Cards go for sweep of Red Sox behind Matthew Liberatore

The St. Louis Cardinals like what left-hander Matthew Liberatore brought to their bullpen, but now he is being wedged back into the rotation.

Liberatore will continue getting used to life as a starter again when St. Louis tries to complete a three-game series sweep of the visiting Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.

The Cardinals won the first two games of the series to extend Boston's losing streak to four games. St. Louis banged out 14 hits on Saturday in a 7-2 victory, winning for the fifth time in six games.

"It was tough at-bats, guys not trying to do too much," St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. "Just all the way around, guys aren't trying to do too much. Because of it, we're getting plenty."

Liberatore (1-1, 4.56 ERA) will make his third start of the year for the Cardinals after spending most of the season working out of the bullpen. He is filling in while Steven Matz recovers from a back injury.

In his latest outing, Liberatore allowed four runs on five hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings in St. Louis' 10-5 win at the Los Angeles Angels on Monday. He did not factor into the decision.

"(Liberatore) competed," Marmol said. "Especially not being able to throw a bullpen like a regular starter in between starts and work on something and command the baseball and be ready to start. We're asking him to do multiple things, which is very difficult for anybody to do, let alone a young guy to do it. He handled it extremely well."

Liberatore has a 3.78 ERA in 16 2/3 innings as a reliever this season and a 6.43 ERA in seven innings as a starter. He is blending a cutter, a pitch he added to his arsenal during spring training, into his repertoire.

"The cutter is a real player for him, especially as a starter," Marmol said. "It can be a pitch that allows him to go through a lineup a couple times. And even if there are righties in there, (he'll) have something that's coming into them."

Sunday marks Liberatore's first career appearance against the Red Sox.

Boston's scheduled starter, Nick Pivetta (1-2, 3.48), came away with a no-decision after holding the Tampa Bay Rays to two runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings on Tuesday in his most recent start. He struck out eight and walked none in a game the Red Sox eventually won, 5-4, in 12 innings.

It was Pivetta's second start after missing more than a month with an elbow strain.

"I think from the beginning, just the way I was able to command my pitches and attack the strike zone, it felt comfortable, and then I was able to just work myself into some good counts," Pivetta said. "We had good command of all three of those pitches, fastball, curveball and sweeper."

Pivetta is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in five career starts against the Cardinals, who have scored 40 runs in their past six games. Ivan Herrera is 14-for-33 (.424) during a nine-game hitting streak, while Paul Goldschmidt is 10-for-32 (.313) during a seven-game run.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have scored three runs or fewer 10 times in their past 15 games.

"I think at the end of the day, we've got to score runs," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "(Close) games all the way, it puts pressure on the bullpen. At one point, we have to start producing runs."

--Field Level Media