ST. LOUIS — Coming off a career-high seven runs allowed in his most recent start, Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore could not get through six innings for a third consecutive outing.

Facing a Blue Jays lineup with a knack for contact, Liberatore allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings that sank the Cardinals in a 5-2 loss on Wednesday at Busch Stadium.

The left-handed Liberatore kept the Blue Jays scoreless through his first two innings before an error opened up the third inning and hard contact followed across his next two frames. Liberatore surrendered two runs in the third inning, one of which came on a single from Bo Bichette and the other on a sacrifice by George Springer. The pair of runs wiped away a 2-0 lead the Cardinals grabbed with an RBI single from Willson Contreras in the first inning and a homer from Yohel Pozo in the second.

Two runs in the fourth frame and one in the fifth on a solo homer from Ernie Clement helped the Blue Jays complete a series sweep and wrapped a 6-3 homestand for the Cardinals (36-32).

Three of the five runs allowed by Liberatore were earned, leaving him with a 3.93 ERA. The 25-year-old, who held a 2.73 ERA through his first 10 starts of the season, has allowed 17 runs (14 earned) in 13 innings over his past three starts. The loss resulted in the third consecutive losing decision for Liberatore.

A Cardinals offense that shrank leads held by the Blue Jays on Tuesday night could not continue to capitalize when they had multiple runners on base on Wednesday as opportunities with two outs and multiple runners on base in the third and eighth innings ended with strikeouts.

Velocity watch

Liberatore, who experienced dips in velocity during his most recent start entering Thursday, averaged 93.8 mph with his fastball and saw it dip to 91.3 mph when he reached his fifth and final inning of work. The average velocity represented a 0.5 mph dip in average velocity from where it has sat this season, per Statcast.

Prior to Wednesday’s series finale, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said conversations with Liberatore gave “no reason to think that anything would linger” from the lefty’s previous start.

After Liberatore exited his start last Thursday against the Royals alongside a team trainer, he said he did not feel any pain or discomfort. He linked the drops in his velocity to issues with his mechanics that left him “out of sync.”

While dealing with less zip than he’s had to begin the season, Liberatore leaned on his curveball for 21 of his 90 pitches. He got five swings and misses with it and landed it for a called strike five times.

The Blue Jays put Liberatore’s curveball in play twice. One of those two instances resulted in a single from Bichette.

Getting hit hard

When the Blue Jays lineup turned over and brought up Toronto’s hitter to the plate in the third and fourth innings, Liberatore’s inability to limit hard contact resulted in the four runs he allowed between the two frames.

After Tyler Heineman reached second base on a two-base error by Nolan Gorman to open the third inning, Liberatore allowed Bichette to reach base with his single that reached 111.9 mph. Two batters later, a single from Alejandro Kirk that had a 107.6 mph exit velocity placed runners on the corners and a sacrifice fly from Springer to deep center field on a ball he hit with a 106.6 mph exit velocity plated Toronto’s second run of the frame.

During the fourth inning, two runs Liberatore allowed on a sacrifice fly from Bichette and a single from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. both registered exit velocities above 100 mph.

Of the 20 balls put in play by the Blue Jays, 12 were considered hard contact. (Statcast defines hard contract as balls in play with exit velocities at or above 95 mph.)

Offense gets started but stops

Following the RBIs from Contreras and Pozo, the Cardinals were held to four hits through the final eight innings of Wednesday’s finale.

A walk to Ivan Herrera and a hit by pitch of Contreras gave the Cardinals runners on first and second base with two outs in the third inning against Blue Jays starter Eric Lauer. But an at-bat where Alec Burleson fouled off four of the first six pitches he saw ended with him striking out on a foul tip on pitch No. 7.

The Cardinals received two singles by Victor Scott II and a double from Contreras before a single from Nolan Arenado in the eighth put runners on first and second for Gorman. Scott, who singled in the fifth and seventh innings, and Contreras, who doubled in the sixth inning, did not advance beyond second base when they reached base.

Trouble limiting Kirk

The two-hit game from Kirk not only helped the Blue Jays lineup churn in their path to sweep but also notched the former All-Star catcher a third consecutive multi-hit game against the Cardinals.

Kirk, a Silver Slugger Award winner in 2022, reached base with a pair of singles on Wednesday. His single in the third inning advanced Guerrero to third base ahead of Springer’s sacrifice fly while his single in the seventh off reliever Riley O’Brien bumped his batting average to .327.

Kirk, who was Toronto’s designated hitter on Wednesday, collected nine hits in 15 at-bats across the three-game set at Busch Stadium.

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