The Royals had the Cardinals seeing double on Thursday night, and that certainly wasn’t a good thing for struggling starter Matthew Liberatore.

Kansas City hitters pounded out eight doubles – including a particularly rough stretch of five of them in an eight-batter span of the second inning – that ended Liberatore’s night after he had retired just five hitters. Bobby Witt Jr., Jac Caglianone and Salvador Perez added home runs to go with all those doubles as the Royals throttled the Cardinals 14-6 on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium.

"Not a productive day," manager Oliver Marmol told Cardinals.TV and play-by-play announcer Stefan Caray, who made his debut on the network while filling in for father Chip Caray. "We'll look at it and see if we can find anything with (Liberatore) because that was a tough day for him. Every pitch got hit hard and it was an early exit."  

It was a disappointing start to the three-game series against the cross-state rivals for the Cardinals, who lost a second straight game after beating the Padres twice earlier in the week. The two teams play again on Friday and Sunday and take Saturday off with the World Cup being held at neighboring Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Making his 15th start of the season, Liberatore lasted just 12 batters and seven of them reached against him. Witt Jr, who left the lopsided game after injuring his right knee while fielding a hard-hit ball in the fourth inning, connected on a Liberatore curveball for a solo homer in the first inning. It was the 15th homer allowed this season by Liberatore, tied for the 11th most in MLB. The 6-foot-4 left-hander has allowed homers in 10 of his 15 starts and five of those long balls have come in his three starts in June.

Ivan Herrera's 20 hit by pitches are bordering on an MLB record already

Perez, Carter Jensen and Isaac Collins doubled in the second inning, and Liberatore didn’t get any help from left fielder Nelson Velazquez, who misplayed a fly ball down the left field line. Two more doubles from Lane Thomas and Sterling Marte and a single by Witt chased Liberatore, who was tagged for seven hits, seven runs (five earned) and a homer. The six-run second inning was the worst surrendered by the Cards in 2026.

Reliever Gordon Graceffo didn’t fare much better as he also lasted just 1 2/3 innings and allowed another four hits and four earned runs.

The lopsided score allowed starter-turned-reliever Max Rajcic to make his MLB debut. The sixth-round pick from the 2022 MLB Draft, who was promoted from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day, spent three years in the Minor Leagues as a starter before being converted to a relief role in 2026.

With his family and friends looking on from Kauffman Stadium’s stands, Rajcic allowed just two hits in two-plus innings – one of them being Perez’s solo homer in the sixth inning.

"It was good to see him because we've been watching him (in Triple-A) quite a bit, and he's put together a really positive year," Marmol said of the rookie. "Getting him up here, I think he's going to have some success."

Switch from starting to relieving helped to fast-track Max Rajcic's run to MLB       

Liberatore’s rough outing squandered an early 2-0 lead. Rookie JJ Wetherholt singled to open the game and scored when Witt uncharacteristically whiffed on a grounder for an error. Alec Burleson then lifted a fly ball into the outfield to plate Ivan Herrera, who had reached on a walk.

In the fourth inning, Herrera was hit by a pitch for the MLB-most 20th time this season. He has been hit twice as much as any other player in the National League.   

Masyn Winn had three hits, while Jose Fermin added two hits and two RBI. Wetherholt reached base five times with three hits and two walks and rookie third baseman Blaze Jordan added two more hits. Burleson’s career-best hitting streak ended at 17 games when he took a walk in the eighth inning.

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