Stone Crabs sweep Cardinals with 10-8 Sunday win

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (April 22, 2018) - After leading 10-0, the Charlotte Stone Crabs held on for a 10-8 win over the Palm Beach Cardinals Sunday at Charlotte Sports Park, claiming their first sweep of the season.
The Stone Crabs' (9-8) bullpen surrendered seven runs before Curtis Taylor came in to strand the tying run in the ninth and earn his first save.
The win is Charlotte's fifth straight and seventh in the last eight games. The Stone Crabs scored a remarkable 51 runs during their six-game homestand, finishing the week 5-1.
Stone Crabs' starter Brock Burke (1-1) worked 5.1 innings of one-run ball to earn his first win of the year. Burke struck out four and walked one, allowing six hits and leaving with a 10-0 lead.
Charlotte did not waste any time getting in front against Cardinals (9-8) starter Anthony Shew (1-1). Kevin Padlo stroked a one-out single in the second before Joey Roach singled him to second two batters later. Justin Bridgman followed by lining a two-run double to right and taking third on the throw to the plate. Shew then released a wild pitch, allowing Bridgman to score to make it 3-0 Stone Crabs.
The Crabs began the bottom of the third with a Miles Mastrobuoni base hit. Two batters later, Nate Lowe swatted a two-run home run to right to extend the Stone Crabs' lead to 5-0.
In the fourth, the Charlotte catcher Roach singled ahead of Lucius Fox , who clubbed a run-scoring triple to left center, making it 6-0.
In the fifth inning, Palm Beach reliever Jason Zgardowski allowed two walks after an error to load the bases. Roach then lined a ball of the wall in left, plating all three runners to stretch the Stone Crabs' lead to 9-0. Fox followed by lining a single to plate Roach and make the score 10-0.
The Cardinals then scored three runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and three in the ninth before Taylor worked out of it.
The Stone Crabs will look to keep up their stellar play as they hit the road for a seven-game swing this week. They'll start a three-game set against St. Lucie at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Brandon Lawson (0-1, 4.50) makes the start for Charlotte against Justin Dunn (1-1, 1.26) of the Mets. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.