Marauders down Mussels 4-3 in series opener
BRADENTON, Fla. – The Bradenton Marauders defeated the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 4-3 in the opening game of the series Tuesday at LECOM Park.
Mussels’ starter Michael Ross (2-3) worked in and out of trouble, stranding four runners across his first two innings of work.
Bradenton (36-39, 6-3) got to Ross with a two-out rally in the third though. Edward Florentino laced a single to right field before Eddy Rodriguez followed with a two-run homer, his seventh of the season, to give the Marauders a 2-0 advantage.
Fort Myers (31-43, 4-6) got within a run in the top of the fourth inning. Dameury Pena reached on an error to begin the frame, and later came around to score on an RBI double by Peyton Carr, to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Marauders responded with a run in the fifth, as Florentino’s two-out, solo shot pushed Bradenton’s lead to 3-1.
Ross threw a season-high 87 pitches across five complete innings. He topped out at 94.9 mph and struck out four batters while inducing 11 swings and misses.
Caleb McNeely walked to lead off the top of the sixth inning before stealing second to get into scoring position. McNeely moved to third on a fly out from Bryan Acuna and scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Pena to again cut into the Bradenton lead and make it 3-2.
Replacing Ross in the bottom of the sixth, Matt Gabbert worked around a two-out single to retire the side. Gabbert then struck out the side in order on 11 pitches in the bottom of the seventh.
Bradenton added an insurance run off Gabbert in the eighth. Jhonny Severino laced a single to left field through a drawn-in infield to extend the Bradenton margin to 4-2.
The Mussels tried to mount a rally in the ninth, as Daniel Pena was hit by a pitch with one out. He exited the game with an injury and was replaced by Angel Del Rosario.
Del Rosario stole second and third, before scoring on an infield single by Blaze O’Saben to make it 4-3 Marauders. The steals marked the 29th and 30th of the season for Del Rosario, making him just the second player in the FSL to reach 30 stolen bases this year.
Yohander Martinez drew a walk to extend the game to Byron Chourio, but Chourio struck out to end the contest.
Game two of the series between the Mussels and the Marauders is set for 6:30 p.m. today at LECOM Park. Twins No. 30 prospect Michael Carpenter (0-3, 4.37) will start on the mound for Fort Myers, opposed by Bradenton’s Clevari Tejada (3-4, 4.94). Coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.