Tortugas hold off Mets in 9th, win 6-4
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (June 6, 2024) – The Daytona Tortugas hung on late to defeat the St. Lucie Mets 6-4 on Thursday night at Clover. The Mets’ season long five-game winning streak came to an end. The Tortugas entered the bottom of the ninth with a 6-1 lead. Reliever
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (June 6, 2024) – The Daytona Tortugas hung on late to defeat the St. Lucie Mets 6-4 on Thursday night at Clover. The Mets’ season long five-game winning streak came to an end.
The Tortugas entered the bottom of the ninth with a 6-1 lead. Reliever Alexander Johnson walked the first three Mets of the inning and was removed. New pitcher Simon Miller walked Colin Houck to force in a run and reload the bases. Jeffry Rosa then belted a two-run single to make it 6-4.
Miller retired Willy Fanas on a flyout and struck out Vincent Perozo and Yohairo Cuevas to end the game, stranding Rosa as the tying run on first base.
The Tortugas scored four runs over the first three innings against Mets starter Jack Wenninger. Sammy Stafura scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and Ariel Almonte hit his FSL-leading 12th homer later in the inning for a 2-0 lead.
Ricardo Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the third inning to put Daytona up 4-0.
Wenninger did not allow a run over his final three innings. Overall he pitched 6.0 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits. Wenninger did not walk a batter and struck out four.
Daytona starter Brian Edgington cruised over 6.0 innings to get his second win. The only run he allowed came on a leadoff home run by Jesus Baez in the fourth inning. It was Baez’s team-leading eighth homer.
The Tortugas scored two critical unearned runs in the seventh inning against Mets reliever Gregori Louis. Yassel Pino doubled and went on to score on sac fly. Stafura reached on an error and later scored on a passed ball to make it 6-1.
The Mets were limited to six hits. Houck’s seven-game hitting streak came to and end after he went 0 for 2 with a pair of walks.
Cuevas went 2 for 4 from the ninth spot.
Stafura went 3 for 5. He has seven hits over the first three games of the series.
The Mets (19-35) and Tortugas (24-30) play the fourth game of their series at Clover Park on Friday. First pitch is 6:10 p.m. Kids can run the bases after the game!