Trio of Tuga Twirlers Tame Mets in Three-Hitter
FSL Daytona Tortugas

Trio of Tuga Twirlers Tame Mets in Three-Hitter

July 22, 2025 - Florida State League (FSL)
Daytona Tortugas News Release


PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla - The Daytona Tortugas waited out a long pregame rain delay, then threw a wet blanket on the St. Lucie Mets offense, holding the Mets to just three hits, all singles, in a 6-1 victory on Tuesday night at Clover Park.

Daytona (13-10, 42-47) earned their first win in a series opener on the road this season, silencing St. Lucie (15-9, 49-40), who had a runner past first base in just two innings all night.

After a delay of 1 hour and 19 minutes, neither team scored in the first, but the Tortugas did get busy in the top of the second. Leading off the inning, Esmith Pineda doubled, then went to third on a Sammy Stafura single. Drew Davies followed a single to right-center, scoring Pineda and moving Stafura to third. Bernard Moon then followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in Stafura for a 2-0 Daytona lead.

St. Lucie, though, immediately answered. With one out. A walk, hit batter, and single loaded the bases for Simon Juan, who jumped on the first pitch he saw and ripped a line drive to left, which was snagged by Davies, but it was deep enough to score the first run of the game for the Mets, trimming the lead to 2-1.

After that, Daytona starter JP Ortiz settled back in. The right-hander retired the final eight batters he faced, including 1-2-3 frames in the third and fourth. He finished his night with 4.0 innings of one-hit, one-run ball, while walking one and striking out a pair.

The Tortugas gave him a couple more runs of breathing room in the fifth. Moon and Anthuan Valencia both singled to lead off the inning. After a one-out dribbler advanced both runners, Ryan McCrystal ripped a double off the top of the first-base bag and down the right field line, scoring both runners to up the lead to 4-1.

An inning later, Daytona added another tally when Stafura ripped his second hit, a triple to left-center that was his league-leading ninth of the season. Davies drove in his second run of the night with a sacrifice fly to bring in Stafura to stretch the advantage to 5-1.

With the advantage, Kenya Huggins thrived in relief. The right-hander spun a 1-2-3 fifth, then allowed a leadoff single in the sixth. The right-hander, though, retired the next six men, ending the sixth with little trouble, then tossing a 1-2-3 seventh. Huggins fired 3.0 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no runs, with no walks and one strikeout in an outing where he threw 31 of his 38 pitches for strikes, leaving him firmly in line for the win.

Ben Brutti was next on the hill in the eighth. After a leadoff single, he surrendered a one-out walk, then plunked a man to load the bases with two outs. Daiverson Gutierrez narrowly missed a game-tying grand slam just foul, but Brutti induced a fielder's choice groundout to end the threat.

In the ninth, two walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs. With one down, Kyle Henley was drilled with the bases loaded, forcing in Davies to bump the lead to 6-1.

Brutti returned and finished the game with a much cleaner inning, a 1-2-3 ninth that closed out a series-opening win.

Daytona will play game two of a four-game series in Port St. Lucie against the St. Lucie Mets on Wednesday evening. First pitch from Clover Park will be at 6:10 p.m. while pregame coverage with the Voice of the Tortugas, Brennan Mense, will begin on the Tortugas Radio Network at 6:00 p.m.

Tickets for every Tortugas home game are available on our website, by calling 386-257-3172, or by visiting the Jackie Robinson Ballpark box office at 110 E. Orange Avenue.

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