Miracle drop 2nd straight to Yankees

Fort Myers 2 at Tampa 3

Record 13 - 9

W: J. Valdez (3-0, 0.00); L: R. Delaney (0-2, 0.77)
HR: None.

There was some discussion at the stadium during his last start that Jeff Manship has not been exactly stellar through the early part of the season. That all changed last night as Manny pitched through 7 innings, holding the Yankees to only 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.

Sadly, he took a no decision on the game, with his bullpen help surrendering the game late, as the Yankees went on to a 3-2 win in the 9th inning win.

The Miracle wasted no time getting on the board as Rene Tosoni singled, then moved to 2nd when Danny Valencia drew a walk. Johnny Woodard would ground into a force out, but a throwing error by Eduardo Nunez put the ball in the dugout, with Tosoni scoring and Woodard advancing to second on the throw.

Edward Ovalle would triple in the top of the 2nd, then come home on a Danny Santiesteban sac-fly to make it 2-0 Miracle, a score that would stick through the next four innings.

The Yankees would get to Manny in the bottom of the sixth, with James Cooper singling and advancing on a wild pitch by Manship. A line drive to center by Kyle Anson brought in Cooper, cutting the Miracle lead in half.

Zach Day would replace Manship on the mound in the bottom of the 8th. He allowed a doubled to Cooper who then moved to third on Seth Fortenberry's ground out. A fielding error by Day, with Edwar Gonzalez at the plate allowed Cooper to score, and the Yankees to tie up the game. Day would be charged with the blown save, and after a walk to Anson, a call to the bullpen brought Robert Dalney to the mound to get Josue Calzado to strike out to end the inning.

With the game on the line, the Miracle went three up, and three down in the 9th, despite pinch hitter Brian Dinkelman coming in for the light hitting Allan de San Miguel.

Kevin Smith would double off Delaney and then be replaced by the speedy Tim Battle. A Nunez single would bring Battle bolting past the plate, to hand the win to the home team.

Toby Gardenhire would have the only multi-hit game for Fort Myers, going 3-for-4 at the bottom of the rotation with a double. Unfortunately, he did not factor into any scoring.

The Miracle remain on the road, traveling to Lakeland, where the Tiger's faithful will get a look at Twins' righty Kevin Slowey making his second rehab start for the Miracle. He'll face off against Jonah Nickerson (1-2, 7.64), who last surrendered 6 runs (5 earned) to the Miracle on Monday night.

The back-to-back losses see the Miracle fall to 13 - 9 on the season, and Dunedin, winner of their last two, have again tied up the Miracle for first place in the West Division.

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The Fort Myers Miracle will hold Education Days on May 2 and May 16. The Miracle’s games will start at 10:35 a.m. Kids will learn about math, social studies and language arts and how it all relates to baseball. For more information about getting your class involved, call (239) 768-4210.

Beloit's game against Wisconsin was postponed by rain. It will be made up as part of a double header starting at 1:05 on Saturday.

Trenton slaughtered the New Britain Rock Cats 8-3 Friday night, with Ryan Mullins taking the loss after he allowed five runs (3 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2. He lasted only 4 innings before giving way to Danny Graves.

Steve Tolleson was 2-for-4 at the plate with 1 RBI. The Cats recorded only four hits in the contest with Luke Hughes adding another home run to his total and Brandon Roberts rounding out the woodwork. (Boxscore)

Hughes is looking for a midseason promotion to the Red Wings, who have Matt Macri and Alexi Casilla at the middle infielding positions.

Macri was 2-for-4 at the plate with a double but the Rochester Red Wings still lost, 6-2 to the Lehigh Vally Iron Pigs. Phillip Humber allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2 for the Wings, who fall to 10 - 12 on the season after winning their last two. (Boxscore) Jason Pridie extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an 8th inning clutch hit.

The Wings pitching staff entered the game with a league-best 2.83 ERA.

Outfielder Denard Span reported to Rochester and arrived before the game. The Twins have also optioned lefthanded pitcher Francisco Liriano to Triple-A Rochester. In three starts with the Twins this season, Liriano is 0-3, 11.32 (10.1 ip, 13 er), allowing 15 hits with 13 walks and seven strikeouts. Liriano is expected to start Wednesday's 12:05 pm home game against Pawtucket.

The Red Wings will need to make roster moves to make room for both players.