PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Daytona Tortugas erupted for a season-high 17 runs on 16 hits Thursday night, breaking the game open with a five-run third inning before piling on 11 runs over the seventh and eighth to defeat the St. Lucie Mets 17-3 at Clover Park.
Every Daytona starter recorded a hit as the Tortugas bounced back from Wednesday night's extra-inning loss and improved to 45-58 overall and 24-13 in the second half.
The Rundown
St. Lucie struck first in the second inning when Yovanny Rodriguez doubled and Reed Stallman followed with an RBI single to put the Mets in front 1-0.
Daytona responded with its first major offensive outburst in the third. Anielson Buten opened the inning with a double to right before Steele Hall singled him home to tie the game. Jalen Hairston followed with a single and Arnaldo Lantigua walked to load the bases for Ichiro Cano, who gave the Tortugas the lead with an RBI single to center.
Bernard Moon then doubled home Hairston and Lantigua to extend the advantage to 4-1 before Rafhlmil Torres brought Cano home with a sacrifice fly, completing a five-run inning and giving Daytona a 5-1 lead.
The Tortugas added another run in the fifth when Hairston led off the inning with his sixth home run of the season, sending a 0-0 pitch over the right-field wall for a 6-1 advantage.
St. Lucie cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Elian Peña doubled before John Smith III and Julio Zayas delivered consecutive RBI doubles, trimming Daytona's advantage to 6-3.
The Tortugas put the game away with a six-run seventh. Henry Hunter walked to begin the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch before Hairston also drew a walk. Lantigua singled home Hunter, and 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 to score Cano before Drew Davies walked to reload the bases. Buten drew another bases-loaded walk to force home Moon, and a wild pitch brought Torres across with the sixth run of the inning to make it 12-3.
Daytona continued to pour it on in the eighth. Lantigua was hit by a pitch before Cano and Moon singled to load the bases. Torres drove home Lantigua with another single before Davies singled home Cano and Moon. Hunter followed with an RBI single to score Torres, and Hall later brought Davies home on a fielder’s choice to complete a five-run inning and stretch the lead to 17-3.
Mason Morris earned the victory after allowing three runs on eight hits over 5.0 innings. Dominic Scheffler followed with 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out three, before Hunter Hollan retired all six batters he faced across 2.0 perfect innings to finish the win.
Stat of the Game: 17 — Daytona established a new season high with 17 runs, surpassing its previous high of 14 runs, which it had reached twice, most recently on July 18 against Jupiter.
Notes
• Daytona improved to 45-58 overall and 24-13 in the second half
• Improved to 4-1 in August
• Improved to 9-8 on Thursdays
• Daytona leads the current series 2-1
**• St. Lucie leads the season series **9-5
**• Improved to **15-35 on the road
• Improved to 35-41 in night games
• Improved to 31-46 against right-handed starters
• Improved to 33-3 when leading after seven innings
• Improved to 23-6 when recording 10 or more hits
• Recorded its 22nd comeback victory of the season
• Improved to 31-19 when hitting a home run
• Improved to 38-15 when scoring five or more runs
• Improved to 34-2 when outhitting the opponent
• The 17 runs were a new season high, surpassing the previous high of 14 scored twice, most recently July 18 vs. Jupiter
• All nine Tortugas starters recorded at least one hit
• Moon tied his career high with four hits for the fourth time and second time this season, most recently April 15 vs. St. Lucie
• Moon recorded his 26th multi-hit game and second four-hit game of the season
• Moon recorded his 14th multi-RBI game and fourth three-RBI game of the season
• Torres recorded his fifth consecutive multi-hit game
• Torres tied his season high with three hits for the fifth time and did so for the second consecutive game
• Torres recorded his 23rd multi-hit game and fifth three-hit game of the season
• Torres recorded his seventh multi-RBI game and first three-RBI game of the season
• Hairston recorded his 15th multi-hit game and 10th two-hit game of the season
• Cano recorded his 20th multi-hit game and 15th two-hit game of the season
• Davies recorded his eighth multi-RBI game and sixth two-RBI game of the season
• Torres extended his hitting streak to 10 games
**• **Cano extended his on-base streak to 10 games
**• **Hall extended his on-base streak to six games
**• **Hunter extended his on-base streak to six games
**• **Moon extended his on-base streak to 10 games
**• **Scheffler extended his scoreless inning streak to 3.0 innings
**• **Hollan extended his scoreless inning streak to 4.0 innings
**• **Hollan extended his scoreless outing streak to two appearances
Up Next
The Tortugas continue their seven-game series against the St. Lucie Mets on Friday, August 7 at Clover Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. ET.