JUPITER, Fla. (AP) _ Rick Ankiel remains upbeat, even after he was hit hard by the Cleveland Indians in his second start of the spring.

``I'm just trying to stay positive,'' the highly regarded left-hander said after the St. Louis Cardinals lost 11-6 Tuesday. ``I don't know what happened today. I guess it was just one of those games.''

Ankiel gave up five runs, three hits and four walks in three innings. All of the hits were on balls hit hard: Lance Johnson's single through the middle leading off the game, Travis Fryman's triple inside the left-field line and Jim Thome's two-run double to left.

``There was nothing wrong with his stuff,'' Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. ``He was just missing, getting behind and then he had to throw the ball over the plate and he got hit hard.''

Fryman scored the first run off Ankiel in the second on a sacrifice fly by Jolbert Cabrera that backed up Ray Lankford against the left-field fence. In his first start, on March 9, Ankiel blanked Baltimore on two hits in three innings.

Cardinals reliever Paul Spoljaric was pounded for six runs and seven hits in two innings.

Winner Dave Burba gave up three runs and five hits in four innings.

Cabrera was 2-for-3 with three RBIs for Cleveland, and Jim Thome was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.