Graham Homers, But ‘Tugas Cough Up Late Lead in Ten-Inning Defeat

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla—Carter Graham stayed hot with a home run and two RBI, but the Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels tied the game in the top of the ninth and defeated the Daytona Tortugas 7-4 in ten innings on Sunday evening at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Ft. Myers (19-26) salvaged a split of the series as Daytona (22-23) fell to just 1-5 in extra-inning games on the season.

Both pitchers threw 1-2-3 firsts, but Daytona struck against Ft. Myers starter Charlee Soto in the second. Graham was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, then moved to second when Malvin Valdez was plunked with one out. The two runners then pulled off a double steal and a wild throw enabled Graham to score the first run of the game.

Daytona starter Adam Serwinowski started off strong, retiring the first nine men he faced over the first three frames. However, Ft. Myers came to life in the fourth. Payton Eeles led off with an infield single before Serwinowski coaxed a pair of flyouts. However, two walks loaded the bases for Maddux Houghton, who struck out swinging, but the ball was not caught cleanly and he reached on a dropped third strike, scoring Eeles to tie the game at 1-1.

Daytona, though, had an answer. Against reliever Paulshawn Pasqualotto, Graham led off the inning with a towering drive over the left-field fence for his second home run in as many nights, putting Daytona back in front 2-1.

Ft. Myers immediately answered against Anyer Laureano in the fifth, though. A leadoff walk to Yohander Martinez was followed by a double. Eeles then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to again tie the game, this time at 2-2.

The Tortugas, however, again had a quick answer. Jack Moss led off the fifth with a single up the middle and went to second on a Ricardo Cabrera hit. With two outs, Graham came through again, driving in Moss with his second hit and RBI of the night, a single to center that put Daytona ahead 3-2.

Nestor Lorant came on for the sixth and once more Ft. Myers fought back. Kyle Hess led off with a double and scored two batters later when Maddux Houghton launched a double off the left-field wall. An infield single put runners at the corners with one out, but Martinez bounced into a double play to keep the game tied, 3-3.

The score stayed knotted up until the bottom of the seventh when Johnny Ascanio led off with a double to left. After a lineout, a wild pitch moved him to third for Ariel Almonte, who came through with a sacrifice fly to left to score Ascanio to out Daytona back in front.

Lorant followed up his scoreless seventh with another zero in the eighth, giving him a chance to finish off the game in the ninth. However, Gregory Duran singled on the first pitch of the inning and Martinez pulled the second pitch of the frame into the left-field corner for a game-tying double. Lorant managed to keep a second run from scoring, but the score was deadlocked once more.

In the bottom of the ninth, Almonte stroked a two-run double, but the Tortugas could not push across the winning run, sending the game to extras.

In the tenth, Lorant (3-1) stayed on and began the frame with an intentional walk of Hess, but then induced two flyouts. The right-hander was one strike from finishing the inning, but Duran lined a base hit to right that took a high hop off the turf over the head of Daytona right fielder Esmith Pineda and rolled to the wall for a two-run triple. A wild pitch later brought in Duran to put Ft. Myers ahead 7-4.

In the bottom of the tenth, Xander Hamilton (4-6), who entered the game in the eighth, struck out all three batters he faced to secure the Mighty Mussels’ victory in ten innings, 7-4.

The Tortugas will begin a new series with Jupiter tomorrow night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Daytona will start RHP Ben Brutti (0-2, 4.03) against Jupiter RHP Julio Mendez (1-0, 3.38). Tomorrow we will celebrate Memorial Day with concessions specials and all active duty military and veterans will receive free admission. 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 p.m.