Winokur Catches Fire, Mussels Drop Tampa Finale 8-4

TAMPA, Fla. (June 9, 2024) – Brandon Winokur homered and reached base four times Sunday, but the Tampa Tarpons defeated the Mighty Mussels 8-4 at Steinbrenner Field.

Winokur connected on his second home run of the series in the fourth inning, a solo shot to right field against Tampa (21-36) starter Cade Smith (3-4). The California native finished 3-for-3 against Smith, while the rest of the team went 1-for-15 with 11 strikeouts.

Tampa didn’t waste time jumping in front against Mussels’ starter Spencer Bengard (2-1). In a scoreless game in the bottom of the second, Bengard walked two batters before Brenny Escanio shot a two-run single into left to make it 2-0 Tarpons.

Still up by that margin in the third, Roderick Arias dropped a ground rule double down the left field line. The next batter was Christopher Familia, who doubled to the wall in left center to make it 3-0. After Familia reached third on a wild pitch, Jasso drove him home with a sacrifice fly to center to cap the inning at 4-0.

Winokur made it 4-1 with his home run in the fourth, but Tampa responded with a Tomas Frick solo homer to extend the lead to 5-1 in the fourth.

After the Mussels (28-29) scored twice without a hit in the top of the seventh, Tampa strung together three hits in the bottom of the inning to reclaim a four-run advantage.

The Mighty Mussels will return home on Tuesday to begin a six-game series with the Lakeland Flying Tigers at 7:05 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.