(Photo credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images)

Left-hander Matthew Liberatore -- loser of four straight decisions and winless since June 29 -- will try to get back on track Monday night as his St. Louis Cardinals visit the Miami Marlins to open a three-game series.

Liberatore, 25, was a first-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2018, straight out of the Arizona prep ranks. The Cardinals acquired him in January 2020 in a trade that sent outfielder Randy Arozarena to the Rays.

With the Cardinals, Liberatore is 3-3 with a 3.89 ERA in 67 career relief appearances; and, as a starter, he is 11-19 with a 4.91 ERA.

This season, however, is the first when Liberatore has been exclusively a starter. He is 6-10 with a 4.08 ERA in 22 appearances. But the transition may be taking its toll. After compiling a 3.70 ERA over his first 17 starts, Liberatore has seen that number grow to 5.95 ERA over his last five starts -- a span over which he has failed to go more than 4 1/3 innings in any start.

Part of the problem is that Liberatore's fastball tends to hit 95 mph for his first three innings. From there, the trend is for his velocity to drop to 93 and as low as 91 mph.

All of this suggests that Liberatore may be better in the bullpen. However, that's not what he desires.

'I don't know if there's anything I've wanted more than to be a big-league starter,' Liberatore told mlb.com. 'I don't know if I could want to be a (reliever again).'

Two other trends are negative for Liberatore for Monday's game. He has a 12.00 ERA in six innings over four career appearances against Miami (two starts, two relief appearances). And his career ERA is nearly a run higher on the road 5.10 than at home 4.13.

Miami is expected to counter Liberatore with right-hander Eury Perez (5-3, 3.58).

Perez's trends are mostly positive. He turned in a quality start in his only appearance against the Cardinals, giving up one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over six innings in a 2023 home loss.

His career ERA is also much better at home (2.00 in 13 starts) than it is on the road (4.38 in 18 starts).

However, after going 3-1 with a 1.29 ERA last month, Perez has a 4.96 ERA in three starts in August (though he is 2-0).

Overall, neither team has played terrific baseball lately.

The Cardinals have lost five straight games -- all at home -- including Sunday's 8-4 defeat to the Yankees. The Marlins just finished a 3-8 road trip.

In addition, the Marlins have lost All-Star left fielder Kyle Stowers, who was placed on injured reserve on Sunday with an oblique strain.

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said Stowers will be out at least several weeks, which puts the rest of his season in jeopardy.

Stowers felt tightness on his left side during his first at-bat on Friday, and that feeling never disappeared.

'I just felt a little weird,' Stowers said.

Stowers, a 27-year-old who was having a breakout season, was the National League's Player of the Month for July.

For the season, Stowers has 25 home runs and 73 RBIs with 21 doubles, three triples and a .912 OPS. At the time of his exit from the lineup -- he sat out Saturday's game -- Stowers ranked fifth in the National League in OPS, tied for ninth in homers and 11th in RBIs.

'Kyle's having a great year,' McCullough said. 'But we have a tough and resilient group.'

--Field Level Media