Right-hander solid, but Jupiter wins going away for second straight night
JUPITER, Fla—Right-hander Nestor Lorant struck out seven batters in 4.0 innings, but the Jupiter Hammerheads scored the final five runs of the game as they defeated the Daytona Tortugas 7-1 on Thursday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Jupiter (14-13, 50-42) has now scored 20 runs on 29 hits in the past two games as Daytona (14-10, 45-45) has now lost consecutive games for the first time in just shy of a month.
In the bottom of the first, Jupiter struck first against Lorant. Junior Sanchez reached on a leadoff single, then stole second. He came home on a two-out double from Kemp Alderman to put Jupiter ahead 1-0.
Lorant bounced back by firing a 1-2-3 second with two strikeouts, but the Hammerheads scored again in the third. Christian Rodriguez and Sanchez led off with singles, putting runners at the corners with no outs. A double play then scored Rodriguez to make the score 2-0.
After failing to score in the first three innings against Keyner Benitez, the Tortugas came to life in the fourth. Sammy Stafura led off with an infield single, then stole second. Connor Burns blasted an RBI double to left-center to bring in a run. Esmith Pineda followed with his second hit of the night to move Burns to third with one out. However, an inning-ending double play kept the tying run at third with the score now 2-1.
Lorant finished his night in style, striking out the side in the fourth as the right-hander went 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Alex Blandino entered in the fifth, but the Hammerheads extended the lead. With one out, a single and walk set up Sanchez, who doubled in two runs. Following another walk, a rundown between first and second allowed Sanchez to score a third run to put Jupiter in front 5-1.
From there on, the Hammerheads only added further to the lead. Drew Pestka threw a scoreless sixth inning, but was dented for a run in the seventh. Right-hander Logan Campbell made his Tortugas debut in the eighth, though he coughed up a solo home run to Yeral Martinez.
Meanwhile, right-handers Collin Lowe (7-2) and Jesse Bergin combined for 4.1 scoreless innings to finish the game for Jupiter as the Hammerheads claimed a 7-1 win.
Daytona will play game four against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Friday night. First pitch from 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 6:20.
