Late Bradenton Rally Falls Just Short Against Mussels 'Pen
FORT MYERS, Fla. — After an hour-and-a-half delay to first pitch Saturday night at Hammond Stadium, the Marauders and Fort Myers Mighty Mussels played to a close finish, with the Marauders falling, 5-4. The loss dropped the Marauders (27-35) to a season-low eight games under .500 and granted Fort Myers
FORT MYERS, Fla. — After an hour-and-a-half delay to first pitch Saturday night at Hammond Stadium, the Marauders and Fort Myers Mighty Mussels played to a close finish, with the Marauders falling, 5-4.
The loss dropped the Marauders (27-35) to a season-low eight games under .500 and granted Fort Myers (39-22) the series win.
Entering the eighth inning, the Marauders trailed, 5-1. Grant Koch led off with a single off Reggie Grace Jr. and took second base on the play when the ball rolled under left fielder Kala’i Rosario’s glove. A Mike Jarvis groundout advanced Koch to third, and Deivis Nadal followed with a hustle RBI-double to right field, beating the right fielder’s throw to second base. Jase Bowen plated Nadal with a single to right field to bring Bradenton within two runs, 5-3, and Tsung-Che Cheng drew a walk. Bowen and Cheng then pulled off a double steal, and after a strikeout, Brenden Dixon walked to load the bases. Grace uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Bowen and bringing the score to 5-4. Wyatt Hendrie struck out swinging, ending the inning and leaving the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.
In the ninth, Bradenton got a leadoff single from Angel Basabe, but Mighty Mussels left-hander John Wilson recovered to record two strikeouts and a game-ending groundout to the first baseman.
The Marauders had scored the game’s first run in the third inning, as Nadal doubled to right-center, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on an infield single by Bowen.
But in the fourth, trouble struck for Bradenton. Rehabbing right-hander Aaron Shortridge allowed a leadoff single to Rubel Cespedes and was pulled in favor of Darvin Garcia (0-2). The latter got Mikey Perez to pop out, but then surrendered a go-ahead, two-run homer to Kala’i Rosario for a 2-1 Fort Myers lead. Dillon Tatum then reached on a dropped catch in left-center by Wyatt Hendrie and took second on a wild pitch, and back-to-back RBI-singles by Luis Baez and Jake Rucker doubled the Mussels’ lead to 4-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, Marauders righty Carlos Jimenez issued a leadoff walk to Noah Cardenas. After a wild pitch and a groundout advanced Cardenas to third, base umpire Garret Griffin called a balk on Jimenez. A puzzled Jimenez questioned the ruling, and Marauders manager Jonathan Johnston was ejected by Griffin after a heated argument of the call.
Jimenez proceeded to hold the Mighty Mussels scoreless over his next three innings, keeping the game within reach for Bradenton and finishing with seven strikeouts over four innings.
Mussels starter Marco Raya pitched two and two-thirds scoreless innings before handing the game over to Matt Mullenbach (3-0), who struck out four over two and one-third and allowed only Bradenton’s third-inning run. Right-hander Niklas Rimmel tossed two scoreless innings before Grace’s eighth-inning struggles.
The series concludes Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Hammond Stadium. LHP Jake Sweeney (1-0, 3.78 ERA) will start for the Marauders against Mussels RHP Mike Paredes (2-2, 2.57 ERA).
For more information about the Bradenton Marauders, please call (941) 747-3031, visit BradentonMarauders.com, or email [email protected].
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