FSL1 Daytona Tortugas

'Tugas Trounce Mets, 16-4, for Sixth Straight

Published on July 26, 2015 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Daytona Tortugas News Release


Port St. Lucie, FL - The Daytona Tortugas pushed their winning streak to six games with their most impressive offensive output of the season, clobbering the St. Lucie Mets by a score of 16-4 on Sunday evening at Tradition Field. The 'Tugas set season highs in runs and hits (19) in Game 1 of the four-game series.

Daytona poured it on early, and never let up. Daniel Pigott started the scoring with an RBI single in the first, but St. Lucie evened the score at 1-1 with a triple from Yeixon Ruiz and a sac fly from Jeff McNeil in the bottom half.

The Tortugas took over from there, plating four runs in the second inning. 1B Chad Wallach led off with a walk, and was replaced at first when C Joe Hudson reached first on a fielder's choice. SS Carlton Daal reached on an error at third to put two men in scoring position, and LF Phillip Ervin made it 2-1 with an RBI groundout to second base.

2B Alex Blandino, back off the Disabled List for his first game since July 1, roped a run-scoring single to center to increase Daytona's lead to 3-1. DH Sebastian Elizalde followed with a two-run homer, a towering shot over the right field fence, to cap the rally and give the Tortugas a 5-1 cushion.

St. Lucie continued to battle, plating a pair of runs off RHP Jackson Stephens (W, 9-5) in the bottom of the second. Stefan Sabol, Phil Evans and Colton Playa started the inning with hits to knock in a run, and Yeixon Ruiz made it 5-3 with an RBI single to left center.

Stephens settled down considerably from there, allowing just one more run (on a sixth-inning sac fly from Champ Stuart) over his final three innings, finishing with six strikeouts and two walks after five frames.

Meanwhile, Daytona's offense kept slugging. 3B Taylor Sparks drew a leadoff walk in the third, moved up on a pair of singles and scored on a wild pitch to re-extend the lead to 6-3. Blandino led off the fourth with a solo homer to make it 7-3.

Casey Meisner (L, 3-2) was saddled with the early damage, allowing seven runs (three earned) on nine hits with four walks and a strikeout.

The Tortugas broke the game open in the sixth inning against Paul Paez, plating five runs and sending nine batters to the plate. Ervin reached on an error at third and quickly stole second base. Two batters later, Elizalde drove him in with a single to center, and Elizalde scored on another RBI base knock by Pigott. CF Junior Ariasdrove in Pigott with an RBI triple off the right field wall, and scored on a double from Sparks. Two batters later, Hudson hit a ground rule double to center and brought Sparks home to cap the rally. The Tortugas scored five times on five hits to take a 12-3 lead.

Ervin led off the seventh with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored two batters later with an RBI single from Elizalde. After Pigott reached on an error to move Elizalde to third, CF Junior Arias beat out a double play ball to plate the 14th run. Hudson started the eighth with his second double and scored on Ervin's second RBI single. Blandino put the icing on the cake with a run scoring groundout, extending the lead to 16-4.

RHP Joe Mantoni retired all six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh, RHP Evan Mitchell pitched a perfect eighth, and RHP El'Hajj Muhammad worked around a walk and a single for a scoreless ninth.

The Tortugas had a leadoff baserunner in each of the first eight innings. All nine batters recorded at least one hit, eight scored at least one run, six collected multiple hits, five knocked in multiple runs, and four Tortugas - Elizalde, Pigott, Sparks and Hudson - produced three hits. Daytona scored in all but two innings and went 9-for-24 with runners in scoring position.

Elizalde led the offense with four RBIs. Blandino was close behind with three, while Arias, Pigott and Ervin all knocked in two.

Winners of eight of their last 10, the Tortugas will send LHP Nick Routt (4-1, 2.91 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Kevin McGowan (5-9, 5.23 ERA), with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. Fans can listen to the action The Great Voice of Volusia County, AM 1230 and AM 1490 WSBB, starting with the D.B. Pickles Pregame Show at 6:20 p.m. ET.

Check out the Daytona Tortugas Statistics

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Florida State League Stories from July 26, 2015


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