Tortugas hit 3 homers, shut out Mets 5-0

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 27, 2024) – The Daytona Tortugas pitched and homered their way to a 5-0 win over the St. Lucie Mets on Saturday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Tortugas outfielder Ariel Almonte hit a pair of home runs, including the tie-breaking shot to lead off the fourth inning, to spark the Tortugas offense. He leads the FSL with seven home runs and has hit four in the current series.

Three Tortugas pitchers combined for the shutout. Jose Franco breezed through 5.0 innings on just 47 pitches, including 40 strikes, to get the win. Cody Adcock pitched the sixth inning and Nick Sando tossed the final 3.0 innings with three strikeouts for the save. The trio did not walk a batter.

Kade Morris took the loss for the Mets. He scattered seven hits and allowed four runs over 5.2 innings. Morris did not walk a batter and struck out eight. Almonte tagged Morris for the homer in the fourth, then three batters later Yerlin Confidan hit a two-run homer for a 3-0 lead.

With two outs in the sixth Dominic Pitelli scored from third base when Mets reliever Wilson Lopez uncorked a wild pitch. The run was charged to Morris.

Almonte led off the eighth inning with a homer against Franklin Gomez for the final run of the night.

The Mets only mustered four hits. Ronald Hernandez hit a double. Nick Morabito, Estarling Mercado and Diego Mosquera each singled.

The game was played in 1 hour and 52 minutes which is the shortest game of the Mets season by 12 minutes. There was only one walk in the game.

The Mets (9-11) and Tortugas (11-9) conclude their series at Jackie Robinson Ballpark on Sunday. The Mets will be going for the series split. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.