Small ball and defense critical in additional frame
JUPITER, Fla—The Daytona Tortugas let a two-run lead in the eighth slip away, but a squeeze bunt and a critical out of the plate in the tenth sent Daytona to a 4-3 victory in ten innings over the Jupiter Hammerheads on Tuesday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Daytona (14-8, 45-43) earned their fourth extra-inning win of the season and moved 3.5 games ahead of Jupiter (12-13, 48-43) in the Florida State League East second half standings.
The first two innings passed with little traffic on the bases for either side, but Daytona struck with a big third inning against Jupiter starter M.D. Johnson.
Yassel Pino extended his hitting streak to nine games with a leadoff hit, but was erased by a fielder’s choice two batters later. With two outs, Ricardo Cabrera singled, then Sammy Stafura drove in a run on a bloop single to left. However, a throwing error also allowed Cabrera to score. Ariel Almonte then drove in a third run with double down the right field line to put Daytona in front 3-0.
In the bottom of the third, Jupiter responded against Daytona starter Hunter Hollan. Jordan McCants led off with a double, then came home two batters later on a Cristhian Rodriguez double. A throwing error put Rodriguez at third with one out, but the left-hander picked up two strikeouts to end the inning with Daytona in front 3-1.
Hollan bounced back with a scoreless fourth, ending his first Tortugas’ start with 4.0 innings pitched, one run on two hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.
He gave way to Anyer Laureano in the fifth, who struck out two in a1-2-3 frame. In the sixth, he struck out two more while reaching 100 MPH on the radar gun, working around a two-out single as he chipped in 2.0 scoreless frames with four strikeouts.
Dualvert Gutierrez was next out of the ‘pen for Daytona and he was greeted by a leadoff double from Kemp Alderman in the seventh. However, the right-hander induced three straight flyouts as Alderman never moved past second.
In the eighth, though, two singles for Jupiter set the stage for Ryan Ignoffo, who stroked a two-out, two-strike, two-run double to tie the game at three apiece. With the lead gone, Gutierrez (2-0) buckled down and picked up the final out of the inning and threw a scoreless ninth to send the game to extra innings.
In the tenth, a Daytona offense that had just one hit in the final seven innings was able to scratch across a run. A slow dribbler from Pino moved automatic runner Eddy Isturiz to third. Johnny Ascanio then laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Isturiz, putting the Tortugas up 4-3.
Jonah Hurney came on for Daytona as pinch-runner John Cruz started the inning at second for Jupiter. A sacrifice bunt moved him to third for Colby Shade, who hit a hit chopper to third. Cabrera, though, made a clean pickup and perfect throw home, cutting down Cruz at the plate. Three pitches later, a strikeout from Hurney ended the game with Daytona a 4-3 victor.
Daytona will play game two against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Wednesday. 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 6:15.
