Morales’ homer lifts Mussels past Blue Jays 4-3

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 6, 2021) – Jeferson Morales delivered the game-winning home run in the seventh inning Friday, lifting the Mighty Mussels past the Dunedin Blue Jays 4-3 at Hammond Stadium.

With the game tied 2-2, Blue Jays (36-45) reliever Jefferson Herrera (1-1) issued a two-out walk to Charles Mack. The next batter was Morales, who parked a two-run shot to left give Fort Myers (42-37) their first lead of the game at 4-2.

Mighty Mussels reliever Denny Bentley then hit the Dasan Brown with a pitch to lead off the eighth. After a wild pitch and stolen base, Brown scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-3.

Bentley issued two walks in the ninth, but struck out the final two batters to notch his ninth save of the season.

Dunedin jumped in front early against Mussels starter Bobby Milacki, taking advantage of two singles and an error to go up 2-0 in the first.

From there, the Fort Myers pitching took over – tossing eight straight scoreless frames to allow the offense to come back. Milacki put up three zeroes after the first before handing the ball to Matthew Swain. Swain (5-1) tossed three perfect innings, striking out five of the nine batters he faced.

The Mussels scored their first run on a Mack groundout in the first before loading the bases in the fourth. With one out, Misael Urbina lifted a deep fly ball to right to tie the game 2-2. The Mighty Mussels won the contest despite going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

With the series now tied, Miguel Rodriguez (2-2, 3.62) takes the ball for Fort Myers at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Nathaneal Perez (1-2, 8.77) makes the start for Dunedin. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.