Blandino Spins Three Scoreless Frames in Tuesday Night Defeat
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla—Alex Blandino twirled 3.0 shutout innings in relief in his first pitching appearance at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, but the St. Lucie Mets defeated the Daytona Tortugas 5-1 on Tuesday night. St. Lucie (4-7, 26-51) scored twice early and held on the rest of the way, despite Daytona (5-5,
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla—Alex Blandino twirled 3.0 shutout innings in relief in his first pitching appearance at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, but the St. Lucie Mets defeated the Daytona Tortugas 5-1 on Tuesday night.
St. Lucie (4-7, 26-51) scored twice early and held on the rest of the way, despite Daytona (5-5, 36-40) having baserunners in every inning.
St. Lucie took the lead with a two-out rally in the first. With two outs, a single and a walk against Daytona starter Brian Edgington brought Colin Houck to the plate, who singled to right-center to drive in A.J. Ewing for the game’s first run.
Two innings later, the Mets doubled the lead. Jose Hernandez led off he third with a double to left. Edgington retired the next two hitters, but after a walk, Boston Baro lined a single to right-center to score Hernandez, making it 2-0, Mets.
After that, Edgington settled down nicely, erasing a two-out hit in the fourth, then striking out the side in the fifth, finishing the night with eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings of two-run ball.
Daytona had runners on base in every inning against St. Lucie starter Jack Wenninger, but didn’t get on the board until the fifth. Yassel Pino led off with an infield single to short, then stole second. With one out, he came home on a Johnny Ascanio double to trim the deficit to 2-1.
In the sixth, Blandino entered on the mound and spun a 1-2-3 inning, ending the inning with a strikeout. He issued a one-out walk in the seventh, but erased that with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the inning. He then worked around a single and walk and ended the inning with another punchout, ending an outing in which he worked 3.0 scoreless innings with one walk, two walks, and three strikeouts.
Alex Blandino had the knuckleballs dancin' tonight!
— Daytona Tortugas (@daytonatortugas) July 3, 2024
3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K pic.twitter.com/dnFKHh15Tx
The Tortugas, meanwhile, had opportunities to tie the game in the seventh and eighth innings, but stranded two men on base in each inning.
St. Lucie, meanwhile, tacked on three runs in the top of the ninth to separate themselves from the Tortugas, finishing off a 5-1 victory for the Mets.
Daytona will finish the homestand against St. Lucie on Wednesday July 3. Tomorrow will be the Tortugas’ Independence Day Spectacular with food and drink specials and the biggest fireworks show of the year after the game. Gates will open at 5:30 with first pitch will at 6:35 p.m. Pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network, MiLB.tv, and Bally Live with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense, beginning at 6:20 p.m.