ST. LOUIS — After the Cardinals got a late lift from their bench Monday to propel them to a comeback win against the Rockies, their inability to get their offense off the ground Tuesday left them shut out.

Facing left-hander Kyle Freeland, who entered the start with a 2-12 record and a 5.53 ERA, the Cardinals were kept scoreless over 7 1/3 innings. The Cardinals’ run-scoring chances against Freeland were quieted by three double plays on groundouts in a 3-0 loss to the Rockies at Busch Stadium.

When Freeland was removed from the game with one out in the eighth inning after Thomas Saggese singled and Victor Scott II walked with one out, the late scoring chance was quieted by Rockies right-handed reliever Victor Vodnik, who struck out Brendan Donovan and Ivan Herrera to end the inning.

As a team, the Cardinals were hitless in six at-bats with a runner in scoring position and left five runners on base as they grounded into 11 outs against Freeland and were struck out twice by Vodnik, who completed a five-out save.

Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore lasted four-plus innings and was charged with three runs in his start. The Cardinals’ lefty worked three perfect innings to begin his outing before his velocity began to dip and the Rockies produced hard contact against him.

Liberatore, who began his night with three strikeouts in the first inning, surrendered two runs in the fourth inning on a two-run homer from Hunter Goodman that traveled 442 feet to left field. Liberatore returned to pitch the fifth inning, faced two batters and retired none as he exited the start with two runners on base after throwing 80 pitches.

Reliever Matt Svanson provided three scoreless innings and notched four strikeouts while allowing one hit and no walks. In his Cardinals debut, Jorge Alcala threw a scoreless eighth inning and flashed a fastball that touched 99 mph in the process.

Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras exited at the start of the sixth inning with a right foot contusion after he was hit by a pitch from Freeland in the fourth inning.

Double-play trouble

When the Cardinals had scoring chances with the top of their lineup due up to the plate, but double plays on groundouts quieted any momentum they looked to build against Freeland.

In the first inning, a hard-hit line-drive single from Donovan led off the game, and a single from Ivan Herrera put runners on first and second base with no outs and Contreras due up.

Contreras saw two pitches and grounded the third one, a change-up thrown below the strike zone, to shortstop. With Donovan standing on third base and two outs, the scoring chance ended with a groundout by Alec Burleson.

After a double play on a groundout by Yohel Pozo ended the second inning, the Cardinals went hitless through the next three innings before Victor Scott II led off the sixth inning with a single. Donovan followed behind the speedster with a single to put runners on first and second base with Herrera due up.

Herrera hit a first-pitch knuckle curveball from Freeland to shortstop for what became the third double play on a ground ball by a Cardinals hitter.

Liberatore leaves after four-plus

With the Cardinals monitoring his workload and how his velocity holds up through the later innings of his starts, Liberatore was pulled two batters into the fifth inning after issuing a 10-pitch walk to Brenton Doyle and allowing a single to Kyle Karros. During his at-bat against Karros, Liberatore threw a fastball that was recorded at 91.7 mph, marking his lowest velocity of the night, excluding an 88.7-mph fastball that was a pitch-out.

As his outing wore on, Liberatore went from flashing a fastball that regularly hovered around 94 mph in his first inning of work to a fastball that sat more often around 92 mph to 93 mph by the fourth and fifth frames.

Liberatore’s fastball averaged 93.4 mph on Tuesday, marking a 0.7-mph decrease from its average velocity this season, per Statcast.

Before Tuesday’s game, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said a regression in Liberatore’s “overall stuff” could lead to a decision on how Liberatore’s role as a starter looks to finish the end of the season.

Liberatore hit hard

Through three seamless innings after striking out the side in order in the first and retiring the next six batters he faced, Tyler Freeman’s leadoff single in the fourth made him the first Rockies hitter to reach base against Liberatore.

But even after Freeman’s single was negated when he slid past the second base bag and was tagged out on a steal attempt, Liberatore could not replicate the success he had against Colorado in the first three innings of Tuesday’s game.

Liberatore allowed a single to Ezequiel Tovar on a ball Tovar pulled to left field with a 108.4-mph exit velocity. Four pitches later, Goodman opened the scoring with a 442-foot two-run homer that had a 112.2-mph exit velocity and landed in Big Mac Land in left field.

Contreras hit, shows frustration, exits early

Contreras, who began Tuesday tied first for the most hit by pitches in the National League, was hit for an 18th time when Freeland's 0-2 sweeper in the fourth inning hit him on the right foot.

After getting hit, Contreras slammed his bat into the dirt around home plate, snapped it over his knee, and tossed both pieces of the broken bat toward the Cardinals' dugout as he walked toward first base. Contreras remained in the game but was replaced at first base during the start of the sixth inning by Nolan Gorman.

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