The final Vuch Report of spring comes with a sting. But it could have been worse.

The Cardinals minor leaguers concluded their spring training Sunday with scrimmages – one of which featured two major-league pitchers opposing each other — and a full, frontal assault by some of the locals. In the eighth inning of the Memphis-Palm Beach game, the benches cleared and players raced for cover. That is where John Vuch, an eyewitness, takes up the story:

A swarm of bees made their way through the infield and 3rd base dugout, causing a brief delay and a brief stampede of players away from the field.

The bees stayed around for the conclusion of the game, watching — savvy little buggers — from where the scouts and coaches watch, the tower in the center of the four fields. The coaches had vacated the tower when they saw the swarm coming, leaving only one coach to suffer B-game bee sting. Pitching coordinator Dyar Miller got one on his finger, Vuch wrote in an email.

This is the last Vuch Report of the season, though the farmniks have spoken and there will be a concerted effort in the blog this year to collect and pass along minor-league nuggets — ala the Vuch Report — during the regular season. (Still taking suggestions.)

In the meantime, here are Sunday’s numbers:

** Palm Beach defeated Memphis, 5-3 **

– Pitching for Memphis, Cardinals righthander Braden Looper went 6 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned). He struck out three and walked two. … Cliff Politte pitched one inning, allowed one hit, gave up one run and struck out one batter. … Mark Worrell worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. … Closer-in-waiting Chris Perez (who probably will have to do the “trust walk” next season) pitched a perfect inning with a K.

– Tommy Pham homered … off Looper.

– For Palm Beach, rehabbing righthander Matt Clement pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed five hits and two earned runs. He struck out two, but the big number for Clement was this: ZERO. As in, Clement walked no one. Even those five hits he gave up a fine sign. Shows he had better control than his previous start. And his velocity was slightly improved. (More on his outing in Monday’s paper.)

– Mitchell Boggs threw 1 1/3 perfect innings. … Jason Motte pitched a scoreless inning. … Another name that kept coming up in these reporters: Josh Dew had one perfect inning with a K. … Francisco Samuel pitche done inning, allowed one hit and one run; he walked two and struck out two.

– Josh Phelps went 2-for-3 with a double and homer for Memphis. … Nick Stavinoha, who shares an alma mater with Brad Hawpe, went 2-for-3. … Mark Johnson doubled and had 2 RBIs.

– For Palm Beach at the plate, Steve Hill went 2-for-5 and Casey Mulligan was 2-for-2. … Tyler Henley singled, stole a base and had two RBIs.

** Extended Spring Training defeated Quad Cities, 4-1 **

– For Quad Cities, on the mound, Blake Hawksworth pitched five innings, allowed wight hits and three runs (two earned). He struck out one and did not walk an opponent. … Brad Furnish threw a perfect inning with one K. … Shaun Garceau, another familiare name to regular VR readers, threw one perfect inning with two strikeouts. … Pete Parise pitched one innings, allowing one hit and one earned run. He struck out a batter.

– For the extended-spring team, Clayton Mortensen went 4 2/3 innings and held Quad Cities to two hits and one unearned run. He matched three strikeouts with three walks. … Jess Todd threw a perfect inning, one K. … J.D. Stambaugh pitched one scoreless inning, allowing two hits. … Ken Maiques, who is an intriguing arm to watch this season as he climbs the ladder as a closer, threw 2/3 innings of scoreless balls.

– The Vuch Report ends the spring with the name that started the spring: Domnit Bolivar went 2-for-3 with a triple. … Jose Garcia was 2-for-3 with a double. … The daily star of the VR, Matt Arburr tripled and scored a run. … Peter Kozma walked three times.

– Chris Gibson, the first baseman son of the Hall of Fame righthanded pitcher, went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI. … Osvaldo Morales doubled, scored and had an RBI. … Mateo Marquez was 3-for-3 with a double and RBI.

***

Here’s hoping you get to treat Opening Day like it should be treated — as a holiday. Enjoy one of the the finest days of the year.

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