Winokur’s Three Home Run Night Powers Fort Myers Past Lakeland 12-2

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 16, 2024) - Fort Myers cruised past Lakeland 12-2 thanks to a trio of home runs from Brandon Winokur and a stellar performance from the pitching staff on Friday night at Hammond Stadium.

Fort Myers (60-47, 29-13) has now won six consecutive games to extend their second half lead in the FSL West over the Flying Tigers to 6.0 games. Their magic number currently sits at 16 with 20 games left in the regular season.

Lakeland (66-43, 24-20) plated their first run of the night on a sacrifice fly from Andrew Jenkins to score Franyerber Montilla, who reached after being hit by a pitch. Dom Johnson scored the second and final run of the frame after stealing third and touching home on a throwing error by Mussels’ catcher Khadim Diaw.

Winokur’s first long ball of the night was a solo shot onto the boardwalk over the berm in left field, cutting the Flying Tigers lead to 2-1.

Fort Myers’ offense exploded in the home half of the second, scoring six runs and sending nine batters to the plate in the frame. After a leadoff walk to Diaw, Daniel Pena singled to left to put runners at the corners. Jay Thomason walked to load the bases for Caden Kendle, who singled on the infield to plate Diaw. A throwing error by Lakeland shortstop Franyerber Montilla on the play also allowed Pena to score, giving the Mussels a 3-2 lead.

Still in the second inning, Kaelen Culpepper singled to right to allow Kendle to score. Kyle DeBarge was the next man to the plate and picked up an RBI on a fielder’s choice. Winokur launched his second homer of the night, this time a two-run shot that went off the batter’s eye in center field, capping the six-run outburst as Fort Myers took a 7-2 lead.

Devin Kirby was first out of the bullpen in relief of starter Jack Noble, who went two innings. Kirby (1-0) dazzled with four scoreless innings, surrendering the only Lakeland hit of the night while striking out five to earn his first win of the season.

Fort Myers was held scoreless until the eighth inning, when they batted around for the second time in the game. Winokur led off the inning with his third home run of the night, again off the batter’s eye in center, with an exit velocity of 105.4 mph. Later in the frame with the bases loaded, Kendle picked up his second RBI of the night with a walk. One batter later, Culpepper singled to the opposite field, driving in two more to make it 11-2. The final run of the contest came on a line drive single to left field by DeBarge, which scored Kendle.

Ben Ethridge earned his first save of the year after striking out four across three scoreless innings to close the game.

The Mussels will be back in action Saturday at 6:05 p.m. as Fort Myers sends Adrian Bohorquez (0-0, 2.57) to the mound to square off against Lakeland’s Hayden Minton (3-4, 4.52). Coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.

🚨 THREE-HOMER GAME FOR BRANDON WINOKUR 🚨

The @Twins' 2023 third-rounder makes it back-to-back years with the milestone for the @MightyMussels 🎉 pic.twitter.com/kPjj5qGfci

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) August 17, 2024