Tortugas finish 5-1 trip with sixth shutout victory of the season
JUPITER, Fla—Brian Edgington fired 6.0 scoreless innings as the Daytona Tortugas stymied the Palm Beach Cardinals 5-0 in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Daytona (17-10) finished off a 5-1 road trip, the best for the Tortugas since the implementation of six-game series in 2021, blanking Palm Beach (15-12) for Daytona’s league-high sixth shutout of the season.
The first two innings passed by rapidly with neither team recording a baserunner. In the third, Palm Beach threatened against Edgington, recording a pair of singles. However, the right-hander induced a groundout to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
In the top of the fourth, Daytona broke through against Palm Beach’s Chen-Wei Lin. Yerlin Confidan led off with a double for Daytona’s first hit. Two batters later, an error at third base allowed Alfredo Duno to reach with Confidan coming around for the game’s first run. Two batters later, another error at third brought home Duno to put Daytona in front 2-0.
Edgington brushed aside a leadoff hit in the fourth, then ran into another jam as the first two batters singled in the fifth. However, the right-hander again rose to the occasion, setting down the next three men to finish the inning with the two-run advantage intact.
Daytona added another run in the sixth as Duno won a ten-pitch battle with a one-out walk that chased Lin. Against Augusto Calderon, Ariel Almonte singled Duno over to third, then Carter Graham brought home Duno with a sacrifice fly to put Daytona up 3-0.
Edgington returned for the bottom of the sixth, becoming the first Tortugas starter to go deeper than five innings this season. Edgington (1-1) rewarded his coaching staff by spinning a 1-2-3 inning, ending the frame with a strikeout to secure a 6.0-inning outing in which he allowed five hits, no runs, and no walks while striking out four to earn his first win.
Anyer Laureano entered in the seventh and issued a pair of one-out walks, but recorded a pair of groundouts to end the inning. In the eighth, he allowed a pair of singles with one down, but a caught stealing and a strikeout ended that frame, as he went 2.0 scoreless innings to extend his scoreless string to 12.0 innings.
Daytona, meanwhile, pushed further ahead in the eighth as Randel Clemente walked the first three Tortugas in the inning. After he was lifted, Esmith Pineda and Johnny Ascanio lifted sacrifice flies to score a pair of runs, pushing the lead to 5-0.
Alex Johnson came on in the bottom of the ninth and spun a 1-2-3 inning on just nine pitches, finishing off a successful trip for the Tortugas with a 5-0 victory.
Daytona will have Monday off before returning home to begin a six-game series against the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Starters for both teams are still to be announced. Tuesday will be another Silver Sluggers Night presented by Progressive Medical Research and Breast Cancer Awareness Night, along with $3 Taco Tuesday specials. First pitch from The Jack is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network with Brennan Mense begins at 6:20 p.m.
