ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals' roster will feature two new bats for the series opener at Philadelphia Friday night.
St. Louis called up first baseman Xavier Scruggs and second baseman Greg Garcia from Triple A Memphis to bolster an offense that scored just two runs in its last two games at Minnesota. The Cardinals are averaging less than three runs per game in June and their .236 batting average in 16 games this month ranks 13th in the National League.
Scruggs has one at-bat for St. Louis this season and leads Memphis with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs. He's batting .478 with three homers during a current six-game hit streak.
Garcia leads the Redbirds with a .313 average and is batting .346 in June with a .460 on-base percentage. He made his MLB debut in April 2014 and recorded two hits in 14 at-bats for the Cardinals last season.
Right-handed pitcher Mitch Harris and catcher Ed Easley will return to Memphis, where both started the season. Harris earned his call-up in April when outfielder Peter Bourjos went on a three-day paternity leave, and Easley came up for the second time when St. Louis put Matt Adams on the disabled list in late May.
Harris made his major league debut April 25 at Milwaukee and didn't give up an earned run in 12 of his 16 appearances, a total of 17 1/3 innings. Easley got only two at-bats, but he recorded his first big league RBI on a sacrifice fly at Colorado on June 8.
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