Tortugas Ride Four Homers to 17-10 Triumph

TAMPA, Fla—The Daytona Tortugas crushed four home runs, stroked 19 hits and scored their most runs since 2021, bludgeoning the Tampa Tarpons 17-10 on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Daytona (18-16, 49-51) scored their most runs since 2021 and tallied their most hits since 2017, as seven players tallied multiple hits and all nine men in the lineup had at least one hit and one RBI as Tampa (18-16, 42-58) fought valiantly after falling behind 9-0 but had no answer for the Tortuga bats.

In the first, Daytona jumped in front with a two-out rally against Tampa starter Gabriel Barbosa. Sammy Stafura drew a two-out walk, then went to third on a single to right by Ariel Almonte. After a wild pitch scored Stafura, Connor Burns blasted a two-run home run 424 feet off the batter’s eye in center field to put the Tortugas in front 3-0 on his eighth home run.

An inning later, the Tortugas exploded. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out for Carlos Sanchez, who rolled a ground ball down the third-base line that cleared the bases for a three-run double. Stafura then ripped the first pitch he saw the other way for a two-run homer. The Tortugas were not done, though, loading the bases with two outs for Jack Moss, who stroked his second hit of the inning, driving in a run to put Daytona up 9-0.

Tampa responded against Daytona starter Jose Montero in the bottom of the second, as Willy Montero jumped on the right-hander’s first pitch and crushed it 431 feet to left-center for a solo home run.

Montero bounced back with a scoreless third, but Tampa put four of the first five batters on base in the fourth, scoring three of them to slice the deficit to 9-4.

In the fifth, though, the Tortugas broke out the longball once again. With two outs, Trey Faltine crushed a 3-2 pitch 418 feet to straightaway center field for his fifth home run of the season. Yerlin Confidan followed it up with a 114-MPH bullet on a 3-0 pitch, lacing it into the right-field bleachers as the back-to-back shots put Daytona in front 11-4.

Montero departed after 4.0 innings for Michael Byrne, who issued two walks to begin the third, both of which came around to score as he allowed two runs in his lone inning.

Daytona once again answered, as the first two men in the sixth reached. Esmith Pineda and Malvin Valdez both followed with one-out RBI singles, pushing the Daytona lead back to 13-6.

In the bottom of the sixth, Ovis Portes made his Tortugas debut, but fought his command. The right-hander issued four walks, while Tampa’s Marshall Toole stroked a two-run double. Three runs scored before Nick Sando came on and picked up a strikeout with two on to end the inning with a 13-9 lead.

Sando (6-2) stabilized thing over the next two innings. Though he allowed two runners in both the seventh and eighth, the southpaw struck out three in the seventh and two more in the eighth, finishing the night with six punchouts over 2.0 scoreless innings before handing things off to Anyer Laureano to get the final out of the eighth.

Meanwhile, the Tortugas were able to at last pull away in the eighth. Daytona loaded the bases with no outs before a double play threatened to sink the whole inning. However, after Faltine walked, Confidan swatted his third extra-base hit of the night, a two-run double to right. Sanchez and Stafura followed with RBI singles to put the finishing touches on a 17-run, 19-hit attack.

JP Ortiz then entered in the ninth and allowed a leadoff single, which eventually came home on a groundout, but only one run as he finished off a 17-10 victory.

Daytona will have play game two of the series against the Tampa Tarpons on Wednesday. First pitch from George M. Steinbrenner Field will be at 6:30 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense beginning at 6:15 p.m.