Tandem of 'Tugas Hold Cardinals to One Hit in Ten-Inning Win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla--Yassel Pino raced home on an ground ball in the tenth to cap off a night in which Adam Serwinowski and Nestor Lorant combined to hold Palm Beach to one hit as the Daytona Tortugas defeated the Palm Beach Cardinals 1-0 in ten innings on Thursday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Daytona (29-31) earned their fifth walk-off victory of the season as an infield single by Palm Beach (33-27) in the fifth was all that separated the Tortugas from the franchise's first no-hitter since 2021.

The offenses did little for either side from the start as Palm Beach starter Ixan Henderson retired the first eight batters before Johnny Ascanio walked and Sammy Stafura singled with two outs in the third, but two runners were left aboard. A two-out error in the fourth also failed to lead to any scoring.

On the other side, Serwinowski was excellent as he began his night with four perfect innings. After recording the first out in the fifth, Brayden Jobert legged out an infield hit on a bouncer to first for the first Palm Beach runner. Serwinowski then retired the next two batters, finishing a 5.0-inning outing in which he allowed one hit, no runs, no walks, and struck out five.

Lorant then entered for the sixth and issued a one-out walk to Lizandro Espinoza, who stole second with two outs and went to third when the throw sailed into center field. A ground ball to first ended the inning, though, as the game stayed scoreless. Another one-out walk in the seventh caused little issue for Lorant.

On the other side, Henderson allowed one hit and one walk with seven strikeouts over 6.0 innings before handing things off to Hunter Hayes, who navigated a one-out walk in the seventh, then survived a threat in the eighth. A one-out walk to Stafura was followed by a two-out hit by Carter Graham. An intentional walk loaded the bases, but Hayes picked up a strikeout to end the inning.

Lorant threw 1-2-3 eighth and ninth frames, though not without drama in the top of the ninth. Travis Honeyman led off the inning with a high drive to left, but Esmith Pineda scaled the fence to pull back the drive to keep the game scoreless.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Tortugas also came close to a big blast as Yassel Pino blasted a two-out drive into the left-field corner that was run down at the wall, sending the game to extras.

In the tenth, Lorant expertly worked around the automatic runner, not allowing the runner to advance beyond second as the right-hander set down all three batters faced in the frame. Lorant (5-1) finished 5.0 hitless innings with two walks and three strikeouts to put Daytona in line to win it.

In the bottom of the inning, Pino ran at second and was bunted over to third by Ascanio on the first pitch of the inning. Stafura was then intentionally passed, bringing up Ricardo Cabrera, who chopped a 1-2 pitch slowly to third as Pino came down the line, sliding in safely in front of Trey Paige's throw with the winning run as Daytona won 1-0 in ten innings.

Daytona and Palm Beach will play game four on Friday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Tomorrow will be Margaritaville Night as the first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive a Tortugas-themed beach hat. Gates will open at 5:30 with first pitch to follow at 6:35. Pregame coverage on MiLB.tv and Bally Live with the Voice of the Tortugas Brennan Mense will begin at 6:25.