Miracle Moments

Ft. Myers is 7-6, tied for first in the FSL South with Charlotte. For the season, Ft. Myers is 50-32.

Thursday

Game 1

Miracle pitchers grounded the Lakeland Flying Tigers as Ft. Myers took a 3-1 victory in Lakeland. Lakeland left the bases full in the first. The Miracle took a 2-0 lead in the second on a walk to Nicholas Romero, singles by Jair Fernandez and Chris Cates, and an error. Steven Singleton homered in the third to put Ft. Myers up 3-0. Lakeland again left the bases loaded in the fourth. The lone Flying Tiger run came in the seventh on a single, a passed ball, a ground out, and a wild pitch. Lakeland had eight hits, but was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The Miracle had only six hits, and no player had more than one. Tyler Robertson pitched only two innings, giving up no runs and two hits. Joe Testa and Loek Van Mil each pitched two scoreless innings, with Testa getting the win. Blair Erickson got a save.

Game 2

Ft. Myers pitchers again did the job as the Miracle swept the doubleheader, winning game two 4-1.  Lakeland opened the game with two singles in the first, but Ft. Myers opened the scoring in the fourth when Steven Singleton singled and Deibinson Romero doubled.  The Flying Tigers tied the score in the fifth on a hit batsman, a sacrifice bunt, and a single.  The Miracle took the lead back in the sixth on another Singleton single and a home run by Chris Parmelee.  In the seventh, Nicholas Romero homered to give Ft. Myers an insurance run.  Lakeland again failed to hit with men on, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.  Singleton and Mark Dolenc each had two hits.  Michael McCardell went all the way, giving up a run on seven hits and striking out nine.

Friday

Deolis Guerra took a no-hitter into the eighth inning as the Miracle won a pitchers' duel over the Charlotte Stone Crabs 2-1 in Ft. Myers.  The Miracle took a 1-0 lead in the third when Jair Fernandez doubled and Chris Cates singled.  Charlotte got its first base runner on an error in the fifth, but did not get him farther than second base.  A Mark Dolenc homer in the fifth put Ft. Myers ahead 2-0.  Another error gave Charlotte a runner in the sixth, but this time he did not get past first.  The lone Stone Crab run came in the eighth, when yet another error put a runner on base and a double scored him.  The only other Stone Crab hit came with two out in the ninth.  Cates and Steven Singleton each had two hits for the Miracle.  Guerra got the win, pitching 7.1 innings and giving up an unearned run on one hit.  Santos Arias pitched the final 1.2 innings scorelessly to get the save.

Saturday

All the Independence Day fireworks came on the Charlotte side, as the Stone Crabs defeated Ft. Myers 9-2 in Charlotte.  The Stone Crabs scored three in the second on a single, a walk, and three more singles.  The Miracle came back with two in the fourth when Chris Parmelee walked, Rene Leveret singled, Evan Bigley doubled to score Parmelee, and an error scored a second run.  In the bottom of the inning, however, three hit batsman and three singles led to five Stone Crab runs, putting the game away for Charlotte.  The Stone Crabs added a final run in the sixth on three singles.  Leveret and Bigley each had three hits, with Bigley getting two doubles.  Steven Hirschfeld took the loss, giving up eight runs (five earned) on six hits in only 3.1 innings.  Loek Van Mil and Spencer Steedley each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Sunday

A pair of three-run innings boosted the Miracle to an 8-4 victory over the Palm Beach Cardinals in Palm Beach.  Ft. Myers got on the board in the first when Ben Revere doubled, stole second, and scored on a ground out.  They added another in the second when Evan Bigley singled, took second on a passed ball, and scored on Mark Dolenc's single.  The Cardinals cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second with a single and a triple, but the tying run was stranded on third.  The Miracle had the first of its three-run innings in the third.  Estarlin De Los Santos singled, Steven Singleton was hit by a pitch, and they both scored on Nicholas Romero's double.  Rene Leveret then walked, Bigley was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Dolenc hit a sacrifice fly to put Ft. Myers ahead 5-1.  The Cardinals battled back, scoring two in the fourth on a hit batsman and three singles to cut the lead to 5-3, and again closed to within one in the sixth on an Oliver Marmol home run.  The Miracle put it away, however, with a three-run seventh.  Two errors and a Nicholas Romero single produced the first run, Leveret doubled in another, and Dolenc singled in the third.  Palm Beach did not get a hit after the sixth-inning homer.  Leveret, Dolenc, and Nicholas Romero each had two hits, with Romero driving in three runs.  David Bromberg got the win, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 5.2 innings to run his record to 7-0.  Joe Testa pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, and Santos Arias and Blair Erickson each pitched a scoreless inning.

Monday

This time it was Palm Beach getting a three-run inning as they defeated Ft. Myers 4-2.  The Miracle scored first, getting one in the second on a single by Nicholas Romero and a Mark Dolenc triple.  They went up 2-0 in the third when Ben Revere singled and Rene Leveret tripled.  The Cardinals came back in the bottom of the third, however, scoring three times on a walk, three singles, and two wild pitches to take a 3-2 lead.  Ft. Myers had a chance to take the lead back in the sixth, but failed to score despite getting runners to second and third with none out.  Palm Beach got an insurance run in the eighth without a hit, scoring on a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly.  The Miracle had ten hits, but stranded eight and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.  Leveret, Dolenc, and Nicholas Romero each had two hits.  Tyler Robertson gave up three runs on six hits in seven innings to take the loss.

Tuesday

The Miracle got back on the winning track by defeating Palm Beach 7-5.  They scored two in the first inning, opening the game with back-to-back triples by Ben Revere and Steven Singleton and by a single by Deibinson Romero.  The Cardinals took a 3-2 lead in the second, opening the inning with three singles followed by two hit batsmen and a run-scoring double play.  Ft. Myers came back with three of its own in the fourth:  Nicholas Romero doubled, Jair Fernandez walked, an error loaded the bases, and Steven Singleton tripled to bring them all home and put the Miracle ahead 5-3.  A double and two ground outs brought Palm Beach back to within one in the bottom of the fourth, but Ft. Myers got the run back in the fifth on an Evan Bigley homer to take a 6-4 lead.  Chris Parmelee gave the Miracle an insurance run with a ninth-inning homer.  A double and an error brought the Cardinals back within two, but they came no closer.  Revere, Singleton, Estarlin De Los Santos, and Nicholas Romero each had two hits, with Singleton driving in four runs.  Michael McCardell got the win, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits in seven innings.  Spencer Steedley pitched the last two innings to get the save.

Wednesday

It was a game of missed opportunities as Ft. Myers was blanked by the Sarasota Reds 5-0 in Ft. Myers.  The teams combined to leave ten runners on base in the first three innings, but Sarasota broke through in the fourth, scoring twice on two singles and a triple.  They added two more in the fifth on a double, a single, a double, and a sacrifice fly.  Meanwhile, the Miracle left two on in the first, three in the second, two in the fourth, and two in the seventh.  The Reds added a final run in the ninth on a hit batsman, a double, and a ground out.  Ben Revere had two hits for Ft. Myers.  Henry Arias took the loss, giving up two runs on five hits in four innings.  Joe Testa pitched two scoreless innings of relief.

Statistical notes: Ft. Myers is second in runs, fourth in doubles, tied for second in triples, and ninth in home runs.  They are third in walks and tied for eighth in stolen bases.  They are second in OBP, fourth in SLG, first in AVG, and second in OPS.

Miracle pitchers are second in ERA, seventh in fewest hits allowed, third in fewest home runs allowed, and fifth in fewest hits allowed.  They are sixth in strikeouts and fourth in WHIP.

Ben Revere is tied for second in games (79), first in at-bats (301), tied for third in runs (49), first in hits (92), third in stolen bases (31), tied for first in caught stealing (12), and fourth in AVG (.306).  Steven Singleton is tied for fifth in games (77) and second in triples (8).  Chris Parmelee is tied for third in home runs (11) and tied for second in RBI (45).  Michael McCardell is tied for first in wins (9), tied for second in starts (16), tied for third in complete games (1), tied for first in most home runs allowed (10), and first in most hit batsmen (11).  Spencer Steedley is tied for fourth in games (30).  Tyler Robertson is tied for second in starts (16).  Glen Perkins is tied for third in complete games (1) and tied for first in shutouts (1).  David Bromberg is fifth in strikeouts (76). 

Notes:  Chris Parmelee won the home run derby at the FSL all-star game...Joe Benson has come off the disabled list, but has been sent to the GCL Twins on a rehab assignment...Estarlin De Los Santos has been sent from Ft. Myers to the GCL Twins...Deolis Guerra was promoted to New Britain...Michael Tarsi has been promoted from Beloit to Ft. Myers...Wednesday's start by Henry Arias was his first start since 2007...These minor league reports would probably generate a lot more comments if they somehow referenced movies or beer.