Timely early hits back strong pitching night in second straight win
JUPITER, Fla—Ariel Almonte crushed his 20th home run of the season while Peyton Stovall tripled and reached base three times in his professional debut as the Daytona Tortugas led wire-to-wire in a 7-1 victory over the Jupiter Hammerheads on Wednesday night.
Daytona (26-21, 57-56) took advantage of five Jupiter (23-25, 59-55) errors as the Tortugas have now outscored the Hammerheads 19-2 over the first two games of the series.
In the first, Daytona took an early lead. Yerlin Confidan led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, then to third on an error. Sammy Stafura then drew a walk and stole second, but the throw to second deflected off the bag, allowing Confidan to score to put Daytona in front 1-0.
Tortugas starter Graham Osman ran into trouble in the first two innings, but induced a lot of swings and misses to work around those runners. A one-out triple by Jesus Hernandez in the first was squandered as Osman struck out the next two. Two leadoff walks in the second were also stranded as the lefty struck out the next three.
In the third, the Tortugas extended the lead with a two-out rally. With a runner at third, Ricardo Cabrera legged out a two-out infield single to score a run. Stovall then came up and roped a triple to right-center, collecting his first professional hit and RBI on the same play. He then scored his first run as Malvin Valdez singled to left-center to put Daytona in front 4-0.
An inning later, the lead grew further. With Stafura on first and two outs, Almonte crushed a high drive that easily cleared the right field fence just inside the foul pole for his 20th home run of the season, giving him the third 20-homer season in Tortugas history and giving the Tortugas a 6-0 lead.
Osman threw 4.0 scoreless innings, working around two hits and three walks, striking out six batters before giving way to Ben Brutti to begin the fifth.
The right-hander allowed a leadoff hit in the fifth, but then retired the next three batters with a pair of strikeouts. Brutti followed with a 1-2-3 sixth as well.
In the seventh, Cabrera blasted a double to left-center, then moved to third on a passed ball. With one out, a wild pitch allowed Cabrera to cross the plate, putting Daytona in front 7-0.
Brutti followed by working around a one-out single in the seventh, striking out two more batters. He then worked a 1-2-3 inning, which included two fine plays by Stovall at second base. Brutti (1-3) spun 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing two hits with four strikeouts and no walks, leaving him firmly in line for his first professional win.
Right-hander Luke Hayden entered in the ninth for his pro debut and began the inning with a strikeout. After a bloop single to center, an error put two on with one out. Hayden picked up a second punchout, but J.T. Mabry blooped a single to right to score an unearned run. Hayden ended the game one batter later, securing a 7-1 victory.
The Tortugas play game three of the six-game series against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Thursday night. First pitch at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium will be at 6:30 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense, beginning at 6:15 p.m.
