Matthew Liberatore (3-3, 4.71) gets the ball against Noah Cameron (3-4, 4.11) to open a four-game set in Kansas City. Both lefties are coming off no-decisions on June 13 where they each surrendered 4 earned and got pulled after 4.1 innings, so this isn't exactly an ace duel — it's two guys trying to reset.
The bigger storyline is what each team is hauling into Kauffman. The Cardinals are 40-32 and still walking around like a real contender, but they just got pasted 6-1 by San Diego after winning the first two of that series. The Royals are 30-45, 5 games under .500 over their last 10, and the injury report reads like a hospital chart.
- Day-To-DaySem Robberse SP — Robberse (elbow) has been sent to the Cardinals' Florida Complex League affiliate to begin a rehab assignment.
- Day-To-DayPacky Naughton RP — Naughton will undergo surgery next month to repair the damaged UCL in his left elbow, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
- Day-To-DayVictor Santos RP — The Red Sox traded Santos (undisclosed) and Nick Robertson to the Cardinals on Friday in exchange for Tyler O'Neill (foot), Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports.
- Day-To-DayIxan Henderson SP — Henderson (elbow) is starting the season on the 60-day injured list at Triple-A Memphis.
- Day-To-DayZack Thompson RP — The Cardinals reassigned Thompson (shoulder) to minor-league camp Monday.
- 15-Day-ILRyan Fernandez RP — Fernandez (back) is on track to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis on Friday, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.
- 60-Day-ILRamon Urias 3B — Urias (elbow) returned to St. Louis to undergo an examination on his left elbow, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.
- Day-To-DayMaikel Garcia 3B — Garcia (hand) is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Nationals.
- Day-To-DayAnthony Simonelli SP — no
- Day-To-DayJavier Vaz 2B — Vaz (fingers) has produced a .238/.304/.262 slash line with zero home runs and three stolen bases in 10 games since being activated from Double-A Northwest Arkansas' 7-day injured list April 22.
- Day-To-DayTyson Guerrero RP — no
- 7-Day ILSeth Lugo SP — Lugo (concussion) is expected to be reinstated from the 7-day injured list to start Friday against the Nationals, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.
- 10-Day-ILVinnie Pasquantino 1B — Royals manager Matt Quatraro said that Pasquantino underwent surgery Sunday to remove a fractured hamate bone in his right hand and will face a recovery timeline of roughly 4-6 weeks, Joel Goldberg of Bally Sports Kansas City reports.
- 10-Day-ILKyle Isbel CF — Isbel has been diagnosed with a Grade 3 tear of a portion of his left plantar fasciitis.
- 15-Day-ILKris Bubic SP — Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Sunday that Bubic underwent another MRI that showed nothing structurally wrong with his left elbow or shoulder, Joel Goldberg of Bally Sports Kansas City reports.
Kansas City is operating without Vinnie Pasquantino (hamate surgery, 4-6 weeks), Kyle Isbel (Grade 3 plantar tear), Cole Ragans on the 60-day, Jonathan India on the 60-day, and Maikel Garcia was out of Wednesday's lineup with a hand issue. That's a lineup card held together with athletic tape. Seth Lugo is reportedly back Friday, so he doesn't help tonight.
Liberatore has been the wobbly link in the Cardinals rotation — a 5.65 ERA over his last 6 starts per stltoday, with command going sideways and trouble getting through 5 innings. Cameron, meanwhile, has been pitching better than his ERA suggests (3.49 FIP, per Yahoo) and just put up 6 innings of 3-strikeout work against Minnesota before the rocky Houston start. Pick your poison.
Pinnacle has the Royals as slight home favorites at -114 with a total of 8.5, which feels about right given the rotation gap on paper is small and KC's bats are short-handed. If you're a Cardinals fan, you want Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan to do what good lineups do to a Triple-A-flavored Royals card. If you're a Royals fan, you're banking on Cameron going 6-plus and the bullpen not blowing up.