Rain interrupts Cardinals, but it's Reds who flood bullpen to split series

Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on May 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CINCINNATI — It wasn’t just the rain that put a damper on the Cardinals in the series finale against the Reds.

A day after their offensive uproar and doubleheader sweep, the temperature of the Cardinals lineup fell long before the storms arrived and washed out Matthew Liberatore’s start and a chance to win a four-game series at Great American Ball Park. The Reds thundered for seven runs against the Cardinals bullpen for a 9-1 victory Thursday afternoon.

Cincinnati took the bookends of the series.

The Cardinals won the middle two.

They scored 15 runs in 18 innings on Wednesday and two total in the other 18 innings of their four-day, rain-soaked visit to the Queen City.

The lone run they scored Thursday came with help from an error. Nolan Arenado landed a single in shallow left-center field, and a misplay on the bounce allowed Brendan Donovan to soar home. The Cardinals did not score in the first inning for the first time in the series, but they did answer with Donovan’s run then to cleave the Reds’ early lead in half.

The game was 2-1 when a storm arrived and paused play at the start of the bottom of the third inning for one hour, 37 minutes.

When play resumed, the first two Reds singled and both scored.

Graham Ashcraft entered as the Reds' first reliever and blowtorched through three scoreless innings, and that was the difference in the game. The Reds had the early lead and the relievers lined up to hold it.

The rest of the game was a wash for the Cardinals.

Rain interrupts Liberatore’s outing

Midway through the rain delay, Cardinals starter Liberatore and an entourage of catchers and coaches went out to the bullpen so that he could throw more pitches and reach some desired pitch count to maintain stamina.

He was attempted to stay in the game, but the delay would go on too long.

Rain, shortened.

The timing of the storms that roiled over Cincinnati abbreviated Liberatore’s start to three innings and only 42 pitches. He allowed two hits and two runs, and both of those runs came on the same swing. Reds catcher Jose Trevino pulled a two-run homer into the left field seats in the second inning. Liberatore invited the trouble with a two-out walk that brought the former Yankees catcher to the plate. Trevino drilled the first pitch he saw from Liberatore for the first runs of the game and his second home run of the series.

Liberatore found his footing from there — until rain swept it away.

The Cardinals lefty struck out the final batter of the second inning and went around the horn to retire all three batters he faced in the third inning. The groundouts went 4-3, 6-3, 5-3, neatly position to position through the infield for a perfect inning. And then the next pitch Liberatore threw was in the bullpen.

Reds pile on bullpen

As the rain returned, the game slipped out of reach of the Cardinals’ relievers.

In the seventh inning, the Reds added three more runs, and most of the rally came with the rain intensifying but the game still going. Right-hander reliever Riley O’Brien primed the Reds with a walk and a hit batter mixed into the two outs he also collected. When a row of lefties appeared, the Cardinals turned to lefty reliever John King and hits followed. Santiago Espinal roped a two-run single to left field that punctuated the inning.

The Reds sent eight batters to the plate.

The Cardinals had to send a trainer there, too.

When Noelvi Marte stung a single to right field, Jordan Walker came up throwing to the plate. His throw reached catcher Yohel Pozo just as TJ Friedl slid into the plate. That collision left Pozo on the ground for a bit, and he appeared to be favoring his mitt hand. He was attended to by a Cardinals athletic trainer and talked to by manager Oliver Marmol. After testing whether he could receive a pitch, he remained in the game.

An X-ray taken after the game did not show any damage within Pozo's wrist, and he said the soreness had already started to subside as he readied for the charter flight to St. Louis.

Cincinnati started its scoring against the Cardinals the moment the infield dried. Matt Svanson took over for Liberatore. The first two batters he faced singled, and they both scored before he could navigate the back end of the Reds lineup. Spencer Steer added a solo homer in the sixth inning off O’Brien.

The outs asked of the bullpen could prompt a roster move before the Cardinals open a weekend series against the Mets on Friday at Busch Stadium.