Tortugas Fall on Rain-Soaked Saturday

JUPITER, Fla—The Palm Beach Cardinals and Daytona Tortugas waited nearly two hours to throw the first pitch, but the Cardinals broke the game open with a seven-run fifth in a 12-1 rout over the Tortugas on Saturday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

Palm Beach (41-17, 78-46) pounded out seven extra-base hits to secure a series win, while Daytona (30-27, 61-62) recorded just six hits and suffered their third straight loss.

The two teams waited out a delay of 1-hour, 55-minutes, after which a pair of scoreless innings began the game. In the third, though, Daytona took the upper hand. Singles by Yerlin Confidan and Sammy Stafura put two on with two outs. Palm Beach then failed to record on an out on a ground ball, scoring a run to put Daytona ahead 1-0.

Daytona starter Adam Serwinowski worked 3.0 scoreless innings in his outing, walking three, but allowing no hits and striking out three.

In the fourth, though, Palm Beach answered against the Daytona bullpen. Jose Cordoba reached on a catcher’s interference, then moved to third on a groundout. A Ross Friederick sacrifice fly brought in Cordoba to tie the game.

Daytona began the fifth with back-to-back singles. However, a double play completely turned the tide in the inning and the Tortugas failed to score.

Palm Beach then turned around and unleashed an avalanche in the bottom of the fifth. After loading the bases with one out, Cordoba doubled in two runs, then Suarez singled in two more. After a groundout, Jon Jon Gazdar doubled to left to bring in a fifth run. Anyelo Encarnacion then launched a two-run home run to left, capping off a seven-run frame that put the Cardinals in front 8-1.

From there, Palm Beach only added on to the lead. In the sixth, Suarez struck again, this time with a two-run double into the left field corner. An inning later, Lizandro Espinoza slugged his own two-run double to left.

With a 12-1 lead, Palm Beach cruised to the finish line as Daytona only had two baserunners in the final four innings as the Cardinals claimed an 11-run victory.

The Tortugas will finish the series with their final road game of the 2024 regular season against the Palm Beach Cardinals on Sunday. First pitch from Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium will be at 11:00 a.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio Network with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense, beginning at 10:50 a.m.