Late Heroics Give Threshers a 8-7 Extra Inning Win

WP: Jonh Henriquez (11-0, 2.96)

LP: Zach Veen (3-3, 4.54)

BOX SCORE:

FORT MYERS, FL – Felix Reyes delivered a game-tying three-run home run in the ninth and the Clearwater Threshers (56-26, 12-5) vaulted ahead in extras to hold on for an 8-7 victory over the Fort Myers Kighty Missels (42-41, 8-9) in ten innings at Hammond Stadium on Saturday night. The Threshers and Mighty Mussels face off in a rubber match in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.

The game stayed scoreless until the sixth inning, with just three combined hits until Emaarion Boyd led off the frame with a single off Mighty Mussels reliever Danny Moreno. He moved to second on a groundout by Justin Crawford and to third on a single by Ricardo Rosario. Bryan Rincon hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Boyd from third and give the Threshers the first run of the game.

Fort Myers struck back with a two-run single and a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-1 lead. With one out in the ninth, Otto Kemp and Cole Moore reached with back-to-back singles off newly entered Fort Myers reliever Jackson Hicks. Reyes tied up the game with a three-run blast to left field that evened the score at four apiece.

Crawford laid down a bunt single to lead off the tenth that moved Boyd, the extra runner, to third base. With one out in the tenth, Rincon walked to load the bases before Kemp plated all three runners and gave the Threshers a 7-4 lead. Reyes drove in Kemp on a sacrifice fly to make it 8-4 Threshers.

The Mighty Mussels scored three runs in the home half of the tenth and stranded the tying run on second when Andrew Walling struck out the last batter to secure an 8-7 victory for the Threshers

Estibenzon Jiménez allowed two runs on one hit with three walks and three strikeouts in a no-decision. Wen-Hui Pan allowed two runs on two hits in 2.0 innings with two strikeouts. Jonh Henriquez (11-0) earned the win in 2.0 scoreless and hitless frames with two walks and three strikeouts. Walling allowed three runs (two earned) in 1.0 inning on three hits with one strikeout.

The Threshers move to 3-4 in extra innings this season...Reyes tied his career high with four RBIs for the third time this season...Jiménez pitched to two batters in the sixth...Rosario tied his career-high with three hits...Crawford extended his on-base streak to 21 games...Viars and Moore each have hits in the ninth inning in both games of this series...Troy Schreffler pinch-ran for Viars in the ninth...The Threshers continue their series in Fort Myers against the Mighty Mussels on Sunday, July 16th... First pitch is at 12:00 pm EST... You can purchase tickets for Threshers games at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457.