Fort Myers slams Yankees, 8-1

Fort Myers 8 at Tampa 1

Record: 13 - 7

W: A. Burnett (1-1, 3.05); L: I. Nova (0-4, 5.23)
HR: None.

Wilson Ramos went 3-for-5 at the plate Wednesday night with 3 RBIs to lead the Fort Myers Miracle offense as they downed the Tampa Yankees 8-1 on the road.

The two teams rematch today at 11:00 A.M. with Fort Myers righty Cole Devries (1-2, 6.00) facing off against RHP Erik Hacker (1-1, 1.04) for the Yankees.

Alex Burnett took the start for the Miracle, holding the Yankees to 1 run on 2 hits and 4 walks while striking out 3. The Miracle got on the board first, in the fifth inning, putting a hurt on Tampa righty Ivan Nova.

Whit Robbins and Danny Santiesteban would lead off the inning with walks. A sac-bunt by Yancarlos Ortiz put runners at 2nd and 3rd. A Brian Dinkelman double brought the pair in. Rene Tosoni's follow up single brought in Dinkelman. With Danny Valencia at the plate, Tosoni would steal second. Valencia flew out, but Johnny Woodard's single to left brought in Tosoni. Juan Portes would draw a walk before Ramos doubled to score the pair and the Yankees called for Wilkins Arias to replace Nova.

Damon Sublett singled out to right in the bottom of the sixth for Tampa. Following an Eduardo Nunex ground out, James Cooper drew a walk and Edwar Gonzalez was hit by a Burnett pitch to load the bases. Kevin Smith would then take a walk off Barnett to force in a run. Miracle field manager Jeff Smith then called for a pitching change, bringing in reliever Anthony Slama who got Josue Calzado to ground into a force out to end the stanza.

A Juan Portes double and a Ramos single paid dividends in the top of the 7th when Robbins ground into a double play which allowed Portes to score.

With two outs in the top of the 8th, Rodolfo Palacios would double then come home on a Toby Gardenhire line drive to center to finish off the scoring.

Brian Dinkelman was 2-for-5 with a run and 2 RBIs while Valencia when 2-for-4 with a double. Zach Day (the box says Danny Vais) and Danny Hernandez both worked an inning for the Miracle to finish off the game, holding the Yankees hitless.

Hernandez was activated from the Beloit disabled list on Tuesday and added to Mircle roster in time for the road trip.

The Miracle now hold a 2 game lead over Dunedin in the FSL West Division. The Jays have lost their last 3, after falling to Lakeland on the road last night.

Boxscore
Score
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Breeze
Pending Pinstripes

Beloit continued their struggles on Wednesday, falling 5-4 to the West Michigan Whitecaps. Blair Erickson suffered his 3rd loss of the season in relief of Brian Kirwan, surrending the game winning run on 3 hits and 1 walk (Boxscore). Garrett Olson was 3-for-6 with 1 run for the Snappers, who fall to 6-14 on the season.

In Double A, New Britain pounded out 21 hits against Reading, for a 15-6 win at home. Luke Hughes was 4-for-5 at the plate with a pair of home runs, 2 runs, and 5 RBIs (Boxscore). Felix Molina was 3-for-5 with 3 doubles, 2 runs and 5 RBIs. Six other players had a multi-hit game. Jay Sawatski picked up the win in relief of Oswaldo Sosa, who gave up 4 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings worth of work.

Rochester captured a 5-3 win over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Tim Lahey picked up the win, his first the season at the Triple-A level. Former Miracle Alexi Casilla was 2-for-4 in the game with a run, while free-agent signee Jon Knott, a Venice, Florida native, was 2-for-3 with a home run (Boxscore).