Late Rally Falls Short as Tortugas Drop First-Half Finale

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Daytona Tortugas finished the first half with an 8-5 loss to the St. Lucie Mets on Thursday night at Clover Park, closing the half with the worst first-half record in franchise history.

The Rundown

St. Lucie struck first in the opening inning. Elian Peña walked, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI double by Antonio Jimenez, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

The Mets broke the game open in the second against Dusty Revis. A hit batter, a walk and an RBI single by Jeremy Rodriguez started the rally before two more walks forced in a run. After a balk brought home another run, Simon Juan lined a bases-clearing double to left-center, stretching the St. Lucie lead to 7-0.

Daytona was held hitless through four innings by Joel Lara, who retired the first 11 batters he faced before Ty Doucette drew a two-out walk in the fourth.

The Tortugas finally broke through in the fifth when Ichiro Cano launched a solo home run, 408 feet to right field, his second of the season, cutting the deficit to 7-1.

After Brady Afthim kept the Mets off the board for 2.1 innings, Anyer Laureano continued to settle the game down out of the bullpen. He allowed just one run across 4.0 innings and struck out six, tying his career high in innings while recording the second-highest strikeout total of his career.

Daytona scored again in the seventh when Bernard Moon doubled and came home on a groundout by Rafhlmil Torres. St. Lucie answered with a run in the bottom half on an RBI single by Peña to make it 8-2.

The Tortugas continued to fight late. Tyson Lewis doubled and scored on a double-play grounder in the eighth, then added an RBI double in the ninth before Kyle Henley followed with an RBI double of his own to trim the deficit to 8-5.

The comeback stopped there, as St. Lucie retired the final batter to secure the win and hand Daytona its fourth straight loss.

Stat of the Day

21-45 — Daytona finished the first half at 21-45, the worst first-half record in franchise history and the worst first-half record by any Florida State League team since the Tortugas entered the league in 2015.

Notes

• Daytona fell to 21-45 overall to finish the first half.
• The standings reset Friday as the second half begins with Game 4 of the series.
• The Tortugas have lost four straight games.
• Daytona dropped to 2-7 against St. Lucie this season.
• The Tortugas fell to 7-26 on the road.
• Daytona dropped to 3-12 in June and 4-7 on Thursdays.
• The Tortugas fell to 14-36 against right-handed starters.
• Daytona dropped to 1-35 when trailing after seven innings.
• The Tortugas are now 15-10 when scoring five or more runs.
• St. Lucie starter Joel Lara retired 11 straight batters to open the game and did not allow a hit over 4.0 scoreless innings.
• Afthim extended his scoreless streak to 5.2 innings and his scoreless outing streak to two games.
• Revis walked six batters, the most by a Tortugas pitcher since Lisnerkin Lantigua walked six on May 17 at Palm Beach.
• Laureano tied his career high with 4.0 innings pitched, doing so for the second time and first since June 3 at Dunedin.
• Laureano struck out six, the second-highest total of his career.
• Cano hit his second home run of the season, extended his on-base streak to 10 games and his hitting streak to four games, tied for his longest of the season.
• Lewis recorded his 12th multi-hit game of the season.
• Henley collected his 17th multi-hit game of the season, tying Bernard Moon for the most by a Tortuga this year.
• Francis extended his on-base streak to four games.
• Moon extended his on-base streak to five games.
• Henley extended his on-base streak to five games.

Up Next

The Tortugas begin the second half on Friday, June 18 with Game 4 of their six-game series against the St. Lucie Mets at Clover Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. ET.