Early Deficit Proves Too Much, Tortugas Drop Second-Half Opener

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Daytona Tortugas opened the second half with a 5-3 loss to the St. Lucie Mets on Friday night at Clover Park, despite two early home runs and four scoreless innings from the bullpen.

The Rundown

Daytona started the second half with a big swing. Tyson Lewis led off the game with a solo home run down the right-field line, his fourth homer of the season, giving the Tortugas a quick 1-0 lead.

St. Lucie answered immediately in the bottom of the first against Sheng-En Lin. Branny De Oleo doubled to open the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly before Chase Meggers brought home another run with a single. After a balk moved two runners into scoring position, Jeremy Rodriguez lined a two-run single to right-center, putting the Mets ahead 4-1.

The Tortugas pulled closer in the third. Anielson Buten reached on an error, stole second and scored when Drew Davies launched a two-run homer to right-center field, his second of the season, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

St. Lucie added an insurance run in the fifth after two walks opened the inning. Jordan Little entered from the bullpen and kept further damage off the board, but Simon Juan singled home Antonio Jimenez to extend the Mets lead to 5-3.

Daytona put the tying run aboard in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not push across another run. Bernard Moon and Ichiro Cano walked in the sixth before back-to-back outs ended the threat. In the seventh, Lewis and Kyle Henley singled, but a double play kept St. Lucie in front.

The Tortugas bullpen gave Daytona a chance late. Little and Deivi Villafana combined for 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four.

Cano doubled in the eighth to bring the tying run to the plate, but the Tortugas were retired in order in the ninth as St. Lucie secured the win.

Stat of the Day

4.0 — Little and Villafana combined for 4.0 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit while striking out four.

Notes

• Daytona fell to 21-46 overall and 0-1 in the second half.
• The Tortugas have lost five straight games, their second-longest losing streak of the season behind four separate six-game skids.
• St. Lucie has won a season-high eight straight games.
• The Mets won the series by taking the first four games.
• Daytona fell to 2-8 against St. Lucie this season.
• The Tortugas dropped to 3-13 in June and 3-8 on Fridays.
• Daytona fell to 0-6 in road series this season.
• The Tortugas dropped to 7-27 on the road.
• Daytona is now 17-32 in night games.
• The Tortugas fell to 14-37 against right-handed starters.
• Daytona dropped to 1-36 when trailing after seven innings.
• The Tortugas fell to 3-11 in two-run games.
• The loss marked the 22nd comeback victory by an opponent against Daytona this season.
• Daytona fell to 11-15 when hitting a home run and 7-8 when homering with runners on base.
• The Tortugas dropped to 14-19 when scoring first.
• Lewis hit his fourth home run of the season and recorded his 14th multi-hit game. • Lewis' leadoff homer marked the second leadoff HR for the Tortugas this season and the first since Jacob Friend did it on May 23 at Jupiter
• Davies hit his second home run of the season and extended his on-base streak to 10 games.
• Cano extended his on-base streak to 11 games and his hitting streak to five games, his longest of the season.
• Moon extended his on-base streak to six games.
• Henley extended his on-base streak to six games.
• Buten extended his on-base streak to five games.

Up Next

The Tortugas continue their six-game series against the St. Lucie Mets on Saturday June 20 at Clover Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. ET.