Miracle drop 4th straight

Fort Myers 3 at Lakeland 8

Record 13 - 11

W: M. O'Brien (2-0, 4.30); L: D. Guerra (2-1, 3.75)
HR: None.

I'm beginning to feel like someone had a Jason Giambi jersey buried under where the Miracle bats where stored in Tampa, and perhaps the Miracle are as well too.

Fort Myers hitting again took a hiatus as the Lakeland Flying Tigers shocked the Miracle 8-3 at Joker Marchent Stadium.

Cale Iorg singled and Justin Justice took a walk off Miracle starter Deolis Guerra. Following a strike out to Scott Sizemore, the pair would pull of a double steal with Brennan Boesch at the plate. Boesch then singled to bring in Iorg. A fielding error by the suddenly hapless Danny Valencia allowed Ryan Strieby to reach and Justice to score. James Skelton singled in Boesch and Jeramy Laster ground into a force out that allowed Strieby past the plate, giving Lakeland an early 4-0 lead.

They'd add to it in the 3rd when Boesch was hit by a pitch, then made it to 3rd on a Skelton single with 2 outs on the board. Laster would double to bring him in before Pedro Cotto popped out to Toby Gardenhire to end the inning.

The Miracle did find some offense in the 4th inning, with Whit Robbins drawing a walk off Matt O'Brien with 1 out on the board. Juan Portes then knocked a single out to right. Following a ground out to Rene Tosoni, Edward Ovalle was hit a grounder to left to bring in the pair, making it 5-2 Lakeland.

Laster singled in the bottom of the 6th, then stole second, moving to 3rd on Cotto's single. Guerra was tiring, allowing a double to Louis Ott which prompted a pitching change. Alex Burnett came in to replace Guerra, and got Iorg out on a sac-fly that brought in Cotto. Justice, who has suddenly become an offense powerhouse for the Flying Tigers, brought in Ott on a grounder to center.

The total of 8 runs proved too much for the Miracle to overcome. They would only tally one more time, in the top of the 7th when Tosoni singled, moved to second on a Ovalle ground out, to 3rd on a Gardenhire single and came home on Valencia grounder to second.

Guerra, who'd been one of the best pitchers for the Miracle, was charged with 8 runs (7 earned) on 9 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. Danny Vais and Zach Day finished the mop up chores for the team on the mound.

Gardenhire was the only Miracle with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 and seeing his average improve to .333 on the season.

The Miracle hope to avoid a sweep as big lefty Tyler Robertson (0-1, 2.79) takes to the mound against Lakeland righty Luis Marte (2-1, 1.64) for a 7:00 pm contest.

Fort Myers take the day off on Tuesday and return home Wednesday to play the first of a three game series against the Clearwater Threshers.

Boxscore
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The Snappers found their way back into the win column behind some solid pitching by Danny Berlind, topping the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 5-3. Berlind allowed 2 runs (both earned) on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5 over 5 innings. Jair Fernandez was 3-for-4 in the designated hitter roll while Steve Singleton was 2-for-4. Chris Parmelee hit a grand slam homer in the 6th inning off Robert Harmon for 4 RBIs. (Boxscore)

Jay Rainville's ERA took another turn for the worse as the Trenton Titans topped the New Britain Rock Cats, 7-5. Rainville allowed six runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2 over 4 innings. Matt Moses was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run in the designated hitter roll for the Cats, David Winfree was 2-for-4 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs including a home run in 4th. Luke Hughes added to his yarder total, knocking his 8th of the season out of the park while going 2-for-5 at the plate with 1 run and 1 RBI. Brock Peterson has seen his batting average jump to .284 after a slow start on the year, going 2-for-4 at the plate with 1 run. (Boxscore)

Rochester found some offense for a 5-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Mariano Gomez picked up the win in relief, but also allowed the only home team run in the contest, on 4 hits. He worked 2 innings. Tim Lahey picked up the save, his first of the season at the AAA level. (Boxscore) Chris Basak and Eli Whiteside both went yard for the visiting Wings, with Basak accounting for 2 RBIs. Jason Pridie went 0-for-5, ending his 14-game hitting streak.