By ERIC RANSOM The Fort Worth Cats couldn't match the Sioux Falls Canaries' hitting, and a tired bullpen couldn't keep the game close in an 11-4 loss Sunday at LaGrave Field. The Cats split their four-game series to open the American Association season.The Canaries had 18 hits and ruined the first start for the Cats' Ryan Riddle, a Euless Trinity graduate who played for UT-Arlington and Texas Wesleyan.Sioux Falls took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, loading the bases with one out before Josh Patton drove in Kennard Bibbs with a sacrifice fly, and Will Smith scored on an error by Cats second baseman Willie James.Riddle ran into bigger trouble in the fifth as Sioux Falls strung together five straight hits in a three-run inning. Riddle allowed five runs on 11 hits in five innings, striking out two and walking two."I thought he threw well until the fifth, and he showed some good signs," Cats manager Chad Tredaway said. "I'd like to get a few more innings in his next outing. But we need a big outing from somebody to get our bullpen rested."Four relievers gave up six runs, five earned, on seven hits and three walks over the last four innings. Tredaway said part of the bullpen struggles stem from losing starter Lee Gwaltney to the San Diego Padres' organization before the season."We're kind of spent in the bullpen, and we need to get that fixed," Tredaway said. "We knew it would be a struggle the first 10 days just to get our staff in order."The Cats, meanwhile, didn't register a hit until the bottom of the fifth. Sioux Falls' Ben Moore (1-0) struck out eight batters in the first four innings.In the fifth, John Allen homered to right, then Steve Butler doubled and scored on Osiel Flores' single. After Brian Fryer walked, Nelson Teilon hit a double to drive in Flores.But the Canaries scored two runs off Tim Vasquez in the sixth and, after Allen doubled in Fort Worth Arlington Heights graduate Aaron Sisk in the bottom of the sixth, scored three runs off Brian Martin in the seventh to take a 10-4 lead.SIOUX FALLS 11, CATS 4Up next Lincoln at Cats7:05 tonight, LaGrave FieldRadio: KHFX/1460 AMTickets: $4-$12, fwcats.com, 817-226-2287Records: Lincoln 1-3, Cats 2-2