Rays' Padlo and Cronenworth

When Kevin Padlo and Jake Cronenworth fulfill their respective roles in the lineup like they did on Monday for Class A Advanced Charlotte, it spells a deadly combination against its opponents.
Padlo, the Rays No. 18 prospect, homered twice and drove in five runs while Cronenworth doubled twice in five at-bats to extend his hitting streak to 25 games in the Stone Crabs' 7-5 triumph over Lakeland at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Box score
"All year, our guys have been swinging it," Padlo said. "From Cronenworth to [Brandon] Lowe, to [Brett] Sullivan, those three guys have been getting on base a lot and they've been able to put me in good RBI situations, so I'm definitely thankful for that. Our hitting has been outstanding, one through nine, and hopefully it keeps up."
Cronenworth helped set the tone from the get-go by taking the fourth pitch of the game from Tigers No. 18 prospectMatt Hall down the right-field line for his fifth double of the year.
"I think I've had close to 20 at-bats in the last two years off Matt," the 23-year-old shortstop said. "He's got good stuff. He's got a pretty deceiving fastball because he throws a good 12-6 curveball but he left a pitch up a little bit and I was able to hook it down the line."
Hall got the better of Cronenworth in their second meeting in the third inning with a strikeout, but Padlo stepped into the spotlight with his first long ball of the night -- a three-run shot to left-center after Lowe and Sullivan reached on singles.
"It felt good to made some solid contact, especially after I felt I couldn't see the ball the previous game," Padlo said, referring to his 1-for-3 performance on Sunday. "So it felt great to get back in the swing of things a bit."
Cronenworth helped tack on one more run to Hall's final line when he lifted a ground-rule double to center with two outs in the fourth before scoring on a single from Sullivan.
The two hits off Hall, a fellow lefty, boosted Cronenworth's average against southpaws to .471 (8-for-17) on the season. The 2015 seventh-round pick batted .294 against them last year across two levels.
"I wouldn't say I'm more focused against lefties, but I think I amp it up a little bit against them," Cronenworth said. "Everybody talks about the lefty-lefty matchup and I like that challenge. I like when guys are bringing it a little bit. I think I just try to take the same approach I do in every other at-bat, and that is to get a good pitch to hit."
The University of Michigan product was held hitless in his final two at-bats to finish the night with a .389 batting average through 22 games on the season. He went 7-for-13 in his final three games with Class A Bowling Green last season to begin the streak, which is now the third longest in Rays' Minor League history, following Aubrey Huff's 28 in 1999 and Darnell McDonald's 27 in 2006.
"I bring the same approach every day since the first game, and that's just having quality at-bats, whether it's the first inning or ninth inning," Cronenworth said. "I'm just taking the same approach every day and I think it's helped me stay consistent up to this point, and I hope it helps me stay consistent in the future, too."
Padlo, who has benefited from the production atop the Stone Crabs lineup with his 20 RBI so far on the season, has been in awe of Cronenworth's streak.
"I feel like every time you look up and he's either on base or squaring up a baseball, it's been unbelievable to watch him do what he's been able to do in the first part of the season," Padlo said of his teammate. "He's squaring balls up like I haven't seen before. It's pretty cool."

But the 20-year-old third baseman wasn't done squaring up baseballs himself just yet. With the Stone Crabs up by two heading into the ninth, the 2014 fifth-round pick belted a two-run homer to left to provide what turned out to be the difference-maker in the game after the Flying Tigers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
"I wasn't sure how big the home run was at the time, especially with Joe Serrapica coming out of the pen after having such a good season like he did last year," Padlo said. "We didn't think we'd be in that type of game, but those were definitely some key runs there and I'm glad we got them."
"I would say that since the season started, he's been seeing the ball as well as I've ever seen him," Cronenworth said. "He's taking pitches close to the zone that are balls and not swinging at guys' best sliders in the dirt. Tonight, I think we got in the right ballpark and he put on some really good swings. He's really locked in right now."
Sullivan finished with two hits along with Rays No. 22 prospect David Rodríguez, while Eduar Lopez (2-2) picked up the win after allowing three runs on eight hits and one walk to go with two strikeouts over seven innings.
Bryan Bonnell locked down his third save of the season by getting the final two outs in relief of Serrapica.
Lakeland got three hits apiece from Ross Kivett and Tigers No. 12 prospect Jose Azocar, with the latter driving in three runs.