Matthew Liberatore Pitches 6 Shutout Innings To Help Cardinals Top Phillies 7-0

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matthew Liberatore pitched six shutout innings, Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-0 on Sunday.

Liberatore (1-1) allowed three hits, walked one and matched his season high with seven strikeouts.

Phil Maton, JoJo Romero and Kyle Leahy each pitched a scoreless inning for the Cardinals, who got their second shutout of the season after blanking the Phillies on Friday night.

Zack Wheeler (1-1) allowed four runs and seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts in six innings.

Contreras hit his first homer of the season to left field off Wheeler in the fourth inning to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Contreras had not homered in his previous 25 games dating to Aug. 10, 2024.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Jordan Walker (18) is congratulated by teammate Willson Contreras (40) after hitting a two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday, April 13, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman each doubled down the left field line in the sixth to expand the Cardinals’ lead to 4-0.

Walker hit his second home run of the season to left field in the top of the seventh to put St. Louis ahead 7-0.

Key moment

Philadelphia had runners on second and third base with one out in the top of the second after Edmundo Sosa hit a one-out single and advanced to second on St. Louis’ failed attempt to throw out J.T. Realmuto at third. Liberatore then struck out Brandon Marsh and induced a weak groundout from Johan Rojas to escape the jam.

Key stat

St. Louis Cardinals’ Willson Contreras, left, is doused by teammates Michael Siani and Pedro Pages, right, following a Cardinals victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in a baseball game Sunday, April 13, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

St. Louis won its first series against Philadelphia since June 20-22, 2017. The Cardinals had gone 0-9-3 in their last 12 series against the Phillies.

Up next

Phillies: RHP Taijuan Walker (1-0, 0.00 ERA) faces San Francisco Giants RHP Landen Roupp (0-1, 3.60 ERA) to open a seven-game homestand Monday night.

Cardinals: Host Houston on Monday night when RHP Sonny Gray (2-0, 4.50 ERA) will oppose Astros LHP Framber Valdez (1-1, 2.50 ERA) to open a three-game series.