Daytona jumps out to early lead, shuts down Tarpons to secure series win
TAMPA, Fla—Sammy Stafura and Eddy Isturiz homered and Graham Osman spun 5.0 shutout innings in his first career start as the Daytona Tortugas scored four runs in the first and kept the Tampa Tarpons at bay the rest of the way for a 6-2 victory on Friday night at Steinbrenner Field.
Daytona (21-16, 52-51) has won the first four games of the series, having led all for but two innings of a series against a Tampa (18-19, 42-61) squad that has lost five consecutive contests.
As they have frequently this series, Daytona started off fast. In the first inning, Eddy Isturiz drew a leadoff walk, then Ricardo Cabrera doubled off the left-field wall in his first at bat off the injured list. Stafura then stepped up and hooked a 2-2 pitch around the left-field foul pole for a three-run homer, his third of the series. Esmith Pineda then walked and stole second. Carlos Sanchez followed with an RBI single to cap off a four-run frame that put Daytona in front 4-0.
Osman started off his night by allowing an infield single to Marshall Toole, who then stole second and third. The lefty, though, struck out the next two batters before stranding Toole with a groundout.
The southpaw locked in with successive 1-2-3 innings, striking out a batter in each inning. In the fourth, he coughed up a one-out walk, but promptly erased it by inducing a 5-4-3 double play.
Osman then came back for the fifth and ran into trouble with a walk and infield single with one out. He buckled down, though, picking up a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
Osman (4-2) spun a career-high 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, while matching a career high with seven strikeouts and not allowing Tampa to hit a single ball out of the infield.
He handed off the 4-0 lead to Michael Byrne, who allowed a single and walk to begin the sixth. After a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play cut down the leader runner at third, Tyler Wilson lined a double to right-center to put Tampa on the board, trimming the lead to 4-1.
Daytona, though, answered right back. With one out in the seventh, Trey Faltine singled to left to bring up Isturiz, who blasted a 2-2 delivery 377 feet down the right field line for his first home run as a Tortuga, extending the lead to 6-1 on the blast.
Ben Brutti then emerged from the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh and allowed a leadoff walk. He retired the next two batters, then surrendered an infield hit. However, a flyout with runners on the corners ended the inning.
The right-hander then allowed a one-out double to Willy Montero in the eighth, whole stole third and scored when the throw sailed into left field. Brutti settled down and got through the inning, then spun a 1-2-3 ninth on five pitches to end the game, going the final 3.0 innings for his second career save.
Daytona will have play game five of the series against the Tampa Tarpons on Saturday night. First pitch from George M. Steinbrenner Field will be at 6:30 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense beginning at 6:15 p.m.
