De La Cruz blast powers Scrappers

Staff report

Burlington, VT.

Juan De La Cruz hit a three-run home run to lead the Mahoning Valley Scrappers to a 4-1 victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters in the New York-Penn League on Monday night.

Leo Castillo and D’vone McClure singled with one out in the fourth. Taylor Murphy drove in Castillo to make it 1-0.

Cruz’s home run came next.

The Scrappers led 4-0 until the bottom of the inning when Max Kuhn had a run-scoring single for the Lake Monsters, driving in Jose Brizuela.

Luis Gomez allowed two hits in two-thirds of an inning to get the win in relief for Mahoning Valley (22-29).

Reliever Brett Graves took the loss for Vermont (20-31). He went three innings and allowed all four runs on five hits.

Scrappers starter Jordan Carter pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up one run on five hits. He added two strikeouts.

Luke Eubank threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing three hits and striking out two.

J.P Feyereisen earned his third save of the season, tossing a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts.

The Scrappers have today off before returning home to play the Brooklyn Cyclones on Wednesday at Eastwood Field.