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Palm Beach Cardinals

Cuda, Caldwell Propel Cardinals to Victory

July 31, 2014 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Jupiter, FL - Joe Cuda pitched a tremendous game, Bruce Caldwell sent one deep and the Palm Beach Cardinals grounded the Lakeland Flying Tigers in a 7-1 victory on Thursday night at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals are atop the FSL South standings by 1.5 games with the win.

Cuda cruised through the first four innings with ease before running into some trouble in the fifth. The Flying Tigers (11-28, 53-53) used three straight hits to load the bases with nobody out but Cuda made some pretty special pitches to get out of the inning unscathed. The right-hander fanned the next three batters he faced to leave the bags jammed and keep the Cardinals on top 3-0.

Cuda threw 11 straight strikes during his three strikeout rampage and turned what could have been a big inning for Lakeland into a huge momentum boost for Palm Beach. He got through six innings with just one run allowed on eight hits and struck out six batters before Logan Billbrough relieved him for the seventh. Cuda (8-7) has the most wins (8) in the league since May 21.

Caldwell gave the Palm Beach hurler breathing room right away with a two-run monster shot to right field with one away in the first. Ildemaro Vargas got on board ahead of Caldwell with a perfectly placed bunt single down the third base line.

The Cardinals (26-14, 62-47) extended their lead to 3-0 in the third on another Caldwell RBI. Nick Martini walked and Vargas followed with an infield single. A subsequent throwing error on Lakeland's Jared Reaves enabled Martini and Vargas to take third and second, respectively. Caldwell drove a ball to left field in the next at-bat, allowing Martini to race home on the sacrifice fly.

Caldwell, who drove in three runs on the night and also turned in a three-RBI performance on Wednesday, leads the FSL with 45 RBI since May 29. He owns a .307 batting average and has 10 homers in 52 games over the span.

Palm Beach added a run in the fifth and sixth innings. Dante Rosenberg hit a laser off the left field wall for a two-out double in the fifth and touched home on a Martini single to make it a 4-0 Cardinal advantage.

Lakeland broke through for a run in the sixth, but Caldwell singled and eventually dented the plate on a wild pitch in the bottom half to regain the four run lead, 5-1.

Martini and Vargas led off the eighth inning with back-to-back singles and both tallied a run in the frame to cap the scoring at 7-1. Luke Voit and Anthony Garcia were responsible for the run-scoring hits to drive in the final two runs of the homestand.

Martini, Vargas and Caldwell combined to go 7-for-10 with four RBI and six runs on the evening to pace the offense.

Billbrough and Chris Perry combined for three scoreless innings on the mound to finish the game for the Cardinals. The duo allowed just two baserunners and fanned two to preserve the win.

Yorfrank Lopez (5-9) surrendered four runs - three earned - on five hits over five innings and took the loss for Lakeland.

The Cardinals hit the road for a four-game series with the Dunedin Blue Jays starting on Friday night. Both starting pitchers will be announced Friday afternoon before game time. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.

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