Miracle fight off Threshers, 4-1

Clearwater 1 at Fort Myers 4

W: D. Guerra (1-0, 0.60); L: C. Monasterios (1-2, 3.72); SV: R. Delaney (4)
HR: FTM: D. Santiesteban (1).

The Miracle stayed on the winning track Wednesday night at Hammond Stadium, downing the Threshers 4-1 in front of a chilly crowd of 905.

Deolis Guerra took the start for the Miracle, holding the Threshers to only 4 hits and 1 walk over 5 innings while striking out 4.

The Miracle on the other hand wasted no time getting on the board, with lead off hitter Brian Dinkelman tripling, then crossing the plate on Rene Tosoni's ground out to put the Miracle up by 1.

Wilson Ramos and Whit Robbins hit back-to-back singles in the second which paid big dividends when Danny Santiesteban went yard over the left field wall to give the Miracle a four-run lead.

Carlos Monasterios pitched well for the visitors, limiting Fort Myers to only 5 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings, but he'd already given up all the runs the home town team would need.

The only action Clearwater would see would come from Danny Graves, who worked 2 innings. Gus Milner hit a triple off Graves to lead off the sixth inning. He'd come home on John Urick's ground out. Graves would retire the next five batters he faced, getting two to strike out.

Jose Lugo and Rob Delaney handled the mop up chores for the Miracle, each working an inning and striking out 3.

Robbins was 2-for-3 at the plate the only Miracle with multiple hits. Toby Gardenhire was 0-for-3 at the bottom of the order. Danny Valencia, Johnny Woodard and Edward Ovalle were all 0-for-3 as well.

The series finishes off on Thursday Thursday, with big lefty Tyler Robertson (0-1, 4.00) handling the pitching in front of a beer night crowd. Clearwater will counter with their own lefty, Antonio Bastardo (1-0, 0.90). The game begins at 7:05 PM.

Boxscore
Log
Miracle
News Press
NP Notebook - Graves
NDN
Breeze
Jeff Crupper.com

Crupper says on his myspace page: "Jeff Crupper should be running the Clearwater Threshers website, but they won't hire me...is it because my site is better than theirs and it is free?"

At least he covers game when they team is out of town.