Eight-run inning powers Fort Myers to 9-3 victory, series sweep over Daytona
FORT MYERS — An eight-run bottom of the second inning propelled the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels to a 9-3 win and a series sweep over the Daytona Tortugas Sunday afternoon at Hammond Stadium.
Dameury Pena singled to leadoff the bottom of the first inning, which extended his on-base streak to 13 games. Pena has hit .327 with a .426 OBP during his streak.
Peyton Carr also extended his on-base streak to 15 games with a single in his first at-bat of the afternoon. The knock moved his hitting streak to eight games. Carr finished the day with three hits, marking his second three-hit effort in the past week. He has hit .412 with a .508 OBP while reaching base 32 times during the streak.
Fort Myers (39-49, 12-12) exploded for their largest single inning of the season, putting eight runs on Daytona (41-47, 12-9) in the bottom of the second.
Bryan Acuna drew a walk to begin the inning, and advanced to second on a single from Carr. Yohander Martinez then walked to load the bases.
Jose Rodriguez then walked to plate the first run of the game for the Mussels. Javier Roman was next into the batter’s box, and he grounded into a fielder’s choice to give Fort Myers a 2-0 advantage. Pena registered his second single in as many innings, which gave the Mussels a 3-0 lead.
Still in the second inning, Twins’ No. 15 prospect Rayne Doncon hammered a double to left field to plate a pair of runs and make it 5-0. The double from Doncon left his bat at 108.3 mph.
A wild pitch allowed Doncon to advance to third ahead of a Yasser Mercedes walk, which brought Acuna to come to the plate for the second time in the inning. He drew the fifth walk of the frame to reload the bases.
Byron Chourio then drew the second run-producing walk of the inning, scoring Doncon and extending the lead to 6-0.
Carr then smashed a single into center to score two more and give the Mussels an 8-0 lead after two innings. All told, Fort Myers sent 13 men to the plate in the inning and totaled eight runs on four hits, while drawing five walks.
Mussels’ starter Michael Ross allowed just one hit over four shutout innings. The righty struck out four and issued one walk.
Dylan Questad worked a scoreless fifth, before allowing a trio of runs in the top of the sixth inning as the Tortugas cut the Mussel lead to 8-3.
Mercedes doubled to leadoff the bottom of the sixth inning, before coming around to score on a single from Martinez. Martinez’s RBI single pushed the advantage to 9-3.
Zander Sechrist (4-3) fired two scoreless innings in relief and struck out one batter on the day.
The contest was the longest nine-inning game of the season at three hours and nineteen minutes.
After an off day on Monday, the Mussels travel to Lakeland to begin a split, six-game series against the Flying Tigers at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The first three games will be played at Publix Field, before the series returns to Hammond Stadium on Friday. Coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.
Martinez lifts Mussels to 5-4 walk-off win over Tortugas
FORT MYERS — Yohander Martinez delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels over the Daytona Tortugas 5-4 Saturday night at Hammond Stadium.
With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Bryan Acuna was placed at second as the automatic baserunner. Peyton Carr led off the frame with a 10-pitch walk, before Tortugas’ reliever Ben Brutti retired the next two Mussel hitters.
Yohander Martinez then came to the plate, lashed an opposite-field single up the first base line, scoring Acuna and giving the Mussels a 5-4 victory. The walk-off had extra meaning for Martinez, whose daughter Alaïa was celebrating her fourth birthday.
Fort Myers (38-49, 11-12) is now 6-1 in extra inning games and has five walk-off wins on the season. Daytona (41-46, 12-9) is now 0-8 in extra inning contests.
For the second straight night, Fort Myers opened the scoring. Byron Chourio drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first inning, before Twins’ No. 15 prospect Rayne Doncon singled in the first at bat of his rehab assignment.
Caleb McNeely was the next man up, grounding into a double play but plated Chourio to give the Mussels an early 1-0 lead.
After leaving five runners on base in the first two innings, Daytona broke through for a pair of runs in the top of the third off Mussels’ starter Dasan Hill. Tortugas’ center fielder Malvin Valdez gave Daytona a 2-1 lead with a two-run single.
Hill went three complete innings and allowed two runs on three hits. He issued a season-high six walks and struck out two.
Jason Doktorczyk was first arm out of the Mussel bullpen, relieving Hill in the top of the fourth and working a clean inning.
The Tortugas added on in the fifth against Doktorczyk though, as right fielder Esmith Pineda hit a leadoff homer to give Daytona a 3-1 advantage. Shortstop Sammy Stafura then doubled down the right field line, before stealing third and scoring on a sacrifice fly to extend the Tortuga margin to 4-1.
Martinez roped a leadoff double to right-center field in the bottom of the fifth, setting up an RBI single from Jefferson Valladares, bringing the deficit to 4-2.
Doktorczyk finished his relief outing after four innings of work. The righty allowed a pair of runs on five hits and struck out two.
Matt Gabbert entered in the top of the eighth inning and worked around a two-out single to retire the side.
The Mussels fought back in the bottom of the frame, as Acuna drew a walk with one out. Carr then singled to right-center field to put two aboard for Blaze O’Saben. The base hit extended Carr’s on-base streak to 14 games and his hit streak to seven games.
O’Saben laced a single to center to score Acuna and bring Fort Myers within a run at 4-3. Angel Del Rosario then grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate Carr and tie the game 4-4.
Chourio and Doncon both reached with one out in the bottom of the ninth with the game still tied, but were left stranded after Daytona’s Trent Hodgdon recorded back-to-back strikeouts.
Brennan Oxford (3-1) worked a clean top of the tenth inning and struck out two to set up the Martinez walk-off.
Mussels edge Tortugas 8-6 in series opener
FORT MYERS — The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels downed the Daytona Tortugas 8-6 in a wild series opener Friday night at Hammond Stadium.
Fort Myers (37-49, 10-12) tagged Daytona (41-45, 12-8) starter Cole Schoenwetter (2-7) for a trio of runs in the second inning. Bryan Acuna led off the frame with a single, before Byron Chourio and Peyton Carr drew back-to-back walks to load the bases.
Blaze O’Saben then lined into a double play, as Chourio was doubled off at second. With runners at the corners and two outs, Daniel Pena drew a walk to reload the bases.
The Mussels got their first run of the inning on a bases loaded walk from Jefferson Valladares. The next batter, Dameury Pena, laced a two-run single to center to give Fort Myers a 3-0 advantage. The base hit extended Pena’s on-base streak to 12 games.
Fort Myers starter Michael Carpenter exited after two scoreless innings, having allowed a pair of hits and striking out one.
Julio Bonilla entered in the third and allowed a leadoff home run to Alfredo Duno to cut the Mussels’ lead to 3-1.
In the bottom of the frame, the Mussels plated a run of their own on an RBI single from Carr, regaining a three-run margin at 4-1.
After a scoreless fourth for both sides, Daytona scored a run in the top of the fifth on a RBI groundout from second baseman Bernard Moon against Mussel reliever Adrian Bohorquez to make it 4-2 Fort Myers.
For the second time in five innings, the Mussels posted three runs in a single frame. Acuna drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, before Chourio singled to right. Carr then roped a two-run triple to right center field to score both Acuna and Chourio and put Fort Myers ahead 6-2.
Carr extended his on-base streak to 13 games and his hitting streak to six games. He finished the night reaching base four times, tallying a pair of hits and a pair of walks.
O’Saben then plated Carr with a deep sacrifice fly to left center field, extending the Mussel lead to 7-2.
Jakob Hall relieved Bohorquez in the sixth, but ran into trouble after hitting the nine hole hitter Anthuan Valencia with two outs in the inning. Duno singled to right field, before Moon doubled down the left field line to bring the Tortugas within a run at 7-6.
Ivran Romero (3-0) entered to get the final out of the frame for the Mussels. He finished the night having thrown 2.1 scoreless innings and issued just one walk to five strikeouts.
Fort Myers added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Caleb McNeely to make it 8-6.
Ruddy Gomez notched his sixth save of the year after retiring the Tortugas in the ninth.