Miracle Moments

Ft. Myers is 6-4, tied for second with St. Lucie in the FSL South, a game behind Palm Beach.

Wednesday

Game 1

Three Ft. Myers pitchers combined on a shutout as the Miracle blanked the Jupiter Hammerheads 3-0. Neither team had a serious threat until the fifth, when Ft. Myers broke through on a single by Rene Leveret and a Jair Fernandez double. Jupiter threatened to tie the game in the sixth (their only serious threat) when Matt Dominguez tried to score from second on a single, but he was gunned down, Ben Revere to Trevor Plouffe to Fernandez. The Miracle put the game away in the sixth on run scoring doubles by Deibinson Romero and Leveret. Leveret was 3-for-3 on the game. Deolis Guerra pitched five innings, giving up only three hits to get the win. Santos Arias and Alex Burnett each pitched a scoreless inning, with Burnett striking out two and getting the save.

Game 2

Ft. Myers let a doubleheader sweep get away, giving up three runs in the last inning to lose 4-2. The Miracle scored in the third when Chris Cates doubled and Joe Benson singled. Jupiter tied it in the fourth on three singles. Ft. Myers appeared to win the game in the sixth when Ben Revere reached on an error, stole second and scored on Deibinson Romero's single. In the seventh, however, the Hammerheads followed a lead-off two-base error with three singles to score three times and take a 4-2 victory. Carlos Gutierrez pitched five innings, giving up a run on four hits. Matthew Williams pitched a scoreless sixth. Kyle Waldrop pitched the seventh to take the loss. Jupiter's Kris Harvey got the win in relief, with Andrew Battisto getting the save.

Thursday

Ft. Myers pulled off a Miracle, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Jupiter 4-3. The Hammerheads scored first on a fifth inning home run. Ft. Myers tied it in the eighth on a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and an error. Jupiter scored two in the ninth without a hit on a walk, a two-base error, a wild pitch, and a fielder's choice. The Miracle opened the bottom of the ninth with consecutive singles by Daniel Berg and Mark Dolenc. A Jair Fernandez sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, and pinch-hitter Steven Singleton was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ben Revere then hit a bases-clearing double to win the game. Everyone agreed that the sacrifice bunt was the key to the rally. Revere and Rene Leveret each had two hits for Ft. Myers. David Bromberg went five innings, giving up a run on five hits and three walks. Steven Hirschfeld pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. Spencer Steedley got the win with 0.2 innings of scoreless relief.

Friday

The thing about miracles is that they're not repeatable. Ft. Myers again was down 3-1 after eight, but this time the score stayed that way as they lost to the St. Lucie Mets. The Miracle scored in the first when Ben Revere walked, stole second and third, and scored on a ground out. St. Lucie tied the score on a walk, a single, and a ground out. The score stayed that way, with neither team really threatening, until the seventh, when St. Lucie broke through with a double and a single for a run. St. Lucie got an insurance run in the eighth. Steven Singleton hit a one-out double for Ft. Myers in the ninth, but the next two batters went down and the game was over. Tyler Robertson pitched four innings, giving up a run on two hits and three walks. Kyle Waldrop went three innings in relief, giving up the winning run to take the loss. St. Lucie's Scott Shaw pitched seven innings, giving up three hits and three walks, to get the win. Emary Frederick was credited with the save.

Saturday

Joe Benson hit a solo homer for the first run of the game, but that was all Ft. Myers got in losing to St. Lucie 8-1. Benson's homer came in the second inning; the only other Miracle threat was in the eighth when a walk and an error put two runners on with no one out. St. Lucie tied the game in the bottom of the second and took a commanding lead in the third with a two-out, five-run rally on two doubles, a hit batsman, a single, and a grand slam by Brahiam Maldonado. The Mets added two in the eighth on a pair of doubles and a single. Benson had two hits for Ft. Myers. Michael McCardell pitched four innings, giving up six runs on six hits and two walks. Matthew Williams pitched two innings of scoreless relief and Santos Arias one.

Sunday

Did someone say miracles are not repeatable? For the second time in a week, Ft. Myers scored three in the ninth to pick up a win in St. Lucie. The Miracle scored first when singles by Danny Lehmann and Chris Cates were followed by a passed ball. St. Lucie hit a pair of solo homers in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. It stayed that way until the ninth, when Mark Dolenc singled and moved to second on a Lehmann sacrifice bunt. Cates singled to tie the score, advancing to second on the throw home. Ben Revere singled to give Ft. Myers the lead, advanced to second on an error, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out to end the scoring.  Once again, we see that the sacrifice bunt is the key to a rally. Cates was 3-for-3 with a walk, and Revere had two hits. Carlos Gutierrez piched four innings, giving up no runs on two hits. Both homers were surrendered by Henry Arias. Spencer Steedley, Steven Hirschfeld, and Alex Burnett combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, with Hirschfeld getting the win and Burnett the save. Jose De La Torre surrendered all three runs in the ninth to take the loss.

Team Leaders:

AVG: Chris Cates, .438 (16AB); Joe Benson, .343 (35AB); Ben Revere, .316 (38AB).
HR: Chris Parmelee, 2.
RBI: Revere, 8; Benson, 7; Deibinson Romero, 7.
SB: Revere, 4 (CS 2).
OBP: Cates, .471; Benson, .410; Revere, .409.
SLG: Cates, .625; Benson, .457; Revere, .447.
OPS: Cates, 1.096; Benson, .867; Revere, .856.

W: 6 players with 1.
S: Alex Burnett, 2.
IP: Carlos Gutierrez, 11; David Bromberg, 9.1.
K: Gutierrez, 8; Burnett, 8 (5IP).
WHIP: Steven Hirschfeld, 0.53 (5.2 IP); Gutierrez, 0.73.

Notes: Chris Parmelee apparently has some sort of injury. He was replaced for no apparent reason in Thursday's game, and has not played since. No mention of this is made in the game reports, and I have been able to learn nothing about what the problem might be.