CLEVELAND – It became clear early in his latest duel against an ace that Cardinals rookie Matthew Liberatore’s curveball intended to misbehave Friday night.
He had to rely on something else to stay in the game.
How he did that aids his bid to stay in the rotation.
Falling behind in counts and failing to land his curveball, Liberatore improvised with other pitches and leaned on his advanced velocity to hold Cleveland to one hit through the first four innings at Progressive Field. The game strayed from him for five batters and Cleveland turned a single slider into three runs before Liberatore regained a hold on his start – his last start before the Cardinals can choose to downshift to a five-man rotation.