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Palm Beach Cardinals

De La Cruz, Scruggs Lead Cardinals' Offensive Outburst

August 3, 2011 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Luis De La Cruz had a career-high four hits and Xavier Scruggs hit his team-leading 11th home run as the Palm Beach Cardinals (22-18, 51-58) defeated the Charlotte Stone Crabs (22-17, 52-56) by a final of 10-4 Wednesday night in game one of a three-game series at Charlotte Sports Park.

Tyler Lyons (5-3, 4.66 ERA) gave up four earned runs and eight hits in five innings but ended up with his third straight victory, also hitting a batter and striking out three. The first-year lefty, selected in the 9th round last year out of Oklahoma State University, is now 3-1 with a 4.63 ERA in seven starts after pitching 21 games out of the bullpen to begin the season.

The Cardinals got off to a roaring start following the day off Tuesday, scoring six times off five hits and a walk in the top of the first inning. Starlin Rodriguez and Domnit Bolivar began the rally with one-out single before Kyle Conley walked to load the bases for Rainel Rosario, who knocked home two with a single to center. De La Cruz followed with a single and Niko Vasquez added a sacrifice fly prior to the big blast of the inning from Scruggs, a towering three-run shot to left that capped the scoring and put the Cards on top 6-0.

Charlotte responded quickly by cutting the lead in half in the bottom of the inning thanks to four straight hits to start things off. Tyler Bortnick and Mark Thomas accounted for a RBI apiece with the latter two hits and Bortnick came around to score later in the frame on a fielder's choice and error from De La Cruz at home.

Both clubs were held off the board for three innings until Palm Beach struck with two more in the fifth. De La Cruz came through with his third hit of the night to drive home one and Vasquez knocked in his second run of the night with a sharp single to right. Charlotte came back with one in the bottom half of the frame on a solo homer from Thomas, his 11th of the season, to leave the score at 8-4 headed to the sixth.

The Cardinals tacked on single runs in the sixth and seventh innings thanks to a RBI-triple by Rodriguez and a sacrifice fly from Alan Ahmady. Left-hander Dan Calhoun fired three scoreless innings in relief of Lyons and Justin Smith finished it off with a scoreless ninth inning.

De La Cruz led all scores with four hits, two runs and a RBI while Rosario and Rodriguez each had a pair of hits. Left-hander Kyle Lobstein (7-9, 4.35 ERA) gave up six in four innings to suffer the loss for Charlotte.

Left-hander Kevin Siegrist (0-2, 2.92 ERA) was the originally-scheduled starter for Palm Beach tomorrow night but was just recently placed on the disabled list. Either Siegrist or another Cardinals pitcher will take on lefty C.J. Riefenhauser (0-0, 2.89 ERA) at 6:30 p.m. for game two from Charlotte Sports Park.

For more information on the Palm Beach Cardinals, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, please call (561) 775-1818 or visit www.palmbeachcardinals.com. For tickets and more information regarding Roger Dean Stadium, please visit www.rogerdeanstadium.com.

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