Pineda's Homer, Precision Pitching Pace 4-1 Win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla--Esmith Pineda blasted a solo homer run to cap off another strong effort by the Daytona Tortugas pitching staff as they shut down the Palm Beach Cardinals 4-1 on Friday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Daytona (30-31) won for the seventh time in eight games, in the process knocking Palm Beach (33-28) out of first place in the Florida State League East Division, stranding 11 Cardinals runners in the contest.

Similar to Thursday, little of note happened offensively in the early going, though Daytona did advance runners to third base in both the first and third inning. However, both times they failed to score against Jose Davila.

On the other side, Daytona starter Ben Brutti did not record a 1-2-3 inning in his outing, but he worked around leadoff singles in the first two innings. His biggest trouble was an infield single and two errors with two outs in the third, but the right-hander induced a groundout with two men in scoring position to keep it scoreless.

Brutti allowed a two-out walk in the fourth, but nothing more as he polished off a 4.0-inning start in which he allowed three hits and one walk with four strikeouts, not allowing a run in the contest.

Dualvert Gutierrez entered in the fifth and battled through a difficult inning. A leadoff single was erased as Adari Grant was thrown out stealing second by Connor Burns. A pair of walks then put two on with two out, but a lineout to short with two on ended the inning.

Dylan Simmons then entered in the sixth and also found himself in trouble as a single and a dropped third strike put runners at the corners with one out. However, a 3-6-3 double play ended the threat with the game still scoreless.

Daytona finalled broke the seal against Davila in the sixth. Ariel Almonte drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a one-out single by Burns. Malvin Valdez followed with a single to left, scoring Almonte and chasing Davila. Augusto Calderon came on and induced a fielder's choice, but an infield single by Jack Moss plated a run. A wild pitch then brought home Carter Graham, putting Daytona in front 3-0.

Simmons returned for the seventh and again found himself in trouble. After a one-out infield single and a groundout, Miguel Villarroel singled home Trey Paige for Palm Beach's first run. A double put two men in scoring position, but Simmons (4-2) finished off his 2.0-inning stint with a groundout to short to hold a 3-1 lead, putting him in line for the win.

Simon Miller was the next man in and he struck out the first two batters in the eighth before working around a two-out single. In the bottom of the eighth, Pineda crushed a solo shot deep down the left field line, putting Daytona in front 4-1 on his fourth round-tripper of the season.

Miller then fired a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out a pair of batters along the way to secure his fifth save, and with it, a 4-1 victory.

Daytona and Palm Beach will play game five on Saturday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Tomorrow will be 90's Night with a "Friends"-themed bobblehead giveaway for the first 1,000 fans through the gates. Gates will open at 5:30 with a 6:35 first pitch. Pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network and MiLB.tv/Bally Live begins at 6:25 with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense.