Cards starter Matthew Liberatore has something to prove vs. Braves

Both sides will need their starting pitchers to chew up innings on Saturday night when the visiting Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals meet for the second contest of a three-game set.

Following a rain delay that spanned 2 hours and 43 minutes in the series opener on Friday -- a game that St. Louis won 2-1 -- the Braves were forced to deploy four relief pitchers while the Cardinals sent in five.

Matthew Liberatore (4-6, 5.34 ERA) will start on Saturday for St. Louis, in search of just his second victory since May 31. The 26-year-old left-hander scattered four runs (three earned) on four hits across five innings on Sunday, striking out three and walking two in a 6-4 road loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Liberatore also hit three batters in the third defeat in his past four starts.

"There are some things from a usage standpoint and an execution standpoint that we're hoping to see him take the next step in, in order for this to go better for him," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "If you look at a lot of his outings, (the opponent) is just bunching him up. The three-plus runs in an inning, that's a big number. Then he'll throw up zeros in the other innings, so we've got to solve that."

As the Cardinals sit just two games behind the Miami Marlins for the third and final National League wild-card spot, Liberatore will need to finish his first half of the season on a strong note to bolster his position as a rotation piece.

St. Louis pitching coach Dusty Blake and Chaim Bloom, the team's president of baseball operations, have weighed in about Liberatore.

"Dusty ... had a long conversation with him, then he sat down and tried to figure it out with him," Marmol said. "But when Chaim says we're going to give this guy a shot, that's part of it."

In five career outings (four starts) against the Braves, Liberatore is 2-1 with a 3.26 ERA. His lone win in his last six starts came in Atlanta on June 30, when he allowed just one run on one hit and four walks, striking out nine in five innings of a 5-3 victory.

Converted starter Reynaldo Lopez (4-1, 3.18 ERA) will look to continue his solid return to the rotation for Atlanta on Saturday. After beginning the season as a starter, the right-hander appeared solely out of the bullpen until re-emerging in the rotation on June 26.

In two July starts, Lopez is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA. Last time out, the veteran allowed one run on three hits across five innings, striking out five and walking two in a no-decision against the New York Mets on Monday. The Braves lost 7-6 in 10 innings.

"Lopez was great. It was a really nice performance by him," Braves manager Walt Weiss said. "I think he's finding his groove here, and that's going to be big for us."

Lopez, 32, is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in three career appearances (two starts) against St. Louis. He threw five innings of one-run, two hit-ball in a 5-1 win over the Cardinals on July 1.

--Field Level Media