Pino Homers But St. Lucie Rallies Late for 4th of July Walkoff

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla—Yassel Pino crushed his fourth home run in his last five starts as Daytona built a pair of three-run leads, but the St. Lucie Mets scored four runs over the final two innings to earn a 5-4 walkoff victory in front of 4,000 fans at Clover Park on July 4.

St. Lucie (5-8, 27-52) evened the series at two games apiece as they dealt Daytona (6-6, 37-41), the fifth walk-off defeat for the Tortugas this season.

After an uneventful first frame, Daytona threatened in the second. With two outs, a pair of singles by Esmith Pineda and Yassel Pino, sandwiched around a walk, loaded the bases with two out. However, St. Lucie starter Edgar Moreta ended the threat with a strikeout.

An inning later, though, the Tortugas jumped in front. Yerlin Confidan extended his hitting streak to ten games with a leadoff triple, his seventh extra-base hit in his past three games. Two batters later, Ariel Almonte lined a single to right to put the Tortugas up 1-0.

Meanwhile, Daytona starter Dualvert Gutierrez was sharp early on. The right-hander began the game with a walk, but erased that free pass with a double play to end the first. He then followed that up with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, facing the minimum through 3.0 scoreless innings.

In the fourth, the Tortugas added to the lead. Pineda led off with a walk, then with one out, Pino pounded a 3-2 fastball from Moreta just inside the left-field foul pole for his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast to put Daytona in front 3-0.

Gutierrez then ran into trouble in the fourth, surrendering a leadoff double to Boston Baro. After a flyout moved the runner to third, Yohairo Cuevas lifted a sacrifice fly to left to put the Mets on the board, trailing 3-1.

In the fifth, Ben Brutti entered for Daytona and allowed a leadoff walk, but stranded the runner at third in a scoreless inning. The Tortugas then restored the three-run lead an inning later as Pineda singled, stole second, went to third on an errant throw into center field, then scored when the throw towards third sailed into the dugout.

With a 4-1 lead, Brutti worked around an error and walk in the sixth as he struck out three in the inning, then brushed aside a two-out walk to finish the seventh.

In the eighth, though, St. Lucie began their comeback push. With one out, an infield single and walk set the table for Estarling Mercado, who sliced an RBI double to left. Brutti then picked up a strikeout for the second out, but then departed for Dylan Simmons, who issued a walk to load the bases, then uncorked a wild pitch to bring in a second run, closing the gap to 4-3.

Simmons left the bases loaded in the eighth, but St. Lucie rallied once more in the ninth. A leadoff single began the inning, followed by two walks. With the bases loaded and no outs, Cuevas drove a ball to deep center field that was plenty deep to score two runs, giving St. Lucie a 5-4 walk-off win.

Daytona will play game two on the road against the St. Lucie Mets beginning at 6:10 p.m. Pregame coverage from Clover Park on the Tortugas Radio Network with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense beginning at 5:55 p.m.