Clearwater Threshers fall 4-6 to Fort Myers as the tenth turns ugly

Clearwater Threshers get the hits, Fort Myers gets the last word

The Clearwater Threshers fell 4-6 to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels at home on 2026-09-06, a game that saved its worst manners for extra innings.

Clearwater finished with 7 hits to Fort Myers’ 5. Nice little advantage. Unfortunately, baseball does not accept a receipt for extra singles when the other club leaves with the bigger swing.

That swing belonged to Carson Tinney, whose tenth-inning homer helped turn a tight game into a long walk out for the home crowd. The Threshers scored twice in their half of the tenth, but the Mighty Mussels had already put up 4. Clearwater answered. It just couldn’t answer loudly enough.

From Clearwater tailgates to watch spots in St Pete, Dunedin and the beaches, this is the kind of finish that keeps the postgame conversation going after everyone has agreed they’re done talking about it. More hits, a late chance, same lousy result. Somebody’s going to bring it up again.

A lead built on singles, a finish wrecked by a homer

Fort Myers opened the scoring in the fourth when Quentin Young singled on a ground ball to left, scoring Colby Turner.

Clearwater responded in the fifth with the sort of straightforward hitting that makes an offense look refreshingly uncomplicated. Tyler Minnick lined a single to center to bring home Jack Hopko. Reece Moroney followed with a sharp single to center, scoring Minnick and moving Lane Haworth to second.

No fireworks required. Just find some grass and keep the line moving.

The pitching offered Clearwater something to work with, too. Brendan Sweeney delivered 2.0 innings with 1 hit allowed, no earned runs and 3 strikeouts. On the other side, Eric Hammond worked 4.0 innings, allowing 2 hits and no earned runs while striking out 5. Neither of those outings belongs in the complaint department.

There was also an eighth-inning challenge from Minnick on a pitch result. The call was overturned, and Young was called out on strikes. A useful reminder that sometimes the best move is asking the umpire to have another look.

Then came the tenth, and Fort Myers stopped being subtle.

Jimmy Keenan singled to left to score Bryce Fowler. Tinney followed with a line-drive homer to right, bringing Keenan and Merphy Hernandez home with him. That was the heavy damage: a scoring single, then a swing that made the inning considerably harder to clean up.

Clearwater’s 2 runs in the bottom half narrowed the gap, but they didn’t change the ending. A rally is welcome. A rally that runs out short still leaves the dishes in the sink.

Keep the next one on the calendar

Hopko’s production and Sweeney’s clean work gave Clearwater positives worth keeping. The tenth supplied the part everyone would rather forget. Both can be true without dressing this loss up as something it wasn’t.

Check the team schedule for the next game, review the full game log, or follow more Clearwater Threshers coverage on Pinellas Podcast.

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