Mighty Mussels connect on four homers in 11-4 route of Blue Jays
Dunedin, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels slugged four home runs in an 11-4 win over the Dunedin Blue Jays Friday night at TD Ballpark.
The Mussels (49-70, 22-33) matched their season high in home runs with four, reaching their total from May 25 against Lakeland.
Dunedin (57-63, 23-32) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first off of Michael Carpenter. Maddox Latta led off with a single and later scored on an opposite field hit from Brock Tibbitts.
Fort Myers answered in the second inning. Daniel Pena led off with a walk and later scored on an error by Blue Jays starter Johnny King (1-3), tying the game 1-1. In the bottom of the frame, an error allowed Braden Barry to reach to begin the inning. He later scored on a groundout to make it 2-1 Blue Jays.
The Mussels kept the pressure on Toronto’s No. 5 prospect in the third. Yasser Mercedes worked a one out walk. Ryan Sprock then followed with a single to center. Daniel Pena was the next batter, and he singled to right-center to plate Mercedes and tie the game 2-2. That would be the final pitch thrown by King. Gus Hughes entered from the bullpen and retired the first batter he faced. Then Yilber Herrera connected on a two-out three-run homer to left, putting Fort Myers ahead 5-2. The blast was the first of his Florida State League career.
In the fourth, Eduardo Beltre blasted a solo homer to left to make it 6-2. The ball left his bat at 109.7 mph. Later in the inning, walks to Sprock and Daniel Pena then put two aboard with two outs. Peyton Carr then drove a 1-0 offering from Hughes into the bullpen in right, extending the lead 9-2. The homer was the fourth of the season for Carr and his first since July 22 against Lakeland.
Dunedin got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth, highlighted by an RBI single from Latta, making it 9-4.
Carpenter finished his outing with four innings in the books. The lefty allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits, while striking out four. His 83 pitches were a season high.
In the sixth, Sprock connected on an opposite field homer to make it 10-4. The home run was the first in the professional career of the Minnesota Twins’ eighth round pick. Mercedes drove in the Mussels final run of the night an inning later on a sacrifice fly, making it 11-4.
Anthony Narvaez (1-2) earned the win after tossing two scoreless innings of relief. Zander Sechrist earned his second save of the season after facing one above the minimum over the final three innings.
The final road series of the regular season continues today at 6:30 p.m. from TD Ballpark. Joel Garcia (0-2, 31.15) will toe the rubber for Fort Myers, opposite Daniel Guerra (3-5, 3.75) for Dunedin. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.