St. Louis 5, Tampa Bay 2
When: 6:40 PM ET, Thursday, August 10, 2023
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Clint Vondrak, 1B -
Angel Hernandez, 2B -
James Hoye, 3B -
John Libka
Attendance:
11990
By Field Level Media
Matthew Liberatore showed why he was once ranked among baseball's top prospects, tossing eight shutout innings in the St. Louis Cardinals' 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The 23-year-old Liberatore, making his 11th appearance and 10th start this season, established career highs for innings and strikeouts in a start (seven), as well as total pitches (101).
The night was sweet for the left-hander who was drafted by the Rays in the first round in 2018 but dealt to the Cardinals in a January 2020 trade that sent All-Star outfielder Randy Arozarena to Tampa Bay.
Arozarena had one of two singles off Liberatore (2-4), who didn't allow a baserunner after Wander Franco singled in the fourth.
Andrew Knizner hit a two-run home run and Tommy Edman added a solo shot for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the series.
The Rays got on the board in the ninth on Franco's two-out, RBI triple off JoJo Romero. Franco scored Tampa Bay's second run on a wild pitch.
Zack Littell (2-3) gave up three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in six innings.
St. Louis claimed the lead in the third on Knizner's two-out, two-run home run. Nolan Arenado singled to lead off the inning, and after Littell logged two outs, Knizner connected on his ninth home run.
The Cardinals added a run in the sixth to make it 3-0.
Arenado swatted a one-out single, and on a hit-and-run, Alec Burleson slapped a single to right-center. Arenado was able to score from first on Burleson's RBI hit.
The Cardinals manufactured an unearned run in the seventh, padding their lead to 4-0. Off reliever Cooper Criswell, Taylor Motter and Edman each singled. Lars Nootbaar ripped a hard grounder that Yandy Diaz snared at first. Diaz went to second for the forceout, but Franco at short, after securing the forceout at second base, made a throwing error to first, with Criswell late covering the bag. Motter trotted home.
Edman hit his eighth homer of the season in the ninth.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
St. Louis
|
11 |
2 |
20 |
.289 |
13 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Tampa Bay
|
4 |
0 |
6 |
.133 |
3 |
8 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |