When third baseman Nolan Gorman lapsed into another funk and his swing-and-miss rate spiked dramatically, the Cardinals made the bold move of demoting left-handed slugger to Triple-A Memphis on June 12.

Could the club possibly consider a similar move with Gorman’s childhood friend, Matthew Liberatore, following another outing where he was hit hard and hit often?

Hoping to bounce back from a dreadful outing in Kansas City last week, Liberatore again fell victim to a big inning and allowed another two homers in a deflating 9-4 loss to the Dbacks at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night.

Liberatore allowed six earned runs – all of them coming in a forgettable fourth inning in which Arizona batted around. Liberatore, who yielded a six-run second inning last week to the Royals, saw the game spiral out of control once again when he grooved an 0-2 curveball to Ildemaro Vargas, who drilled it for a two-run double.

LuJames Groover then hit Liberatore’s next pitch – a 90.5 mph cutter in the heart of the plate – for the first home run of his MLB career. Then, star leadoff hitter Ketel Marte shredded a 1-0 sinker to the tune of 416 feet and 109.3 mph off the bat to vault Arizona into a 6-1 lead.

Liberatore, the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter back in March, has now allowed 17 homers – seven of which have come in June when his ERA has swelled to double digits for the month. The 17 long balls surrendered are tied for the seventh most in the big leagues.

"We were encouraged by how the first three innings looked, especially against this lineup and how this was going to be a tough matchup for him because they're at the top of the league in terms of overall damage against left-handed starters," manager Oliver Marmol told Cardinals.TV. "We just have to solve the big innings against him. It happens more than he would like and more than we would like. It's something we have to continue to figure out an answer for. But, yeah, they got him good in that (fourth) inning." 

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In arguably their most arduous stretch of the season, the Cardinals lost for a second straight night after winning the series opener on Monday. The Cards are in a span where they will play 21 consecutive games against teams at .500 or better. After closing out their seven-game homestand against the Marlins over the weekend, the Cards will hit the road for difficult series at Atlanta and in Chicago against the rival Cubs. They then return to Busch Stadium to face the Brewers for five games and end the first half with three more against the NL East-leading Braves.

Blaze Jordan, who was promoted to the Cardinals to replace the struggling Gorman, doubled in the Cardinals’ first run of the night in the second inning. Jordan then drilled a sacrifice fly to deep center in the fourth inning to score Jose Fermin, who had singled to open the inning. Jordan, who committed his first MLB error earlier in the game, drove in a third run in the ninth inning.

Jose Fermin had two hits and his third homer of the season in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Former Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado, who received a standing ovation before his first at bat for a third straight night, had another hit in four at bats. Arenado, who drove in the first run of Tuesday’s game with a ninth-inning double, has three hits and two RBI against his former team.

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