The following is a summary of the Thursday, July 22 game as provided by the Mighty Mussels. Click here for the game's box score.
Three Mighty Mussels pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout Thursday, taking the lead in the series with a 5-0 win over the Daytona Tortugas at Hammond Stadium.
Thursday’s shutout was Fort Myers’ (38-31) league-high seventh of the season, but their first in over a month (June 12 at Jupiter).
Left-handed starter Brent Headrick battled over three scoreless innings, fanning six while escaping two bases loaded jams.
Right-handed reliever Zaquiel Puentes (1-0) worked a season-high 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, fanning four while allowing just two hits to earn the win.
Left-hander Denny Bentley finished off the win, twirling 3.1 shutout frames to notch his team-leading eighth save of the season.
Fort Myers wasted no time taking the lead against Daytona (32-37) starter James Marinan (1-4). Misael Urbina led off the first inning with a single before advancing to second on a ground out. With two outs, Jeferson Morales ripped a base hit to center to score Urbina and make it 1-0. After Morales advanced to second on the throw home, Yunior Severino pulled a single into right to extend the lead to 2-0.
Still leading by that margin in the bottom of the sixth, Severino doubled down the left field line to start the inning. Two batters later, Charles Mack dropped a single into left to plate Severino and make it 3-0. Later in the inning, Justin Washington shot a single to right to cap the inning at 4-0 Mighty Mussels.
Fort Myers tacked on their final run in the eighth on an infield single from Keoni Cavaco.
The Mussels will look to clinch at least a split of the series at 7 p.m. on Friday. RHP Landon Leach makes his Low-A debut for Fort Myers, opposed by RHP Miguel Medrano (1-0, 2.65) of the Tortugas. Coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.
