Wrapping it up: Cardinals 9, Marauders 3

THE STORY: Niko Vasquez (above) hit two home runs, including an eighth-inning grand slam, to lead the Cardinals to a 9-3 win and draw them even with the Marauders for first place in the FSL South Division.

Cardinals' pitcher Carlos Martinez, 19, went six innings to earn the win in his FSL debut. Ranked the St. Louis Cardinals' third-best prospect by Baseball America, Martinez went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He struck out seven, walked four and hit two batters.

Jarek Cunningham homered, his team-best 14th, and Carlos Paulino and Bengie Gonzalez also drove in runs for Bradenton.

THE RECORD: The Marauders are 6-2 in the second half and 36-42 overall.

THE STAR OF THE GAME: Vasquez is an easy pick. The 22-year-old third baseman was taken by the Cardinals during the third round of the 2008 draft, and began the day batting .212 in 27 games with Palm Beach. He now has four home runs and 14 RBIs on the season.

Marauders down 3-0 after four

Palm Beach phenom Carlos Martinez has blanked the Marauders through four innings, and the Cardinals lead 3-0.

Martinez, 19, is ranked as the St. Louis Cardinals' third-best prospect by Baseball America and is making is high Single-A debut tonight. Despite loading the bases in first, Martinez has been good, allowing two hits, walking two and striking out five.

Strikeouts are Martinez's thing - he entered Thursday with 128 strikeouts in 97 2/3 professional innings, which averages out to 11.8 K's every nine innings.

M's to face Cards' third-best propsect tonight

(minorleaguebaseball.com)

The surging Marauders will be facing one of the St. Louis Cardinals' brightest prospects tonight when Carlos Martinez makes his high Single-A debut for the Palm Beach Cardinals 7 p.m. at McKechnie Field.

The 19-year-old Martinez has been ranked as the Cardinals' third-best prospect by Baseball America. The Cardinals signed Martinez, who hails from the Dominican Republic, as an undrafted free agent in April 2010.

He went 3-2 in 12 starts last season in the Dominican Summer League and Carolina League, but posted a 0.76 ERA, limited opposing hitters to a .144 batting average and struck out 78 in 59 innings.

Martinez began this season with the Cardinals' low Single-A affiliate in Quad Cities, going 3-2 with a 2.33 ERA in eight starts. Oppposing batters hit .196 againt Martinez, and struck out 50 in 38 2/3 innings.