Trio of longballs backs shutdown performance on mound to begin trip
FT. MYERS, Fla—Three different Tortugas blasted home runs and three pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout as the Daytona Tortugas shut out the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels 9-0 on Tuesday night at Hammond Stadium.
Daytona (9-6, 40-41) won their third straight behind a 13-hit attack and five players with multiple hits, while Ft. Myers (11-4, 42-38) saw a three-game winning streak end with a thud.
In the top of the first, the Tortugas jumped on top right away against Ft. Myers starter Cesar Lares. Yerlin Confidan extended his on-base streak to 14 games with a leadoff walk, then came home when Ariel Almonte blasted a two-out, two-home run to center, his 16th of the season. Connor Burns then singled up the middle and came all the way home on an Esmith Pineda double off the left field wall to put Daytona in front 3-0.
In the first two innings, Nestor Lorant fought his command, working around a walk in the first before walking the first two batters in the second. However, he picked up a strikeout, Burns then picked off the runner at first, and Lorant induced a groundout to end the threat.
In the third, Burns contributed in a big way at the plate. Leadoff singles by Sammy Stafura and Almonte put two on for the Daytona catcher, who blasted an 0-2 pitch the opposite way over the wall in right-center for a three-run home run, doubling the lead to 6-0 on Burns’ fifth homer of the season.
An inning later, Confidan got into the act against new pitcher Ben Ethridge. Leading off the inning, Confidan crushed a 3-1 curveball deep into seats in right-center field for a solo home run, his sixth of the year, that stretched the lead to 7-0.
Lorant settled down, allowing one hit and one walk over his final two innings, which were both scoreless as well, finishing with 4.0 scoreless innings of one-hit ball in his first start of the year.
Alex Johnson then took the reins in the fifth and started off strong, firing a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts to begin his night.
Daytona added single tallies in the next two frames, as Confidan picked up his second hit and RBI of the night in the sixth, bringing in Luis Reyes on an RBI single. The next frame, Stafura walked, was advanced on Almonte’s season-high third hit, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Pineda.
Johnson returned and allowed a leadoff walk in the sixth, but erased that on a flyball double play to end the inning. He then worked around a two-out single in the seventh. Johnson (3-2) threw a season-high 3.0 scoreless frames, striking out a season-high four batters and allowing just a hit and a walk, leaving firmly in line for a win.
Leading 9-0, Anyer Laureano came on in the eighth and left little doubt, allowing a one-out walk in the inning, but following that up by retiring the final five batters of the game, securing a series-opening rout.
Daytona will play game two of the six-game series against the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch on Tuesday from Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers is at 12:05 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense beginning at 11:55 a.m.
