Tortugas Can’t Push Across Late Run in 1-0 Defeat

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla—The Daytona Tortugas had the tying run 90 feet away with no outs in the ninth, but couldn’t complete a late comeback push as the Lakeland Flying Tigers pulled out a 1-0 victory on Thursday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Lakeland (20-10) secured their third straight win to open the series as Daytona (17-13) has now dropped three straight games for the first time this season and have now been shut out five times in 15 home games.

After both teams went down in the first inning, Lakeland threatened in the second against Daytona starter Juan Martinez. A hit batter and walk opened the inning before Martinez induced a pop-up and a ground ball. A two-out walk loaded the bases, but a fielder’s choice ended the inning as Lakeland left them loaded.

Daytona, meanwhile, mounted two-out threats against Lakeland starter Hayden Minton in the second and third. Esmith Pineda and Malvin Valdez both singled with two outs in the second and a wild pitch advanced both men into scoring position. However, a flyout ended the inning. An inning later, Ricardo Cabrera doubled with two outs, but also did not come around.

In the fourth, Lakeland broke through against Martinez. Jose De La Cruz singled to begin the inning, then went to third on a single by David Smith. Cristian Santana then reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring De La Cruz for the game’s first run.

Leading 1-0, Minton worked around a leadoff single in the fourth and a two-out walk in the fifth to finish 5.0 scoreless innings before handing things off to Jake Miller in the sixth.

Daytona, meanwhile, also went to the bullpen in the sixth after Martinez tossed 5.0 innings of one-run ball. Anyer Laureano followed Martinez and allowed two hits and a walk in the sixth, but an excellent throw by Esmith Pineda to throw out a runner at third helped mitigate the damage.

An inning later, a two-out single and hit batter gave Lakeland another opportunity, but Laureano ended the top of the seventh with his third strikeout, securing 2.0 scoreless innings as he ran his scoreless streak to 14.0 consecutive innings.

The Daytona offense failed to gain traction against Miller, who set down the side in order in the sixth and seventh, striking out four batters along the way. On the other side, Ben Brutti was excellent in a 1-2-3 eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, a key error potentially cost Daytona as Johnny Ascanio appeared to have drawn a leadoff walk, but was ruled to instead only have taken ball three. With the walk wiped away, Ascanio grounded. The sting of the lost runner was felt immediately when Yerlin Confidan pounded a double to right and tried to stretch it into a triple, but was thrown out, ending the threat as soon as it began.

Following a scoreless ninth from Brutti, Daytona did launch a threat against Miller. Dominic Pitelli laid down a bunt single, then went to third on a single by Carter Graham. However, with runners on the corners and no outs, Miller struck out the next two batters, then induced a groundout to end the game.

Daytona will play game four of the series tomorrow night against Lakeland. RHP Jose Franco (1-0, 1.93) will take the mound for Daytona opposite Lakeland RHP Zach Lee (1-0, 2.04). Tomorrow will be City of Deland Night and Margaritaville Night with a Hawaiian shirt giveaway for the first 1,000 fans through the gates. Tomorrow will also feature a postgame concert from Reed Foley after the final out. First pitch from Jackie Robinson Ballpark is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network with Brennan Mense begins at 6:20 p.m.