, Liberatore’s pitch count in the fifth inning – 43 pitches to get three outs – spoke to how the game got away from the left-hander who had pitched exceptionally in his previous two starts against the Dodgers and Padres.

Reining American League Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz reached Liberatore for an opposite-field grand slam and the Cardinals were plagued by 10 runners left on and 1-for-9 hitting with runners in scoring position in a 6-2 loss to the Athletics in West Sacramento.

"Kurtz took a really good swing on him -- deep in the count and a slider kind of down and away, but he gets a really good swing on it," manager Oliver Marmol told Cardinals.TV. "He made us pay for it."

The Cardinals had 13 hits, but they left runners on base in six of the first seven innings. Alec Burleson had three hits, while JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn and Nathan Church had two hits apiece. However, Marmol was unhappy that Winn got picked off third and Church was caught stealing to kill rallies.

"We did a lot of things that cost us and I feel like this is one of the first games where I felt like we handed them the game instead of them beating us," Marmol said. "We had opportunities and we created a ton of them. But we didn't cash in and we made some mistakes on the bases that cost us."

Cards squandered numerous chances

Still, it wasn’t nearly enough offense to overcome a disastrous fifth inning for Liberatore. He allowed just five hits over a scoreless first four innings.