5-6-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
The Pirates are looking in all the wrong places to find wins but hopefully a rematch against an opponent they’ve already defeated this year in Matthew Liberatore.
Pirates faced Liberatore once already this season on April 7th and got to him for 5 runs off 8 hits with no walks and 7 strikeouts.
Entering today with a solid 3.44 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, Liberatore is avoiding free passes like the plague as, among qualified starters, only Nathan Eovaldi has a lower BB% than him on the year.
He works mostly low in the zone with a slider that averages 86-87 with a sinker/4-seam combo in the mid-90s and a high-80s cutter, adding in a high-80s changeup and high-70s curve as well.
Last time around, Liberatore worked slider/changeup/cutter against righties and mostly relied on sliders against the lefties.
On the season, lefties are hitting just .188 against his slider, which he locates down and away from hitters.
Most likely, he’ll be opposing a righty-heavy lineup and, while he has gotten righties with his curve and specifically his changeup, they are batting .273 against his slider and .259 against all of his fastball offerings – which the Cardinal lefty typically locates low in the zone but has been prone to leave them upstairs at times.
Despite strong numbers on his stat line, Liberatore has seen an inflated line drive rate (24.2% up from 17.6% in 2024) and hard hit rate (44% up from 38.5% in 2024) so hitters are making better contact more frequently but it’s going to be about stringing them together or, even better, someone who can just put it over the fence.
In particular, Bryan Reynolds has had the most success against Liberatore as he is 4-for-9 with a double and a home run against the southpaw.
If he can keep the momentum he had in the first inning against Mikolas yesterday, the team could get an early lead, and with Paul Skenes on the bump today, they might not need 7 runs to win today.
Steel City Pirates 