TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Tarpons celebrated their fourth walk-off win of the season when Diego Castillo delivered a game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning for a 3-2 win over the Daytona Tortugas on Friday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.Daytona (24-29, 61-58) opened the scoring with a run
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Tarpons celebrated their fourth walk-off win of the season when Diego Castillo delivered a game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning for a 3-2 win over the Daytona Tortugas on Friday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Daytona (24-29, 61-58) opened the scoring with a run in the first when Randy Ventura walked, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a slow-rolling infield single by Bruce Yari.
After facing the minimum over the first two innings, Daytona starter Tommy Burgjans allowed a leadoff single by Angel Aguilar in the third. Two outs later, Estevan Florial clubbed a go-ahead, two-run homer over the wall in right-center. It was his first home run for Tampa (25-29, 60-64) since April 6th.
Following the RBI single by Yari, RHP Albert Abreu retired 10 of the next 11 Tortugas he faced. Brantley Bell then singled and stole second to begin the fifth and scored on the ensuing base hit by Stuart Fairchild, tying the game at 2-2.
Abreu got a double play groundout by Alfredo Rodriguez and a fly out by Ventura to finish the inning and struck out Taylor Trammell to open the sixth before departing. The 22-year-old allowed two earned runs on four hits in five and a third, walking one while striking out five on 71 pitches (49 strike).
Dom Thompson-Williams lined a leadoff double in the fourth and Isiah Gilliam followed with a walk, but Burgjans got two fly outs and a groundout to strand the pair.
Burgjans retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced to complete his second-straight outing of at least seven innings. The 25-year-old allowed two earned runs on five hits, walking one while striking out three on 94 pitches (59 strikes).
RHP Kaleb Ort tallied five strikeouts while holding the Tortugas to one hit over two and two-third scoreless innings in relief of Abreu. RHP Greg Weissert took the baton in the ninth and added two more strikeouts in a 1-2-3 frame.
The game remained tied at 2-2 and Weissert stayed in for the 10th. Courtney Hawkins began the inning at second base and a wild pitch sent the runner to third. Weissert got a groundout to first by Tyler Stephenson before intentionally walking Bell. Wessiert (W, 2-2) then struck out Fairchild and got a fly out by Rodriguez to end the inning.
Aguilar began the bottom of the 10th at second base and RHP Michael Byrne pitched for Daytona. Aguilar advanced to third on a groundout by Jason Lopez. After striking out Daniel Barrios, Byrne (L, 1-1) intentionally walked Florial. Castillo then pulled a groundball into left field, scoring Aguilar to end the game.
Florial (1-for-2, HR, 2BB, 2RBI, R) reached base four times. Thompson-Williams (1-for-4, 2B) extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Ben Ruta (0-for-3, BB, CS) snapped a seven-game hitting streak.
The series continues on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. when the Tarpons host Throwback Night. RHP Garrett Whitlock (5-3, 2.42) will make the start against RHP Tejay Antone (3-3, 4.48). Live play-by-play audio will be available on the Tarpons Radio Network.
On "Salute to Service Members Saturday," all military receive a FREE upper reserved ticket with valid I.D. Also, select Tarpons players will be signing autographs on the concourse from 5:40-6:00 p.m.
