Tortugas earn tidy victory to earn third win of series
BRADENTON, Fla.—Nestor Lorant struck out ten batters out of the bullpen, Alfredo Duno notched three hits and two RBI, and the Daytona Tortugas came away with a 4-1 victory over the Bradenton Marauders on Friday night at LECOM Park.
Daytona (7-6) has now won three of the first four games of the series over Bradenton (2-11), thanks in part to Lorant becoming the first Daytona pitcher since 2022 to reach double-digit strikeouts in a game.
Against Bradenton starter Carlson Reed, the Tortugas took the lead right away. Ricardo Cabrera, the second batter of the game, hit a slow roller up the third base line that Bradenton allowed to roll, but it stayed fair for an infield single. After he stole second and went to third on a throwing error, Duno dropped an RBI single into shallow center to put Daytona ahead 1-0.
Bradenton threatened against Serwinowski in the first two batters reached on a single and walk, only for the left-hander to retire the next three. The second was a near-reversal as the southpaw retired the first two batters, then walked and plunked the following two hitters, respectively. After a wild pitch moved both men into scoring position, Serwinowski settled down and induced a flyout to left as Bradenton stranded two men for the second straight inning.
In the third, Daytona doubled the lead with an unearned tally. Carlos Sanchez walked with one out, then moved to second when Reed fired an errant pickoff throw to first. With two outs, Dominic Pitelli shot a 1-2 fastball into left field to score Sanchez, making it 2-0 Daytona.
Serwinowski settled down to throw 1-2-3 third and fourth frames, striking out final two batters and overall retiring the final seven men he faced. The left-hander threw 4.0 scoreless innings for the third straight outing to begin his season, allowing just one hit, walking two, hitting one, and striking out three.
Lorant entered for Daytona in the fifth and was rudely greeted by Juan Jerez, who blasted Lorant’s second pitch completely out of LECOM Park to left field for a tape-measure solo home run, trimming the deficit to 2-1.
Daytona, though, answered right away against Magdiel Cotto in the sixth. The Bradenton left-hander retired the first two men he faced, but Duno blasted a two-out triple off the center-field wall, then Ariel Almonte sliced an opposite-field double to bring in Duno to push the lead back to two runs.
From there, Lorant locked in, striking out two in a 1-2-3 sixth. He one-upped that by striking out all three men in the seventh.
In the eighth, Sanchez drew a leadoff walk against Landon Tomkins and Cabrera was plunked, bringing up Duno with one out. The Daytona catcher lined a double down the right-field wall that skipped over the side wall for a ground-rule double, scoring Sanchez to make it 4-1.
Lorant surrendered a leadoff hit in the eighth, but after his eighth strikeout, he induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. He then returned for the ninth and allowed a one-out double, but he struck out the next two men, with Jack Herman striking our for Lorant’s tenth punchout to end the game.
Lorant (2-0) went the final 5.0 innings, allowing a run on three hits, while striking out ten and not issuing a walk as he earned the victory.
The Tortugas will play the penultimate game of the series against the Bradenton Marauders from LECOM Park in Bradenton on Saturday evening. Daytona will throw RHP Ben Brutti (0-1, 5.68) while Bradenton will counter with LHP Michael Kennedy (0-1, 6.43). First pitch tomorrow night is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio network with Brennan Mense beginning at 6:15 p.m.
