Tortugas snap 10-game losing streak to Mets at Clover Park

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (August 4, 2022) – Despite being outhit 14-4, the Daytona Tortugas defeated the St. Lucie Mets 5-3 at Clover Park on Thursday.

The victory for the Tortugas snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Mets in Port St. Lucie.

Edwin Arroyo, acquired by the Reds in the trade the sent Luis Castillo to Seattle, made his Tortugas debut at shortstop and had a monster game. He went 1 for 3 with a double, two walks, two RBI and two runs scored. Arroyo mashed a go-ahead two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning off of Raimon Gomez that broke a 2-2 tie.

Jay Allen followed with another RBI double to make the Tortugas lead 5-2.

The Mets loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth inning but Arroyo was able to knock down a 109 mph ground ball from Raul Beracierta and retire Beracierta to end the threat.

The Mets scored a run in the ninth on a two-out single by Justin Guerrera. That brought up Omar De Los Santos as the winning run, but Juan Abril struck De Los Santos out to end the game.

The Mets collected 14 hits but after William Lugo’s double in the first inning, the next 13 hits were all singles. The Mets struck out 13 time and went just 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position. They stranded 16 base runners.

Carlos Dominguez went 2 for 4 with a run-scoring single in the third inning that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead.

The Tortugas tied the game without a hit in the sixth inning. Jay Allen worked a walk from Franklin Sanchez, stole second base, went to third on a ground out and scored on a two-out, two-strike wild pitch from Sanchez to make it 2-2.

Sanchez pitched four hitless innings of relief. He walked one, struck out five and gave up one run.

Josh Walker, on MiLB rehab assignment, started the game for St. Lucie. He allowed one run over two innings while striking out five.

Daytona starter Sam Benschoter struck out nine Mets over four innings. He was charged with two runs but only one earned.

Reliever Shane Gustafson pitched 3.2 scoreless innings of relief for the Tortugas in his team debut to get the win.

Abril pitched the final 1.1 to earn his second save for the Tortugas.

Lugo and Tilien each went 3 for 4 in the loss.

The Mets (57-41, 17-16) and Tortugas (39-57, 10-21) play the fourth game of their series on Friday. First pitch at Clover Park is 6:10 p.m.