51ºÚÁÏ

TAMPA, Fla. — Hours after the rain cleared came the washout.

The Cardinals waited 4½ hours through a parade of rainstorms to finish a series at Tampa Bay and then offered little thunder offensively and absorbed one of their blandest losses of the season. The lineup stalled on one hit for a long stretch, starter Matthew Liberatore didn’t finish the fifth inning and the first pitch thrown by a reliever was struck for a grand slam. Junior Caminero launched it to power the Rays to a 7-2 victory Sunday at George Steinbrenner Field.

The game was not as close or compelling as that score would suggest.

Originally scheduled to start around noon local time, a few bands of thunderstorms rolled over, soaking the field, prompting multiple delays. At one point, the Rays announced a first-pitch time “weather permitting� and then within 15 minutes had to explain that, no, weather was not permitting — and a worse storm was on the way.

The Rays asked fans to leave the seating bowl and seek shelter. Again.

When the game finally started, right-hander Ryan Pepiot retired the first eight Cardinals he faced and was nearly perfect until No. 9 hitter Jose Fermin skipped a grounder to left field for the Cardinals’ first hit.

It was their only hit for most of the game.

In the ninth, Alec Burleson scored his second run of the game when Nolan Gorman singled to give the Cardinals as many hits in the ninth as they had in the first eight innings. They would get another single before the Rays completed the series win and finally sent the Cardinals to the airport, a few hours later and another loss heavier.

No breakout encore for Liberatore

Liberatore (6-11) matched Pepiot (9-10) zero for zero through three innings. Back in Tampa facing the team that selected him 16th overall in the 2019 draft, Liberatore was unable to repeat his breakout performance against the Rays in 2023. Liberatore pitched eight shutout innings that day at Tropicana Field and showed what he’s capable of doing when he’s able to maintain his velocity and the aggressiveness that it allows.

Toward the end of this season, his first full season in the rotation, Liberatore has experienced a dip in that velocity, similar to what he had in some longer starts.

On Sunday, Liberatore averaged 93.3 mph on his fastball, down 0.7 mph from his season average and almost 2 mph from where he can get his fastball to hum. He was able to hold that velocity for the game, however, and that's an area of improvement that encourages the Cardinals.

Liberatore allowed four runs on three hits, and he complicated his outing with three walks. All of them came in the fifth inning, which Liberatore did not finish. The Rays also stole four bases against the lefty. And when the decisive hit was struck and his runners were on base, Liberatore was not there to throw the pitch. 

First pitch, four runs

It took a while for the Rays to load the bases and one pitch to empty them.

In Liberatore’s final inning, he stacked the bases by allowing three walks and three stolen bases, and once he walked that third batter, the inning was someone else’s fire to put out. Reliever Matt Svanson, who has bulldozed his way into more prominent spots with his aggressive fastball and ability to get strikeouts, entered the fifth with the bases loaded and three runners inherited from Liberatore.

The score was 1-0 at the time, but Svanson’s use at the time suggested it was close. Manager Oli Marmol has gone to the right-hander in tight situations – either with a lead, the score tied or in an instance like Sunday’s when the score was within reach.

His job was to freeze the inning there.

The Cardinals trailed by five after his first pitch.

Svanson's streak of 15 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings ended in a blink.

Svanson challenged Caminero with a 94.7 mph fastball, and the slugging third baseman met with a notable home run. The bases-clearing shot over the right field wall was Caminero’s second grand slam of the season and of his career. The homer was his 37th of the season, giving him one more than Alex Rodriguez had in his age-21 season and a new American League record for homers by a player that age or younger.

The Rays widened their lead in the sixth inning off reliever Andre Granillo. Speedster Chandler Simpson split the outfielders with a line drive into the right-center gap. Lars Nootbaar was able to retrieve the ball before it got to the warning track, but with his speed, Simpson still got a triple and brought home two RBIs.

Nine pitches, first run

By the time the Cardinals had something resembling a rally going, they trailed by seven runs, and the notion that it could be a rally was all relative.

They’d managed one hit through the first 6⅔ innings.

A throwing error and a walk from lefty reliever Mason Montgomery presented the Cardinals an opportunity. Montgomery struck out the other two batters he faced — both right-handed hitters — and did not retire the two hitters seeing his power from the left side. That put two runners on base for outfielder Jordan Walker.

In his second start of the series, third of the road trip, Walker fell behind Montgomery 0-2 and had to foul and wait his way back into a full count. With two strikes, Walker fouled off a 98.6 mph fastball and then an 89 mph slider. He also fouled off a 98.2 mph fastball, then ignored the same pitch out of the zone to get the count to 3-2 after seeing eight pitches. The ninth — a 98..4 mph fastball — Walker lifted into play.

His looping fly ball dropped in the middle of three Rays fielders to give the Cardinals their second hit of the game and their first run.

Burleson scored Walker’s 32nd RBI of the season.

That chased Montgomery from the inning, and the rally fizzled from there.