Early eruption enables Daytona to earn fourth straight win
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla—Ricardo Cabrera homered, drove in three runs, and stole a base and Connor Burns crushed two extra-base hits in a seven-run second inning as the Daytona Tortugas raced to a 12-3 victory over the St. Lucie Mets to secure a series win on Sunday at Clover Park.
Daytona (27-30) won their fourth straight as they ended the series with 39 runs over the final four games, including scoring double-digit tallies in the final three games of the series—the first time since 2012 the Tortugas have scored ten or more runs in three straight games. St. Lucie (19-38) walked 11 batters, committed four errors, threw three wild pitches, and committed two balks to fuel Daytona’s offensive explosion.
After a scoreless first, Daytona erupted in the second against starter Ernesto Mercedes. Connor Burns led off with a double, which was followed by a walk and hit batter to load the bases with one-out. Johnny Ascanio then lined a two-run single to left and Sammy Stafura followed with a sacrifice fly. Cabrera then rolled a ground ball to short, but a throwing error extended the inning and scored the fourth run of the frame.
Cabrera then took a bizarre trip around the bases as Mercedes balked him to second, before Cabrera stole third. Mercedes then committed another balk to score Cabrera with the fifth run. After walking Ariel Almonte, Mercedes departed for Ryan Ammons and the rally continued. Esmith Pineda doubled to put two in scoring position for Burns, who came up with his second hit of the inning, a triple off the center field wall to cap off a seven-run second inning.
Against Daytona starter Nick Payero, the Mets answered right back. A.J. Ewing doubled with one out, then came home on a Willy Fanas two-out double. Kevin Villavicencio blooped a single to center to score Fanas to trim the deficit to 7-2.
Payero, though, settled down nicely as he retired seven of his final eight batters faced, ending an outing of 4.0 innings with two runs allowed and four strikeouts by setting down St. Lucie in order in the fourth.
Meanwhile, the Tortugas stretched the lead back out as Cabrera led off the fourth with a solo home run to left, his seventh of the season. An inning later, Daytona scored three two-out runs against Juan Arnaud, with Cabrera singling home two more runs and Almonte driving home one with a blopp hit to put Daytona ahead 11-2.
Armed with a huge lead, Graham Osman entered in the fifth and alternated walks and groundout as he walked the bases full, but successfully finished a scoreless inning thanks to a fielder’s choice. In the sixth Osman (1-1) allowed a single and committed a fielding error, but the southpaw finished off 2.0 scoreless innings to put himself in line for the win.
The Tortugas finished off their scoring in the seventh as Pineda beat out a potential inning-ending double play, allowing Stafura to score from third.
Nick Sando then entered in the seventh and ran into trouble, issuing a one-out walk before allowing a single and an RBI double to Yohairo Cuevas. However, Sando struck out the next two batters with two men in scoring position to end the inning.
The southpaw was much sharper in the last two frames, allowing a one-out single in the eighth, but nothing more as he struck out five and did not walk a batter over the final 3.0 innings, secure his second save of the season and a resounding 12-3 victory.
The Tortugas will have Monday off before returning home to take on the Palm Beach Cardinals in a series beginning Tuesday night. Both teams’ starters are still to be determined. Tuesday is Silver Sluggers and Breast Cancer Awareness Night, as well as Taco Tuesday with $3 taco specials. First pitch from Jackie Robinson Ballpark is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network and MiLB.tv/Bally Live with Brennan Mense beginning at 6:20.
