Hammerheads Stone Garrett (Photo by David Conde)
On Saturday in Daytona, FL, the Tortugas and the Jupiter Hammerheads combined for a Florida State League record 11 home runs in an 18-13 slug-fest.
The game also had a few major leaguers on the field as Marlins J.T. Realmuto continues to rehab from a right forearm inflammation and Dilson Herrera, who made his major league debut with the New York Mets infielder, is currently working his way back to the bigs through the Cincinnati system.
It definitely was not a pitching duel from the start as both team combined for 12 runs in the first two innings with Daytona taking the early advantage 9-3.
The Tortugas added five in the bottom of the first after the Hammerheads took a 1-0 lead in the top on Realmuto’s solo home run.
In the bottom half, Herrera started the scoring with a solo shot of his own over the center field fence. Then Tyler Stephenson hit a two-out RBI double scoring Malik Collymore, who singled two batters earlier. Next batter Mitch Nay sent a two-run bomb over the left field fence and Daniel Sweet followed adding back to back jacks to end the scoring in the first.
The Hammerheads added two runs in the top of the second to pull within 5-3 on a two-run home run from John Silviano.
Then in the bottom of the frame, the Tortugas continued their hitting barrage as they added a four spot on a bases loaded walk, a throwing error, ground out and wild pitch.
In the top of the fourth the Hammerheads started their comeback scoring two runs as Stone Garrett joined the home run parade with a two-run bomb of his own pulling Jupiter within 9-5.
In the top of the fifth, the visiting team pulled away after scoring nine runs on eight hits with the biggest blows, a two run home run from Joe Dunand, and a grand slam off the bat of Silviano to put Jupiter in the lead at 14-9.
The Tortugas attempted their own comeback adding one in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double from Stephenson to make it 14-10.
Jupiter answered back with two in the top of the eighth extending the lead to 16-10, with Daytona adding three more runs in the bottom of the frame on two home runs, but still trailed 16-13.
In the top of the ninth, Stone Garrett hit his second home run of the game, making it a five run deficit for Daytona at 18-13. The Tortugas ran out of gas as they were retired in the bottom half of the ninth in order, succumbing to the tough loss.
With the victory, Jupiter improved to 7-3, while Daytona dropped just their second game of the season and are now 8-2.
Both teams will finish this three game set on Sunday evening, with first pitch scheduled for 5:30 pm.
TOP GAME HITTERS
Jupiter
J.T. Realmuto – 3 for 3, 3 R, Double, HR, RBI, BB
Joe Dunand – 3 for 6, 2 R, HR, 4 RBIs
Riley Mahan – 3 for 6, 2 R
Will Allen – 2 for 6, 3 R, Double
Stone Garrett – 3 for 6, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBIs
John Silviano – 3 for 5, 3 R, 2 HR, 6 RBIs
Dylan Lee (W, 3-0) – 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, K
Kyle Keller (S, 2) – 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Daytona
Taylor Trammell – 2 for 4, 3 R, HR, RBI
Tyler Stephenson – 3 for 3, 2 R, 2 Doubles, 3 RBIs, 2 BB
Mitch Nay – 2 for 5, 2 R, 2 HR, 5 RBIs
Daniel Sweet – 2 for 5, R, HR, 2 RBIs
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