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It’s helping to manage the workload heaped on a first-year starter, too.

When Matthew Liberatore makes his next scheduled appearance Wednesday against Toronto, he’ll be the equivalent of three starts away from surpassing his career high for innings in the majors. He’ll have more than half a season yet to go. Liberatore has thrown 68 1/3 in 12 starts so far this season, and his previous high in the majors was 86 innings last season. He last threw more than 100 innings when he reached 126 split almost evenly between Class AAA and the majors in 2023.

“We’ve talked about it,” manager Oliver Marmol said Sunday morning when asked about monitoring Liberatore’s innings. “We have a little bit different view on that, and a lot of it is going to be on how his body is responding.”

The different view begins with the measure.

Internally, the Cardinals believe that not all innings are created equal, and pitching coach Dusty Blake separates innings by other ways to define them. Pitch count becomes the preferred measurement, and specifically pitch count within stressful innings. Liberatore has eight starts of at least six innings, but he has only four of more than 90 pitches, two of 99 or 100. In a recent start, the Cardinals sided with removing Liberatore after five innings in Texas on 91 pitches because it was an opportunity to avoid stacking an unnecessary inning on his arm, Marmol said.

In Liberatore’s most recent start he was removed abruptly from the game after four innings due to “fatigue-related issues.” The lefty maintained after the start and again Sunday that he had no physical issues. An alarm of concern went off when his fastball velocity dipped from inning to inning, starting at 96 mph and then plunging to 89 mph.

Liberatore said the reason was mechanics and he saw the data that shows it.

The lefty looked at motion-capture images from his start against the Royals and saw in the three-dimensional, stick-figure recreation of his delivery the difference between the 96 mph early and the 89 mph in his final inning. Liberatore explained the motion-capture tech available from games and used by pitchers around the Cardinals clubhouse can crystalize mechanics in a way that scrutinizing just video does not.

Liberatore found an answer in the mo-cap and put it to use between starts. When asked, he did not believe the issue was fatigue or workload, just rhythm and sync.

McGreevy gave the Cardinals six innings Sunday, saving the bullpen from some added work and allowing the other starters to all stay on a five-day rest. (The move also subtly nudged Sonny Gray’s next start to division rival Milwaukee instead of against a visitor from the American League.) The Cardinals are encouraged by the results of their scheduled use of a six-man rotation, and the Dodgers’ weekend underscored that. In the past week, LA put its 14th pitcher on the injured list. The Cardinals have a league-low one, and that one is Zack Thompson, who was placed on the IL during spring training.

“You can have 10 very stressful innings or you can have 10 very quick, eight-pitch innings,” Marmol said. “Hard to go just by innings and not like the actual workload of pitches thrown and things of that nature. When you look at it from that that (view), you’re in a much better spot.”

Walker headed for rehab games

Encouraged by Jordan Walker’s swings Sunday morning in the batting cage and a weight-room workout to further test his wrist, the Cardinals said they were planning on sending their young outfielder on a rehab assignment for game-speed at-bats. That could start as early as Tuesday, though how he does in a workout and batting practice at Busch Stadium on Monday will ultimately make the decision.

Walker received an anti-inflammatory shot to reduce pain and irritation within his left wrist, and he was prescribed several days of inactivity for the treatment.

Walker felt the discomfort in his wrist for several days before he was unable to complete batting practice in Kansas City and went on the 10-day injured list. In the games leading up to the injury, Walker was starting to feel progress at the plate from an adjustment in his hand position before starting his swing. He was batting .368 with a .526 slugging percentage in the five games and 19 at-bats before going on the IL.

Nootbaar avoids hitless reunion

Acknowledging that he far preferred the view of Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s splitter from center fielder when the two were teammates than how it looked as an opponent in the batter’s box, Lars Nootbaar said one thought carried him into a third at-bat against the Dodgers’ right-hander Saturday.

“All I was thinking was I can’t 0 for 6 with strike strikeouts against Shohei (Ohtani) and Yamamoto the first time facing them,” Nootbaar said. “I’ve got to put the ball in play or do something. Completely changed what I was doing. Had a weak, little, barely hit and thankfully found a hole.”

Nootbaar faced Ohtani in 2023 two months after they won the World Baseball Classic together with Team Japan. Pitching for the Angels, Ohtani struck Nootbaar three times – all of them swinging. Yamamoto struck out Nootbaar in his first two at-bats Saturday, getting the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter on three consecutive splitters with the bases loaded in the second.

In the fifth, Nootbaar avoided the 0-for-6 with a single.

“I got the experience,” he said of facing Yamamoto. “It was quite an experience.”

Munoz low on options, etc.

To make room on the active roster for starter McGreevy, the Cardinals optioned reliever Roddery Munoz to Class AAA Memphis for the fourth time this season. Players are limited to five options within the same season, and after that fifth time a player must be placed on waivers before returning to the minors. … Major League Baseball issued a clarification on Nolan Arenado’s walk-off hit in Saturday’s game that ruled it was a single and not, because it bounced out of play, a rulebook double as announced by the official scorer. Per Rule 9.06F and its explanation, a hitter is awarded the equivalent of bases required for the winning run to score. Jose Barrero was at third base, so Arenado, by rule receives a single. For example: Had Barrero been at second and scored, Arenado would receive a double. … Ohtani’s rehab progression to return as a pitcher will not include a stop on Busch Stadium’s mound. Due to poor weather all weekend, the Dodgers announced Ohtani would face hitters later this week in a controlled setting in San Diego and not during their visit to ӣ����Ƶ as originally planned.