Taveras tops Springfield's hit parade

Things went so well offensively for Double-A Springfield on Sunday, that even if you took away Oscar Taveras' team-leading four hits from the Cardinals' output, they still would have had 20 to fall back on.

St. Louis' No. 3 prospect went 4-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, adding to Springfield's franchise-record 24 hits for a franchise-record tying 20 runs in a 20-3 rout of Arkansas.

Taveras raised his average to .323 with the four-hit effort. After Sunday's game, he also sports a .376 on-base percentage and a .581 slugging percentage with 12 home runs this season. The Dominican Republic native has 42 RBIs for Springfield.

The output from Taveras came nearly one week after the outfielder went 5-for-5 with a home run June 4 against Corpus Christi.

MLB.com's No. 93 overall prospect obviously wasn't the only one to get in on the action against Arkansas pitching, though. The Cards' No. 4 prospect, Kolten Wong, went 2-for-2 with his sixth home run of the season and two RBIs out of the leadoff spot.

First baseman Xavier Scruggs homered twice, going 3-for-5 with four runs scored and five RBIs. Left fielder Chris Swauger and center fielder Adam Melker also both homered. Melker added two doubles, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while Swauger also went 3-for-5, driving in two runs.

Catcher Audry Perez rounded out the three-hit efforts at 3-for-5 with two runs scored. In all, each of Springfield's nine starters and two pinch-hitters managed to get at least one hit, while there were seven multi-hit efforts throughout the Cards' lineup. Five batters posted multi-RBI games and the team hit five home runs in total.

Springfield's pitching did its part, as well, with starter Tyler Lyons (5-4) surrendering three runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts over six innings to earn the win. Reliever Kevin Thomas tossed the next two frames, not allowing a hit or a walk while striking out two. Chris Corrigan finished things off with a scoreless ninth.