Matthew Liberatore News: Falters in fifth inning

Liberatore (6-9) allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks while striking out one over 4.1 innings to take the loss Friday versus the Padres.

A defensive miscue by Willson Contreras allowed the Padres to build a rally in the fifth inning, which ended Liberatore's outing early. He finished with 85 pitches (55 strikes) but came up short of the five-inning mark for the second start in a row. The southpaw had a start skipped coming out of the All-Star break and is also likely to have his innings monitored down the stretch -- he's already at 109 frames in 2025, though his career high across all levels came in 2022, when he logged 149.2 innings. Liberatore has been decent this year with a 3.96 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 84:26 K:BB across 20 starts, but if he can't be more efficient to be eligible for wins, his fantasy value will tumble. The 25-year-old is tentatively scheduled for a tough road matchup versus the Dodgers next week.