ST. LOUIS – Matthew Liberatore, the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter and the pitcher they hoped would evolve into a top-of-the-rotation stopper, is just six starts into his 2026 season, but the club already has concerns about some troubling trends.

Liberatore, 26, lasted just 3 1/3 innings in Saturday’s 11-9 loss to the Mariners before giving up eight hits and five earned runs. Of even more concern was the 6-foot-4 left-handed surrendering three home runs, pushing his total of long balls allowed to eight in his six outings. 

“It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what it is,” said Liberatore, who admitted to synching issues with his mechanics on Saturday – something that led to him missing spots and giving up several hard-hit smashes. “Obviously, I’m never trying to give (home runs) up and I’m never trying to leave pitches over the middle of the plate. I just feel like when I’ve made mistakes I’ve paid via the long ball this year, which is definitely something that hasn’t been the norm for me.”

Of the eight homers that Liberatore has surrendered four have come against right-handed hitters and four to lefties. Early in his career, Liberatore struggled mightily against right-handed hitters and teams would often stack their lineups with righties to combat him. Even in 2025, when Liberatore successfully made the transition from the bullpen back into the starting rotation, 16 of the 19 homers he surrendered came against right-handed hitters.  

Of concern to manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake this season is the lack of swing-and-miss that Liberatore is generating against right-handed hitters. Through the equivalent of 23 2/3 innings of facing right-handed hitters, Liberatore has struck out just 11 batters – only three more than he’s whiffed against lefties in six innings of work. 

Overall, Liberatore has seen his whiff rate (from 20.2 percent to 18.3 percent), strikeout rate (from 18.8 percent to 14.1 percent) and chase rate (from 29.5 percent to 27.3 percent) drop from 2025 to six starts into the 2026 season.

“It’s not so much the home runs as it is the swing-and-miss if you look at the righties,” Marmol said of Liberatore’s issues. “That’s more what we’re looking at because (lower swing-and-miss) leads to more damage, even if they’re not home runs. The (lack of swing-and-miss) is there and the result is more of them being home runs.”

Liberatore is 0-1with a 4.75 ERA through six starts. Over 30 1/3 innings, he’s allowed 36 hits and 16 earned runs while striking out 19 and walking 11. He pitched well enough to win in Houston last week, but he was saddled with a no-decision when the bullpen squandered a late lead.

On Saturday, Liberatore left a 3-2 slider in the middle of the plate and Seattle star Julio Rodriguez smacked it for a two-run homer. Will Wilson reached Liberatore for his first MLB homer in Saturday’s second inning when he smacked an elevated four-seam fastball over the wall in left field. Then, with the Cards clinging to a 7-4 lead and trying to get their starting pitcher through five innings, Liberatore allowed No. 8 hitter Cole Young to drill a ball 423 feet and into the seats for a third homer.

The homer troubles left Liberatore searching for answers that he hopes to find before his next start – likely next Friday against the two-time champion Dodgers at Busch Stadium. 

“I definitely didn’t have my best stuff (on Saturday) and the thing I’m most disappointed by was my ability to execute with how I felt,” said Liberatore, whose 3 1/3-inning outing was his shortest since s three-inning start against the Braves on July 11, 2025. “I got to 0-2 on a good amount of hitters and I left the ball across the middle of the plate, and I paid the price for it.” 

That the short outing came during a stretch when the Cardinals are playing 17 games in 17 days left Liberatore even more frustrated. He knows that his short outing on Saturday put a strain on the bullpen at a time when rest is important.

“I tried a lot of different things, with different cues and using different ways to attacking guys, but I just didn’t do a good job of executing so the game plan really didn’t matter,” Liberatore said. “When you see the ball flying like it was, I need to keep the ball down more and use more spin to keep the ball out of the top of the zone. I didn’t really get that far today, but that’s got to be the theme.”

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