Miracle Moments

Ft. Myers is 9-10, tied for third in the FSL South, one game behind Charlotte. For the season, the Miracle is 52-36.

Thursday

Ft. Myers got nine hits and two walks, but failed to score as they lost to the Sarasota Reds 1-0 in Ft. Myers. The Miracle left runners on second and third in the fourth inning, but the lone run came in the sixth, when Sarasota's Justin Reed reached second on a single-and-error and scored on two fly balls. Ft. Myers missed another chance in the seventh when Joe Benson was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single. The Miracle also got two on with one out in the ninth, but a double play ended the game. None of the Ft. Myers hits went for extra bases. Deibinson Romero and Mark Dolenc each had two hits. Steven Hirschfeld took an undeserved loss, giving up only an unearned run on on two hits in seven innings. Santos Arias pitched two innings of scoreless relief, striking out three.

Friday

The Miracle scored three in the first and never trailed as they defeated Sarasota 6-3.  In that first inning, Mark Dolenc singled, Deibinson Romero and Joe Benson walked to load the bases, Evan Bigley singled to score one, and Nicholas Romero doubled to make the score 3-0.  The Reds scored one in the third when two singles sandwiched a double, but the Miracle went up 5-1 in the bottom of the third when Benson doubled, Nicholas Romero singled him in and took second on the throw home, and Jair Fernandez singled to score Romero.  Each team scored once in the fourth, with Sarasota getting two walks and an error and Ft. Myers scoring on singles by Dolenc and Estarlin De Los Santos and a double play.  The Reds put runners on second and third with one out in the sixth, but did not score again until the eighth, when they got a walk, a passed ball, and a single to close out the scoring.  Dolenc, De Los Santos, Bigley, Fernandez, and Nicholas Romero each had two hits.  Michael Tarsi got the win, giving up two runs (one earned) on seven hits in six innings, striking out seven.  Loek Van Mil pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out two, to get a save.

Saturday

Ft. Myers was on the low end of the see-saw, as they lost in ten innings to the Palm Beach Cardinals 10-9 in Ft. Myers.  Palm Beach scored two in the first on three singles, a walk, and an error.  The Miracle came back in the fourth:  with two out, Ben Revere singled, stole second, and scored on a Deibinson Romero single; Chris Parmelee doubled and Joe Benson singled to score Romero; and Steven Singleton singled to score Parmelee and give Ft. Myers a 3-2 lead.  The lead was short-lived, however, as a walk, a single, and a double plated two and gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead at the half-way point of the game.  In the bottom of the fifth, the Miracle took the lead back, getting singles by Jair Fernandez and Mark Dolenc, a walk to Estarlin De Los Santos to load the bases, a two-run single by Ben Revere, and a sacrifice fly by Deibinson Romero to go ahead 6-4.  Two walks, a single, and a passed ball cut the lead to 6-5 in the seventh, and Palm Beach tied it in the eighth on two walks, an infield out, and a passed ball.  Ft. Myers went back ahead 8-6 in the bottom of the eighth when Parmelee walked, Benson singled, Singelton doubled to score one, and an infield out scored another.  It looked like that might be enough, but with two out in the ninth, Palm Beach went single, walk, single, walk, single to score two runs and tie the game at eight.  In the tenth, a triple, double, and single gave the Cardinals a 10-8 lead.  The Miracle tried to come back in the bottom of the tenth:  Deibinson Romero singled, and with one out, Benson walked, Singleton singled, and Nicholas Romero walked to bring in one run and load the bases.  Unfortunately, Rene Leveret and Dolenc then struck out to end the game.  Singleton had four hits and drove in three runs.  Dolenc, Revere, Benson, and Deibinson Romero each had two hits.  David Bromberg pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits.  No reliever went unscored upon.  The losing pitcher was Santos Arias, who gave up two runs and five hits in 1.1 innings.

Sunday

The Miracle scored first, but that was the end of the good news, as they lost to Palm Beach 13-2.  Nicholas Romero walked and Mark Dolenc tripled to put Ft. Myers ahead 1-0 in the second.  The Cardinals went single, double, single, double in the third to go ahead 3-1.  The Miracle cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the third on singles by Steven Singleton and Chris Parmelee, a walk to Joe Benson, and a wild pitch.  From there, it was all Palm Beach.  The Cardinals scored three in the fifth on two singles and a homer, and put the game away with five in the seventh on a home run, two singles, a walk, a hit batsman, another walk, and another single.  They added two more in the ninth on two walks, a hit batsman, and a single.  Ft. Myers did not get a hit after the fourth inning.  No Miracle batter had more than one of the team's four hits, and Dolenc's triple was the only extra base hit.  Tyler Robertson took the loss, giving up six runs and ten hits in five innings.  Santos Arias pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Monday

Ft. Myers again managed only four hits, as they lost to Palm Beach 2-0.  Two doubles sandwiched a single to put the Cardinals ahead 1-0 in the third inning.  The Miracle got two on with one out in the third on a single and a walk, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat.  Back-to-back doubles put Palm Beach ahead 2-0 in the seventh.  Ft. Myers got a leadoff double in the seventh, and put runners on first and third with one out, but a popup and a fly out again ended the threat.  A pair of leadoff walks gave the Miracle runners on first and second with no one out in the eighth, but the next three batters struck out.  Jair Fernandez had two hits for Ft. Myers.  Michael McCardell took the loss, giving up two runs on ten hits in seven innings, striking out nine.  Henry Arias and Joe Testa each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, each striking out two.

Tuesday

Off Day

Wednesday

A nine-run second inning and a complete game shutout by Steven Hirschfeld gave the Miracle a 13-0 victory over the Sarasota Reds in Sarasota.  Ft. Myers got one in the first when Ben Revere tripled and Chris Parmelee singled.  In the bottom of the inning, the Reds twice got a runner to second base, but lost both of them on the bases.  The Miracle sent fourteen men to the plate in the second, with the first eight reaching base.  Nicholas Romero walked, Mark Dolenc singled, and Alexander Soto hit a three-run homer.  It did not kill the rally, however, as Chris Cates and Revere singled, and Estarlin De Los Santos hit a two-run double.  This was followed by singles by Parmelee and Deibinson Romero, scoring De Los Santos and sending Parmelee to third.  Parmelee was thrown out at the plate on an infield grounder, but Nicholas Romero singled to load the bases and Dolenc singled to score Deibinson Romero and leave the bases loaded.  With two out, Joe Benson scored on a fielder's choice that retired no one, and Revere walked to force in the ninth run of the inning.  When the smoke cleared, Ft. Myers was ahead 10-0 after an inning and a half.  The Miracle scored two more in the sixth:  Benson singled, Nicholas Romero doubled, and they scored on a ground out and a wild pitch.  They added a final run in the eighth when Rene Leveret doubled and scored on an error.  Meanwhile, Hirschfeld was shutting down the Sarasota offense, giving up only three hits, only one after the second inning.  Revere and De Los Santos each had three hits, Parmelee, Dolenc, and Nicholas Romero each had two, Nicholas Romero scored three times, and Soto drove in three runs.  Hirschfeld walked only one in the complete game victory.

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

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

Ben Revere is third in games (84), first in at-bats (320), fourth in runs (52), first in hits (98), second in stolen bases (33), first in caught stealing (14), and fifth in AVG (.306).  Steven Singleton is second in triples (8).  Chris Parmelee is tied for third in home runs (11) and second in RBI (47).  Michael McCardell is tied for second in wins (9), tied for third in starts (17), tied for fourth in complete games (1), and tied for first in most hit batsmen (11).  Spencer Steedley is tied for third in games (32).  Tyler Robertson is tied for third in starts (17).  Steven Hirschfeld is tied for fourth in complete games (1) and tied for first in shutouts (1).  Glen Perkins is tied for fourth in complete games (1) and tied for first in shutouts (1).  David Bromberg is tied for first in most hit batsmen (11).

Notes:  Deolis Guerra was FSL pitcher of the week for June 29-July 5...Palm Beach swept the series against Ft. Myers, the first time the Miracle has been swept this season...Alexander Soto was promoted from Beloit to Ft. Myers...Steven Singleton has been promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain.