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CHICAGO — From the spark at the top of the lineup to the power multiple places Tuesday and even an unexpected dash of Willson Contreras, the Cardinals took a short drive to put plenty of runs between them and their weekend in Milwaukee.

Invited by errors and misplays early and an infielder pitching later to have some fun at their hosts’ expense, the Cardinals accepted, hungrily.

Brendan Donovan laced four hits in his first four at-bats as leadoff. Alec Burleson, on his way to three hits, and Victor Scott II added home runs later. Ivan Herrera had two two-run singles to stake the Cardinals’ lead and expand it. And Contreras stole home in a resounding 12-2 victory against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field.

A five-run second inning catapulted the Cardinals toward their largest margin of victory in at least a month and allowed them to start the back grind of June with a jubilee of hits, runs, and a quality start from young lefty Matthew Liberatore.

Liberatore (4-6) ended a streak of six starts without a win by holding the Sox to two runs on five hits through six innings. A large lead allowed him to challenge hitters and he maintained his velocity. Thirteen of the 23 batters he faced did not get the ball out of the infield.

Contreras steals home (assist: replay)

Why exactly the White Sox took the bait will have to be sorted out later, but after a lengthy review it was determined that Contreras did indeed steal home.

In the fifth inning of a game the Cardinals already had on lock, Contreras stood at third after Alec Burleson’s single to right. With runners at the corners and a full count to Nolan Arenado, Burleson did what ballplayers do in that situation. He took off for second base. The pitch was a ball to award Arenado a walk.

But Sox catcher Edgar Quero jumped his throw.

He threw to second, and Contreras took off for home.

The return throw came in just ahead of Contreras, but the Cardinals’ former All-Star catcher twisted away from the tag to reach home. Contreras was initially ruled out on the play by home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez, the crew chief. The Cardinals challenged, and the replay umpires in Manhattan scoured the images to assure what happened. A delay of several minutes resulted in an overturned call – and a undramatic steal of home, but a steal of home nonetheless.

For Contreras, it was his first steal of home in his career.

The Cardinals’ most recent steal of home was in July 2023 when Donovan swiped home at Arizona.

With the run thanks to replay, the Cardinals took a 6-1 lead.

Cards seize on error for 5

The Cardinals trailed by a run when the White Sox ragged defense opened a seam — and that was all the Cardinals needed to capitalize.

Arenado led off the second with a sharp, line-drive single to center. What followed was a series of mistakes and fortuitous hits that fueled a five-run inning for the Cardinals that slingshotted them to a lead the Sox would never threaten. After Arenado’s single, none of the next three batters got a hit, but they all reached base. Lars Nootbaar walked. Pedro Pages attempted a strategic sacrifice bunt to move his teammates into scoring position in a one-run game. Instead, the White Sox committed their second error of the game and Pages was safe at first.

Arenado scored easily on the error to tie the game.

The next batter, Victor Scott II, was struck by a pitch to load the bases.

Then came the hits.

Donovan singled home a run. He and Scott scored from second on the first of Herrera’s two-run singles. An out on the sacrifice bunt may only have slowed the Cardinals’ rally not interrupted or foiled it, but with the help the Cardinals pulled away with a 5-1 lead.

All of the runs in the inning came against Sox starter Shane Smith, who could be their All-Star Game representative.

Libby’s (no) walk in the park

Outside of a couple of doubles scattered around his start, Liberatore offered few chances for the Sox and, once the Cardinals had their hearty lead, put his defense to work assuring that.

Liberatore ended a personal losing streak of three consecutive starts with his first quality start since May 24. Since, Liberatore had yet to get an out in the sixth inning of any appearance, and he had not allowed fewer than five runs in any of those three games. The hits were stacking up. One game he left with “fatigue-related issues” that were later and better described as a lack of sync in his delivery.

And the starts with dotted with walks.

There was a stretch to open the season when no starter in the majors had a lower walk rate than the Cardinals’ young lefty. He’s only walked more than one batter in a start once this season, and he’s walked none in four. Make it five. Liberatore went a stretch of 11 batters as the Cardinals took and widened their lead and only allowed one ball out of the reach of an infielder in that stretch.

A double in the first inning became a run and a briefly lived lead for the White Sox. And a double in the fifth became a run when Liberatore challenged hitters and the Sox got a sacrifice fly.

Burleson adds on

Before the game, as he talked through Jordan Walker’s schedule of starts as he returns from a wrist injury, manager Oliver Marmol had a quick explanation for why Alec Burleson started in right field on Tuesday.

“He’s swinging it,” Marmol said.

Clearly.

With a 6-for-17 (.353) road trip following a 10-for-27 (.370) homestand, Burleson is in the midst of a run to become the Cardinals’ third .300 hitter in the lineup. As the eighth inning opened Tuesday night, he got there – batting .302 after a home run. Burleson’s solo shot in the top of the seventh added to the Cardinals’ lead and his recent overall success and stinging success against lefty pitchers. Burleson’s homer off Sox lefty Brandon Eisert was his sixth home run of the season.

It was also his seventh hit in his past 14 at-bats vs. a lefty.