Pettitte Impresses in Debut, Tarpons Fall 12-11
TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Tarpons (31-17) piled up 14 hits and battled back from an early deficit, but came up just short in a back-and-forth slugfest against the Daytona Tortugas (32-17), falling 12-11 Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Tampa offense had no shortage of hits in
TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Tarpons (31-17) piled up 14 hits and battled back from an early deficit, but came up just short in a back-and-forth slugfest against the Daytona Tortugas (32-17), falling 12-11 Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The Tampa offense had no shortage of hits in tonight’s contest, racking up 14. Luke Pettitte, son of Yankees’ legend Andy Pettitte, made his professional debut and impressed with a 2-for-3 performance that included his first professional home run. Yostin Peña and Luis Escudero each recorded 3-for-5 nights.
The two first-place teams wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Daytona opened the game by rallying for seven runs, and the Tarpons responded immediately in the bottom half with six.
Paul Contreras began the scoring with a two-run triple, and Bear Harrison followed with an infield single to drive him in. A sacrifice fly by Tyce Armstrong brought in another Tampa run before Pettitte tallied his first professional hit and RBI. Dax Kilby capped off the first-inning scoring with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. All told, the Tortugas led 7-6 through the first inning.
Daytona reinforced their lead in the top of the second. Rafhlmil Torres recorded an RBI single before a Tampa miscue brought home another Tortuga run, extending the visitors’ lead to 9-6.
The Tarps chipped away in the bottom of the second when Escudero sent a ground-rule double deep into the right-center gap, cutting the deficit to two runs.
Daytona tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth courtesy of a two-run homer from Jirvin Morillo.
Pettitte blasted his first professional home run over the left-field wall in the bottom of the fifth, making it an 11-8 Tortuga advantage. Tampa would scratch across another run in the sixth on a Daytona wild pitch.
The Tarpons bullpen held the Tortugas offense in check until the top of the ninth, when an RBI double brought home a late insurance run.
Tampa entered the bottom of the ninth down three runs. Armstrong tallied his second sacrifice fly of the game to bring them within two. Escudero then delivered a clutch two-out RBI single to set the stage with the Tarpons down by one. Unfortunately, the Tarps came up just short, falling 12-11.
Both division leaders will be back in action tomorrow night at George M. Steinbrenner Field, with first pitch slated for 5:00 p.m.