Mussels blow four-run lead, drop opener to Dunedin
FORT MYERS – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were defeated by the Dunedin Blue Jays by a final score of 6-5 in 10 innings Tuesday night at Lee Health Sports Complex.
Fort Myers (33-25) squandered an opportunity to gain ground in the Florida State League playoff picture. Despite Clearwater’s loss to Lakeland, the Mussels blew a four-run lead en route to their second straight defeat. They remain three games behind the Threshers in the FSL West with eight games to play in the first half.
Ryan Sprock’s hot hitting continued Tuesday night, registering the first four-hit game of his professional career. In his last six games, Sprock is hitting .417 with a 1.025 OPS.
Triple-A rehabber Alan Roden began his rehab stint today with the Mighty Mussels. Roden recorded two hits, including a 101.2 mph EV double in the third inning.
Fort Myers sent Jason Reitz to the mound to make his third start of the season. Reitz worked a clean first inning with a strikeout.
Blue Jays No. 1 prospect JoJo Parker led off the second inning on a walk. Parker stole two bases and was brought home on a two-out single by Adam Hackenberg to make it 1-0.
Reitz’s night was done after 3.1 innings. Despite only throwing 50% strikes, Reitz surrendered just one hit, one walk and one run. He was relieved by Matthew Dalquist, who worked around a two-out double to keep the deficit at one.
The Mighty Mussels offense got going in the bottom of the fourth. Back-to-back singles by Sprock and Graham Brown began the inning.
After two straight strikeouts by Dunedin (26-32) starter Troy Guthrie, Merphy Hernandez rocked a game-tying double off the right field wall. Hernandez’s first FSL double left the bat at 106.1 mph.
The next batter was Dameury Pena, who knocked a go-ahead, two-run single to right field. The Mussels scored on a fielding error later in the inning, making the score 4-1 after four frames.
Dalquist was solid in innings five and six, despite allowing a leadoff baserunner in both frames.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Mussels added a run on a sacrifice fly from Pena.
Dunedin fought back against Dalquist in the seventh inning. The first four men reached in the inning and all of them scored to tie the game at five. Jake Murray came in and registered two key strikeouts to keep the Blue Jays from taking the lead.
Still tied in the bottom of the ninth, the Mighty Mussels got the winning run to third, but Franly Urena (3-1) induced a fly out to deep right-center field from Ramiro Dominguez to force extra innings.
After Dunedin manufactured a run in the top of the tenth off Mike McKenna (3-3), the Mussels got two on with no one out against Josbel Garcia (S1). The next two batters struck out, then Luis Fragoza grounded out to end the game.
Fort Myers is now 5-4 overall and 2-1 at home in extra innings this season. They have not won a series opener at home this season, dropping to 0-6 in such games.
The series continues today, June 10. Minnesota Twins No. 8 prospect Charlee Soto makes a rehab start for Fort Myers, Dunedin counters with Carson Messina. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.