4-7-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Coming off a nice end to an otherwise forgettable weekend series, the Pirates welcome the rival St. Louis Cardinals and southpaw starter, Matthew Liberatore.
The Bucs faced Liberatore last season plating 5 runs off 4 hits and 3 walks in just 3 innings with 3 strikeouts on July 24th.
In his first start this year, the 25-year old Liberatore faced the Los Angeles Angels, pitching 6 strong frames surrendering 3 runs off 6 hits with no walks and 4 strikeouts.
He relied mainly on his 4-seam and sinker in the mid-90s with his high-80s slider as his put-away pitch, pitching mostly low in the zone and trying to stay on the edges as much as possible.
Liberatore is a pitch-to-contact arm who doesn’t miss a ton of bats and will rely on his above-average defense behind him in order to find success.
As mentioned in the story last year, Liberatore has been much better working out of the bullpen than as a starter, spending the final two months of 2024 in relief and posting a 2.67 ERA over his final 30.1 innings pitched after August 1.
After having to go to the bullpen 8 times to cover 10.2 innings over their two games yesterday, the Cardinals will be looking for length out of Liberatore.
Although he didn’t allow any walks in his first start this season, his control can get a bit spotty so hitters should try to maintain control of the zone, fouling off close pitches and laying off the slider (which had an oBA of .185 last year) to force Liberatore to stay in the zone with the heat.
Take pitches and try to get Liberatore out early so you can beat up this beleaguered bullpen, which ranks 24th in ERA.
Chance to win two in a row starts tonight!
Steel City Pirates 
Perhaps not quite as often as hoped, but the Bucs definitely lit him up early. It’d have been nice to chase him before the seventh, but this was the most assuring win of the four to date for me.
LikeLike