Mighty Mussels hold off late rally, beat Tortugas 11-10 in wild game

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona Tortugas nearly erased a nine-run deficit but ultimately fell just short, dropping an 11-10 decision to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

The Rundown

Fort Myers struck first in the third, but Daytona answered immediately. Ichiro Cano tripled to open the inning and later scored on a balk to tie the game at 1-1.

The game flipped dramatically in the fourth. Fort Myers erupted for seven runs, capitalizing on walks, wild pitches, and timely hits to take an 8-1 lead.

The Mussels added two more in the fifth to extend the margin to 10-1, putting Daytona in a massive early hole.

Daytona responded with its biggest inning of the season. In the fifth, Kyle Henley reached on an error before Jacob Friend crushed a two-run homer to left-center. Immediately after, Bernard Moon followed with a solo shot, marking the first time this season the Tortugas have hit back-to-back home runs. The rally continued as Rafhlmil Torres singled home a run, Drew Davies added a base hit, and Cano was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Henley then delivered a three-run single, and a wild pitch brought him home as the Tortugas scored eight times to cut the deficit to 10-9.

Fort Myers added a key insurance run in the sixth on an RBI double, pushing the lead to 11-9.

Daytona chipped away in the bottom half. Tyson Lewis reached and later scored on an RBI single from Arnaldo Lantigua, trimming the deficit to 11-10.

The Tortugas threatened late but could not complete the comeback. Daytona left the tying run in scoring position multiple times over the final three innings, including in the ninth, but could not capitalize to complete the comeback.

Pitching

Stharlin Torres took the loss, allowing five runs over 3.2 innings as Fort Myers broke the game open in the fourth.

The bullpen settled things down after the early damage. Abraham Gaitan and Dominic Scheffler combined for 4.1 innings of one-run baseball, giving Daytona a chance to mount its comeback.

Stat of the Game

17 — The Tortugas struck out 17 times, their second-highest total in a game this season.

Notes

• Daytona falls to 6-16 overall and 3-7 at home.
• The Tortugas have lost three straight and eight of their last nine.
• Daytona is now 1-5 in one-run games.
• This marks the first loss of the season when Daytona outhits its opponent (now 6-1 when outhitting opponents).
• Opponents have now recorded 10 come-from-behind wins against Daytona this season.
• Daytona is now 4-5 when scoring five or more runs.
• The Tortugas are 4-7 when hitting a home run and 3-4 when homering with runners on base.
• Daytona is now 2-13 against right-handed starting pitchers.
• Friend hit his 6th home run of the season (2nd in the FSL), recorded his 5th multi-hit game, and extended his on-base streak to 12 games.
• Lantigua recorded his 4th multi-hit game, extending his hitting streak to four games and on-base streak to six games.
• Cano recorded his first multi-hit game of the season and extended his on-base streak to six games.

Next Up

Daytona continues its series against Fort Myers on Wednesday, April 28 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm ET.