Bernard Moon and Rafhlmil Torres drove the Daytona Tortugas to a season-high offensive performance Thursday as Daytona defeated the St. Lucie Mets 17-3 at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie. Moon tied his career high with four hits and drove in three runs, while Torres finished with three hits and three RBIs. Torres also extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Daytona scored 17 runs on 16 hits, and every Tortugas starter recorded at least one hit. The victory improved Daytona to 45-58 overall and 24-13 in the second half. The Tortugas scored five runs in the third inning, six in the seventh and five in the eighth.
Daytona Takes Control
St. Lucie took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Yovanny Rodriguez doubled and Reed Stallman followed with an RBI single. Daytona answered in the third after Anielson Buten doubled and Steele Hall singled him home to tie the game. Jalen Hairston singled, Arnaldo Lantigua walked and Ichiro Cano followed with an RBI single to give Daytona the lead.
Moon then doubled home Hairston and Lantigua before Torres brought Cano home with a sacrifice fly. The five-run inning put the Tortugas ahead 5-1. Hairston added his sixth home run of the season in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 6-1.
St. Lucie responded in the bottom of the fifth when Elian Peña doubled and John Smith III and Julio Zayas delivered consecutive RBI doubles. The Mets cut the deficit to 6-3, but Daytona answered with 11 runs over the seventh and eighth innings.
Tortugas Pull Away
Henry Hunter and Hairston walked to begin the seventh, and Lantigua singled home Hunter. After Cano walked to load the bases, Moon singled home Hairston and Lantigua, with an error allowing Cano to advance to third. Torres followed with an RBI single, Drew Davies walked to reload the bases and Buten drew a bases-loaded walk before a wild pitch brought Torres home.
Daytona scored five more runs in the eighth. Lantigua was hit by a pitch before Cano and Moon singled to load the bases, and Torres singled home Lantigua. Davies then singled home Cano and Moon, Hunter delivered an RBI single to score Torres and Hall brought Davies home on a fielder’s choice.
Moon’s four hits matched his career high, while Torres recorded his fifth consecutive multi-hit game. Moon also recorded three RBIs, and Torres tied his season high with three hits and recorded his first three-RBI game of the season.
Pitching Finishes the Win
Mason Morris earned the victory after allowing three runs on eight hits over five innings. Dominic Scheffler followed with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. Hunter Hollan retired all six batters he faced over two perfect innings.
The 17 runs established a new Daytona season high, surpassing the previous mark of 14 runs reached twice, most recently July 18 against Jupiter. The Tortugas recorded their 22nd comeback victory of the season and improved to 23-6 when recording at least 10 hits, 34-2 when outhitting the opponent and 38-15 when scoring five or more runs.
Daytona improved to 4-1 in August and leads the current series 2-1. St. Lucie leads the season series 9-5. The Tortugas will continue the seven-game series Friday, Aug. 7, at Clover Park, with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 p.m. ET.
Source: Original report