Late Grand Slam Sinks Marauders in Series Opener
BRADENTON, FL — Six of the game’s seven runs scored on Tuesday night came in the sixth inning, as the Bradenton Marauders drop the series opener to the Daytona Tortugas 5-2 at LECOM Park. Both sides had chances to break open the game in the first inning. Carlos Sanchez singled
BRADENTON, FL — Six of the game’s seven runs scored on Tuesday night came in the sixth inning, as the Bradenton Marauders drop the series opener to the Daytona Tortugas 5-2 at LECOM Park.
Both sides had chances to break open the game in the first inning. Carlos Sanchez singled and Ricardo Cabrera walked to begin the game against Carlos Jimenez who retired the next three batters in order. Jimenez retired the final nine of 10 batters in his outing while striking out five in three scoreless frames.
In the bottom of the first, Jesus Castillo walked, and Andrés Alvarez doubled to place runners at second and third and nobody out. Tortugas starter Jose Franco retired the next three batters to end the scoring threat.
Bradenton’s next scoring chance came in the third inning after a single, a walk and an error loaded the bases with one out. Franco and Nick Sando (1-0) ended up combining for the final two outs to keep the game scoreless.
Luigi Hernandez (0-1) tossed two scoreless innings before issuing back-to-back one out walks in the sixth. Hunter Furtado entered out of the bullpen and walked Ariel Almonte to load the bases for Connor Burns. On a 3-0 pitch, Burns belted a grand slam to left field to hand Daytona a 4-0 advantage.
Bradenton cut into the deficit in the bottom of the inning against Sando. Esmerlyn Valdez walked and then scored on a Shalin Polanco double. On the next pitch, Jack Herman singled back up the middle to score Polanco and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Daytona closed out the scoring in the seventh with an RBI single from Sanchez to extend the Tortugas advantage to 5-2. Sando and Simon Miller (SV,1) retired the final 10 batters to end the night and hand the Marauders their seventh straight loss.
Out of the bullpen, Magdiel Cotto punched out three and retired all six batters he faced in two scoreless innings. Castillo walked twice tonight, extending his on-base streak to 10 games.
The Marauders and Tortugas will continue their six-game series on Wednesday morning at LECOM Park. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 10:40 a.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network. Bradenton will send RHP Hung-Leng Chang (0-0, 2.45) to the mound, opposite of RHP Brian Edgington (0-0, 2.00) for the Tortugas.