JUPITER, Fla. — The Daytona Tortugas jumped ahead on Arnaldo Lantigua’s two-run home run in the first inning, but the Palm Beach Cardinals answered with five runs in the bottom half and pulled away for a 13-5 victory in Sunday’s regular season finale at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Daytona finishes the regular season 58-73 overall and 37-28 in the second half after dropping five of six to Palm Beach. With their postseason berth already secured as FSL East second-half champions, the Tortugas now return home to open the Florida State League East Divisional Playoff Series against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Tuesday night.
The Rundown
Daytona struck first against Palm Beach starter Jefferson Moran. Rafhlmil Torres singled up the middle with one out before Lantigua launched a two-run home run to left field, his 12th of the season, for an immediate 2-0 advantage.
Palm Beach responded with five runs in the bottom of the first against Jake Brink. Kenly Hunter singled before consecutive walks loaded the bases. Dee Kennedy brought home the first run with an RBI single before Owen Henne delivered the big blow, a grand slam to left-center that flipped the game and gave the Cardinals a 5-2 lead.
The Cardinals added solo home runs in each of the next two scoring frames. Gabe Camacho went deep with two outs in the third before Sebastian Dos Santos homered in the fourth, extending Palm Beach’s advantage to 7-2.
Daytona was held off the board from the second through sixth innings before Palm Beach added three more in the sixth. J.P. Cabrera connected for a two-run homer against Tristan Smith, and Dos Santos followed with his second home run of the game to make it 10-2.
The Tortugas answered with two runs in the seventh. Yael Romero walked and Anielson Buten doubled before Jalen Hairston drove home Romero with a single. Torres followed with an RBI fielder’s choice to cut the deficit to 10-4.
Daytona added another in the eighth when Henry Hunter doubled to right-center and advanced to third on an error before Ian Francis brought him home with an RBI single.
Palm Beach answered with three runs in the bottom half, capped by Cabrera’s two-run double, to finish the scoring at 13-5.
Stat of the Game
5 — Palm Beach hit five home runs, including a first-inning grand slam, accounting for nine of its 13 runs. It ties the mark for the most home runs hit in a game by Palm Beach and the most given up by the Tortugas in a single game this season. Palm Beach also hit five homers against the Tortugas during the series opener on Tuesday.
Notes
• Daytona finishes the regular season 58-73 overall and 37-28 in the second half.
• The Tortugas dropped five of six games in the series and finished 10-14 against Palm Beach.
• Daytona finished 1-5 in September, 12-22 in day games and 8-12 on Sundays.
• The Tortugas finished 20-45 on the road and 1-9-1 in road series.
• Daytona finished 44-59 against right-handed starting pitchers and 1-57 when trailing after seven innings.
• The Tortugas finished 18-31 when allowing at least 10 hits and 11-58 when being outhit.
• Daytona finished 42-26 when hitting a home run and 30-14 when homering with runners on base.
• The Tortugas finished 38-29 when scoring first and 51-21 when scoring at least five runs.
• Torres recorded his 31st multi-hit game and eighth three-hit game, tying his season high with three hits for the first time since Aug. 29 against St. Lucie.
• Lantigua recorded his 13th multi-RBI game and 10th two-RBI game.
• Hunter and Torres each extended their hitting streaks to four games.
• Davies extended his on-base streak to nine games, Hairston to 16, Steele Hall to nine, Hunter to six and Lantigua to 11.
• Torres finished the regular season as the FSL leader in games played (122), at-bats (446) and sacrifice bunts (5). He also ranked second in hits (112), third in runs (75) and tied for fifth in doubles (24).
• Ichiro Cano finished second in the FSL in batting average (.297) and on-base percentage (.412), third in hits (109), fourth in games (110), fifth in walks (68), tied for sixth in RBI (64), sixth in OPS (.834) and tied for eighth in total bases (155).
• Drew Davies led the FSL with a .414 on-base percentage while finishing fourth in batting average (.278), third in walks (69), seventh in OPS (.829) and tied for second in sacrifice flies (8).
• Brendan Moon led the FSL with 28 doubles, tied for fifth with 38 extra-base hits and finished second with four sacrifice bunts.
• Lantigua finished tied for sixth in the FSL with 63 walks.
• Buten and Dylan King each tied for fourth in the league with three sacrifice bunts.
• Dusty Revis tied for the FSL lead with one complete game.
• Mason Morris finished seventh in the FSL with 92.2 innings pitched.
Up Next
The regular season is complete, but Daytona’s season continues in the postseason. The Tortugas host the Jupiter Hammerheads in Game 1 of the Florida State League East Divisional Playoff Series on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET.
