Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals’ Matthew Liberatore OVERTURNS Slump, Offense STRIKES With POWER in Atlanta!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Matthew Libitor serves all the naysayers, including myself, a tall glass of shut the hell up after shoving against the Atlanta Braves. This is Locked-on Cardinals. You are Locked-on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm J.D. Hafferin. In today's episode, is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app. Create an account. Use go locked on. Get $20 off your first purchase. Today show, a former Cardinal, in fact, two actually, but a former, one of them at least, got heated on Tuesday night and got ejected for the second straight game.

Starting point is 00:00:44 There was another former Cardinal who got ejected as well. So we'll give you the lowdown on what happened at Fenway Park. But let's break things down from the entertaining five to three Cardinals victory over the Braves in Atlanta, pretty fun ball game overall, certainly some stressful moments. I think we can all agree on that. But mostly good stuff, mostly good stuff to bring up. But it all starts with Matthew Libertor, who as we all know, had a horrendous month of June. The ERA was over 10 coming into this final start for the month.

Starting point is 00:01:17 His ERA was through the roof. He's been terrible. He hadn't won a game all month. Opponents were batting over 300 against him on the season coming into the game, which is crazy to me, considering we were at the end of June. Like, how is that possible? How is everybody hitting 300 against you? How?

Starting point is 00:01:40 And we all want these guys to do well, right? We want them to do well. And we've been coming up with different ideas on how to put Libby in a better spot to succeed. But as I had mentioned before, this is your opening day starter. This is the guy that you were like, dude, this is going to be one of our best pitchers, if not our best pitcher this year. So I didn't think the Cardinals were going to punt on him right away as a starter. Perhaps after the trade deadline, if some pieces get moved and they feel inclined to move guys around some, maybe.

Starting point is 00:02:14 But it would be nice for Libby to do something positive to kind of force the Cardinals hand a little to show that he deserves that spot in the rotation still, that he can succeed as a starter the way everyone hoped he would. because so far over the last two seasons hasn't really proven that he hasn't been very good those are just the facts but if tuesday night was liby's response to all of this negativity surrounding him recently then bravo for him bravo because even though it wasn't the cleanest of games you know four walks he had a hit by pitch the guy was out there competing. He was working hard. Sweaty mess.

Starting point is 00:02:59 It was like 92 degrees heat index, probably like 100 or something in Atlanta. Like not an easy type of game, easy conditions to pitch like that in. Had a lot of traffic around him because of all those free passes he was given to people. Back-to-back walks to lead off the second inning, but nobody scored.

Starting point is 00:03:21 Lead off single in the third. Wild pitch. Still, nothing crosses the plate. Lead off lock in the fourth inning. Still, zero runs. It's the first batter in the fifth inning. Somehow gets out of it. Nobody scored. Lead off lock in the sixth inning. This is the exact opposite of how you would write it up. If you were to tell a starter, here's what you need to do to succeed. Here's what you got to do. Now, they did score in the third inning. I'm sorry, they did score in the third inning after the wild pitch, all right? It was a single, stolen base, wild pitch, sack fly. They scored in the third. So I misspoke there. But this is not how you write it up.

Starting point is 00:04:09 It's not how it's supposed to go. Every inning except the first, he let the leadoff hitter on in some way, shape, or form. That is not ideal. That is not what you want. it is not what you strive for. That is a recipe for disaster. But almost every time he got into trouble, he would respond with a strikeout in a big spot

Starting point is 00:04:31 and walk away without runners touching home plate. Libby's walking that sixth inning would be the final hitter of the night. Personally, I thought Matt Olson swung at that pitch. So did Ollie. So did Libby. But the third base umpire did not. And he's the one that matters. So it sucks that that's how his outing ended,

Starting point is 00:04:50 was on a check swing appeal walk. But as he left the game, you look up at the line and, yeah, you scratch your head a little bit. You're kind of baffled at how good it ended up being in the end. You had four walks. You had the hit by pitch. You had the wild pitch. All those leadoff hitters got on board, but Libby allows just one run on one head and he strikes out nine. And most importantly, avoided the big inning, which has destroyed him all season long.

Starting point is 00:05:19 walks away with a five to one lead, left it up to his bullpen to take care of the final 12 outs, which they did in super stressful form. But what else is new? And I saw today that I believe that that was like a weird combination of numbers for Libby. What do they call these things like pitcher origami's or something like that? Pitcherogami, yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:47 A line that has never happened. major league baseball history. Five innings, one hit, one earned run, four walks, nine Ks, 226th pitcher gami of 2026 and one of 83,451 plus unique lines on record. So, cool, good for you. The best part about this is they won. But what a game for Libby, right? What a game. Has had such an up and down season so much that I'm not trying to get too excited about. what we just saw. Don't want to get overhyped about this particular start because we did that in May when he had four starts where he allowed three earned runs or less.

Starting point is 00:06:33 And we're like, okay, here he is. He's coming into his on a crap. Here's June and he gets pummeled with earned run totals of five, four, seven, and six. And only one of those games that he get past the fifth inning. So temper expectations, but you can also applaud. a good effort. But it starts like this where you see what Libby could be. We've seen this a couple times this year. Nine strikeouts against Pittsburgh had that one bad inning. Ten strikeouts against Milwaukee had that one bad inning. And even when his strikeout totals aren't quite as grand,

Starting point is 00:07:06 it's always that one bad inning that ends up biting him. But on Tuesday, he was able to maneuver around these situations. And lo and behold, the bullpen made it stick. It wasn't easy, but they made it stick. They barely got it done in the end, but it was a hard fought, well-earned win for both Libby and the team. Now, the offense, which has been stuck in the mud for a bit now, finally got a little bit of pop.

Starting point is 00:07:33 We finally saw some extra base sits in this one, but it wasn't the familiar faces that actually did the damage. So we're going to get into the offensive side of this victory next, and talk more about how things are affecting, you know, what the cardinals are doing in the division. And we'll talk about those people who got ejected last night in Boston. All of this is coming up on Locked on Cardinals. Nothing like watching a Cardinals game live and in person.

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Starting point is 00:09:24 Cardinals your first listen of the day. Thank you for making it locked on the number one sports podcast. network we wouldn't be here and couldn't do it without you 10 years we've been around now crazy stuff i just had my four year anniversary uh the other day and they used the worst picture i've ever seen of me i'm just like i'm like sad i don't know why or i'm mad i don't know what's going on there but uh can let let me take the picture from here on now anyway get your daily cardinals coverage completely ad free by joining the everyday or club you can start your seven day free trial right now get closer to your team without the interruptions click the click the link the

Starting point is 00:09:58 in the show notes or go to lockdowns.carnels.com to claim your free trial. So the offense normally goes as far as the top four guys in the lineup go, right? J.J. Weatherholt, Yvon Herrera, Alec Berlinson, Jordan Walker. Wherever they can take this offense is where they, you know, that's who they rely on, right? They're your thumpers. They're the go-to guys. They're the heart of the offense. and on Tuesday night, they did, those four guys, did almost nothing, almost nothing at the plate. JJ, 0 for 4 over the walk and a strikeout. Yvonne Herrera, 0 for 5 with a strikeout.

Starting point is 00:10:39 Jordan Walker, 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Alec Burleson, not initially in the lineup since they were facing a lefty and Martin Perez would pinch hit later, but struck out in his loan at bat. The go-to guys, your top four. Oh, for 13, two walks, four strikeouts. no runs scored, and yet the Cardinals win five to three? What? How does this happen?

Starting point is 00:11:03 And a game like this really was sorely needed for the Cardinals, a game where your big dogs, they ain't barking. They're absent. So someone else needed to step up and help this offense. Show us that they got a set, show us that they got that dog in them, and do something to back Libby and the pen, and it was the bottom of the order that said, all right, we'll step up. They're the ones who answered the bell.

Starting point is 00:11:31 Got some much need of pop from Nelson Velasquez and Nathan Church. Down one nothing. After the Braves pushed that run across after the single, the stolen base, Herrera still has not thrown a single runner out trying to steal this year, hasn't done one since 2024. And then you get the wild pitch, puts them at third. Braves do what good teams do. They're able to get the run in.

Starting point is 00:11:54 They take advantage of it. So the Cardinals come up in the next setting, and it's Nelson Velasquez. Nelly, as we like to call them, who decided not to let the momentum sit with Atlanta all that long, worked a seven-pitch at bat off Perez, who left a cutter over the heart of the plate. Nellie blasted absolute nuke for 444 feet. Like it's solo, it went over that waterfall in center field. Like absolutely destroyed that. baseball. Super strong dude, man. Nellie's second hit of the night, third dinger of the season.

Starting point is 00:12:30 Only 30 a bat, 38 a bat so far for Nelson Velasquez. But he's hit in 316. He's got an OPS of 1,000. He's got three home runs. And with Herrera struggling, perhaps a little bit exhausted after playing in every game catching, D.Hing, he's always out there. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to let Velasquez see more work in the D.H role. Like instead of not seeing an abet, that for three or four days at a time, why not take the burden off of Ivan for a little bit? Give him a little more rest. I mean, again, talked about this yesterday. Ivan Herrera's career high of games played in a season is 107 and we're past 80 already.

Starting point is 00:13:15 Like, he's set to blow past that. And again, he's catching as well as de-aging. So need to keep Herrera fresh if you're going to continue to win. very important to this lineup, obviously. So it makes sense to me. I know Velazquez is much better against lefties in his career. So I get it. But at the same time, how do we know he can't hit Redis if you don't let him get a chance to do that? After the home run, though, you get back-to-back singles by Mason Winning Lars Newpar. And then it was my guy, Nathan Church. Two outs. Nathan Church has got this. Smokes. Lefty-lefty matchup, mind you. Smokes a change-up, which was low at

Starting point is 00:13:54 and just reps it out to the seats in right field. Three run bomb. And again, with two outs, it just kills your opponent when that happens. We know what it's like on the other side, right? Cardinals give up a bunch of runs with two outs. You're like, oh, my gosh. Same thing working for the Cardinals in this situation. Three run bomb, two outs, kills the opponent, all that much more.

Starting point is 00:14:15 Church is sixth of the season and just like that. You got a four to one ball. Cardinals are doing this against a pitcher who has been excellent this year. had only given up four runs at a game twice so far this season, had an ERA of three, a flat three on the season. This is not what normally happens to Martin Perez. He's been outstanding, and the Cardinals got him, smacking two dingers off him in the inning.

Starting point is 00:14:45 Cardinals had another run at the top of the sixth inning. Mason Wend, win, lead off the walk. And then they did something that I just don't see enough of, and that's stealing bases. Mason Wind actually running and stealing bases. Still second, just his seventh of the season, would love to see Mason when running more. Again, health might be a reason why he doesn't run as much.

Starting point is 00:15:07 You know, he's had a lot of lower body injuries, and he's dealt with a few of them already this season. Seven for nine, though, on the season with stolen bases, he's got good speed, 78th percentile and sprint speed. Obviously, getting on base more gives you more opportunities. But if he's feeling good, I would love to see Mason and run a bunch more and become that 20, 25, 30 steel guy at some point in his career. I'd rather see that than him swinging for the fences.

Starting point is 00:15:34 I can tell you that much. After the stolen base, he moves to third on a wild pitch, kind of similar to what the Braves had going on. And with one out, Blaze Jordan gets the job done by whistling a shot to right center field. When it first came off the bat, I thought I was going to hit the gap, ends up dying at the warning track where it was caught. But Mason easily tags up, makes five to one. get him on, get them over, get them in, right?

Starting point is 00:15:58 And I don't mean to pile on Nolan Gorman here, but I can't help it. I see that situation. Runner on third, less than two outs. And if Gorman was at the plate, I would put money on it, he was going to strike out. That he would strike out, swing and a missing, and the runner will get stuck there.

Starting point is 00:16:20 He'd whiff, Mason would get stranded, cardinals would miss out in another run, but Blaze Jordan continues to be productive. He hasn't hit for the power that we thought he might so far, but he's putting the ball in play, which is what we needed after watching Nolan Gorman over the first couple months. He's been up for 15 games. It's now got 13 RBIs.

Starting point is 00:16:44 He's only struck out five times. He's done exactly what the Cardinals have needed him to be. Put it in play, play solid defense. He's played at third and first. So he's got some versatility there. If he unlocks the power that we know he has and we've seen it at the minor league level, if that ever comes around, heck of a player. Heck of a player you got there.

Starting point is 00:17:07 Doesn't have to be a superstar. Just be productive. That's what you're looking for. That run that Jordan knocks in proved to be important because the bullpen was, who, mighty shaky, mighty shaky once again. But such is life in 2026. We should be used to it by now. We're going to talk about the bullpen and we're also going to talk about what got Wilson

Starting point is 00:17:28 Contrera so heated in Boston that he got ejected for a second straight night. This is locked on card. The biggest stage in world soccer is here and every match feels like it's got the potential to be a memorable moment. These games have been incredible. They've been so much fun to watch and I'm not even a huge soccer fan. But I'm loving it. One goal completely changes the energy of a game. It shifts momentum, alters the outcome in an instant.

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Starting point is 00:19:24 Cardinals, your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown, the number one sports podcast network. Cardinals ballpen asked to cover four innings last night, and there are two ways to look at the results. Number one, they held the Braves to two runs. They did their job, and they secured a five to three win. When you see it on paper, five to three, one by two, that's good, good job, good job, right? Like Hancock would say, good job, good job. Number two, this is the other way to look at it.

Starting point is 00:19:52 They got super lucky. They probably should have blown it. Thank God the Braves were swinging at pitches and weren't in the zone and continue to be the most unreliable part of this Cardinals team, which is currently still in a wildcard spot in the National League. I tend to lean towards door number two because that eighth inning, I physically had to get up and stop watching the game when Ryan Fernandez was on the mound for fear that I was going to throw a remote control, throw my drink, smash something important that costs a lot of money like television. You know, here we had Matthew Libertort pitching his guts out for five innings. You got an offense that gave you a comfortable four-run lead against a guy that's been a really tough pitcher this year. One of the best teams in baseball you're playing right now.

Starting point is 00:20:45 You got them down. They're not playing the best of baseball at this moment. Atlanta has been struggling, but that's what you got to do. You've got to kick these guys while they're down. Got to take advantage of that. And yet, five to one, we still got drama so much that the go-ahead run was at the plate in the eighth inning, which was a complete mess. I don't know how they didn't take the lead in that eighth inning. Cardinals pitching wasn't doing anything right.

Starting point is 00:21:15 Jojo gives up four hits in two-thirds of an inning. Ryan Fernandez fresh off the IL walks to, throws two wild pitch. pitches. But gets the big strike out of Austin Riley. It gets Drake Baldwin to ground out to end the threat. By the way, this is a cool picture of Fernandez running into the game. Like, you would think he's the home team with the lights out and everything like that on this particular picture. You're watching on video. But holy crap, what a stressful, stressful eddy. And then Riley O'Brien, because he has to have somebody on base, that's just the way he works, gives up the double to bring the time.

Starting point is 00:21:54 running the plate again. But a couple ground outs later, it was over. So in the end, it's a pat on the back to the bullpen. Mission accomplished. Riley O'Brien picks up his 21st save, which ties him for the NL lead. That should be recognized. Should be applauded. They didn't have Ryan Stannick, who's on paternity leave. So best of luck to Ryan. I mean, nothing like throwing Ryan Fernandez right into the fire, right? But why are we, we don't need to coddle these dudes. That's his job. They are here to get out. not hide in the bullpen when things get tight. So in the end, they did that.

Starting point is 00:22:32 They got the job done. They secured the win. Much needed confidence boosting win for this team for Matthew Libertor. I would have felt awful if they had blown that and Libby didn't get the win. Even if they had come back and won like 6'5 or something, I still would have been just devastated for Libby because it's been tough for him. and for him to do what he did, pitch as well as he did, grind as much as he did, get out of trouble as much as he did, and to hand it off to a bullpen who just implodes again, would have been devastating.

Starting point is 00:23:10 Would have been devastating. But they didn't, even though we expected them too. So the Cardinals finished the month of June with the winning record 13 and 12. They're now in the third wildcard spot still. Marlins are right there next to them, breathing down their neck. NL Central last night. Brewer smoked the red seven to two. Brewers are now 5 and O against Cincinnati this season. They got a good matchup, I think, on Thursday. It's supposed to be Chase Burns and Jacob Mizorowski.

Starting point is 00:23:36 Could be a one-to-nothing crazy game in Milwaukee on that one. Cubs hang on to beat the Padres 907. Danesby Swanson currently on a mega heater hit two more home runs last night. June 17th, Danesby Swanson was batting 176. He was their number nine hitter. wasn't doing much of anything. A few home runs, some RBIs and stuff in that spot, but nothing like you would expect from a Danesby Swanson. Since June 17th, he's hitting 340 with six bombs and 21 RBIs

Starting point is 00:24:04 and 12 runs scored in just 12 games. He's on fire right now. That Cubs team is on fire right now. I am not looking forward to seeing them in Wrigley this weekend. Pirates get blanked by Christopher Sanchez and the Phillies 8-0. They're back to the 500 mark in 43 and 43 mentioned Reds loss. of the Brewers. Reds are now four and 19 against the NL Central. Four and 19. Six games under 500, but they are supposed to get Hunter Greenback for the game on the 4th of July. So maybe that boosts

Starting point is 00:24:37 him a little bit. I don't know. I keep saying because my wife's a big fan, I'm like, look, you guys are relying on J.J. Bladay to be like your best header right now. Like, that's not good. there's a reason why people didn't want him anymore. And I know he's had a decent season, but that's just looking at your offense. You're relying on stuff like that. And that's a tough place to be. Elsewhere in the league,

Starting point is 00:25:04 things got hot in Boston, and I'm not talking about the temperature. Former Cardo Wilson Contreras in the middle of it. You love him or you hate him. You got to admit he's got spirit. And after he struck out against Cade Cabali, I was watching this too, because I saw a tweet like, uh-oh, Wilson's had it again, had to go watch it real quick,

Starting point is 00:25:23 in the middle of the Cardinals game. And he strikes out and you can hear Kavali yell, sit down, boy. And I'm unaware if that is a thing in Venezuela, if boy is a bad word, I have no idea. Because that was brought up somewhere that that made him be like a racially insensitive. I had no idea. If it is, I don't know. but anytime you talk smack to Wilson Contreras, probably not going to sit well with him.

Starting point is 00:25:53 And so, of course, Wilson, like, starts walking towards the mountain. He's like, you're talking to me? You talking to me? And bench is empty because things are starting to get a little, a little hectic. And eventually it started to get physical. And there's a moment where Willie takes his helmet off his head. And he, like, jumps spikes it, trying to throw it at Cavali.

Starting point is 00:26:16 I don't think it connected or anything, but two straight ejections now for Wilson, who got tossed the night before, and it wasn't really even worthy. Like, he tapped his helmet in what the umpire considered a mocking fashion after he was walking away from home plate. So they tossed him very soft. Come on, MLB umpires. You got to be, have a spine. Give me a break.

Starting point is 00:26:40 The other thing, though, is Miles Michaels got tossed in this game on Tuesday night as well after those benches cleared. And he was wrestling with Nate Eaton. And he said after the game, you know, when something like that happens, you get out there and you do your best to de-escalate the situation. But, you know, you still want to go out there and look tough. You go out there, you look for somebody, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:59 from the other team maybe, and you pretend to grab them around or whatever. There was definitely some jostling and some wrestling going on between them, too. So they got tossed. So good to see our former players having a little fun together. Where was Sunny Gray? That's my question. Where was Sunny Gray to complete the trifecta of former Cardinals getting thrown out in one game?

Starting point is 00:27:20 Wouldn't that have been something? Cardinals back on the field tonight. Michael McGreevy gets the ball against Raynaldo Lopez, who's just an opener for the Braves. He's not normally a starter. So first pitch will be at 615 St. Louis time. Also, best of luck to team USA. Got the USA cap on. I got all the accessories ready.

Starting point is 00:27:38 I got some American flag wristbands that Amazon should be dropping off any moment. So good luck against Bosnia tonight in the World Cup. Make us proud, boys. Thanks for making Locked on Cardinals. First listen every day if you haven't already, give us a follow on X at L.O. underscore Cardinals. We're on TikTok and Instagram. Like, subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already.

Starting point is 00:27:57 Every day our club is built for you. If you're somebody who never misses an episode, head to lockdown scel cardinals. That supercast.com to join the club. For those of you on video, we'll send you to the first ever 24-7 national lockdown podcast network YouTube channel on audio. make sure your second listen is locked on MLB.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals’ Matthew Liberatore OVERTURNS Slump, Offense STRIKES With POWER in Atlanta!

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