ST. LUCIE, FL -Daytona used a four-run seventh inning to blow open game one, then followed that up with a four-run first inning to jump start game two as they swept the St. Lucie Mets on Tuesday night at First Data Field. The Tortugas won game one 6-1, and game
ST. LUCIE, FL -Daytona used a four-run seventh inning to blow open game one, then followed that up with a four-run first inning to jump start game two as they swept the St. Lucie Mets on Tuesday night at First Data Field. The Tortugas won game one 6-1, and game two 8-2, ending their season-long five game losing-streak, and putting themselves back in a tie for first place.
The Tortugas kicked off the day's scoring in the very first inning of game one. Taylor Trammell led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a TJ Friedl bunt single, and came in to score on a Bruce Yari sacrifice fly to left field.
Daytona doubled their lead in the top of the third. Trammell led the inning off with a single, moved to second on a ground-out, and scored on a Friedl double to go up 2-0.
The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth, when St. Lucie cut the lead in half. Dash Winningham and Dale Burdick worked back-to-back two-out walks to extend the inning, before Anthony Dimino got St Lucie on the board with a base hit.
Daytona would blow it open in the top of the seventh when they sent eight men to the plate and scored four times with the help of four St. Lucie errors. Morgan Lofstrom hit a one-out double to right field and advanced an extra 90 feet on an Ian Strom fielding error. Trammell followed that up with a ground ball to second that was booted by Dale Burdick, allowing him to reach. Michael Beltre then came up and hit a ground ball to first, which Winningham threw into left field to allow a run to score, putting the Tortugas up 3-1. After Friedl walked to load the bases, Yari reached on another error from Burdick at second, scoring Trammell from third to put Daytona up 4-1. On the next pitch, Mitch Nay hit a two-run single to put the Tortugas up 6-1.
RHP Tony Santillan (5-4) earned the win. He allowed five hits, one run, and three walks in 5 ⅔ innings while striking out four. RHP Michael Gibbons (0-4) took the loss. He allowed six hits, two runs, and two walks in 5 ⅔ innings while striking out five. RHP Brian Hunter earned his first save, recording the final four outs, while allowing a hit and a walk and striking out a pair.
The Tortugas started game two with six straight hits, leading to four runs before the first out was recorded by RHP Gabriel Llanes. Trammell, Beltre, and Friedl loaded up the bases ahead of Stephenson, who drove in the first run of the game with the fourth straight single. Yari made it 3-0 with a two-run single one batter later, before Nay came up and hit a ground-rule double to center, the sixth straight hit, to drive in the fourth run of the frame.
St. Lucie would answer with two in the bottom half against LHP Scott Moss. Ian Strom reached on a Yari throwing error at first and moved to second on a Michael Paez one-out single. Strom and Paez would both score on back-to-back singles from Desmond Lindsay and Luis Carpio to cut the lead in half to 4-2.
Daytona added a single tally in four of the next five innings. In the second, Yari hit a two-out single scoring Trammell to go up 5-2. Then, in the third, Beltre drove in Bell with a single to go up 6-2. Bell made it 7-2 when he drove in Stephenson in the fourth with a two-out single.
Ibandel Isabel got in on the fun in the sixth, when he clubbed a two-out solo home run to the left of the batters eye, rounding out the scoring at 8-2.
Moss (6-2) tied the league-lead with his sixth win. He allowed two runs (one earned), three walks and seven hits in five innings, while striking out two. Llanes (2-7) took his league-leading seventh loss. He allowed 10 hits, seven runs, and three walks in 3 ⅓ innings.
Daytona will send RHP Tejay Antone (0-1, 6.59 ERA) to the mound Wednesday night against RHP Josh Prevost (5-1, 3.50 ERA).
First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 6:30 PM, with coverage beginning at 6:15 PM with The Metcare Pregame Show on AM 1230, AM 1490, and FM 106.9 WSBB.
NOTES: The last two double-header sweeps for the Tortugas have been by a combined score of 14-3. Tony Santillan started game one and Scott Moss started game two in both instances… Bruce Yari drove in five runs in the two games. He is 16-for-40 (.400) in June (12 games), and has driven in 14 of his 23 runs in this month. Yari also committed his first error since July 22, 2017, snapping an errorless streak of 70 games… Brantley Bell recorded a hit in each game, running his hitting streak to a Tortuga career-high 10 games. He is 13-for-34 (.382) during that span… Ibandel Isabel hit his league-leading 16th HR of the season in game two. 10 of his 16 HRs have come in June. 10 of his 14 June hits have been HRs. 20 of his 33 outs have been strikeouts… Brian Hunter recorded his first save since 5/20/17… The Tortugas were 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts today… All 10 Tortuga starters today reached base. Hector Vargas (HBP) was the only Tortuga starter without a hit… Daytona is now 28-1 when leading after six innings.
