Tortugas shut out Mets 2-0, win series

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (April 7, 2024) – Three Daytona pitchers combined to shut out the St. Lucie Mets in a 2-0 Tortugas win on Sunday afternoon at Clover Park. The Tortugas took two of three games to win the Opening Weekend series.

Daytona starter Adam Serwinowski and reliever Nester Lorant each pitched 4.0 innings. Serwinowski struck out six, did not walk a batter and only gave up one hit. Lorant pitched around five hits and got the win.

Dylan Simmons pitched a 1-2-3 ninth in his pro debut to get the save.

The Tortugas broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning when Carter Graham hit a two-out, two-strike RBI single off Austin Troesser to bring home Carlos Sanchez for a 1-0 lead.

Johnny Ascanio provided an insurance run on a solo homer with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth against Brett Banks.

Mets pitcher Jonah Tong was electric. Tong struck out 11 Tortugas over 4.1 innings of relief. At one point he struck out six batters in a row.

Tong entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning. He replaced starter Max Kranick, who was making a MLB rehab start for New York and was up against his pitch count. Tong struck out Connor Burns to get out of the jam and get on a roll.

The Mets offense could only muster six singles. Ronald Hernandez went 2 for 4. Colin Houck extended his hitting streak to three games with a base hit in the sixth inning.

The Mets (1-2) are off on Monday. They begin their first road series of the season on Tuesday against the Jupiter Hammerheads. First pitch from Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Tuesday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard on internet radio at stluciemets.com.