Tampa takes Education Day win from Miracle

Fort Myers 2 at Tampa 4

Record 13 - 8

W: E. Hacker (2-1, 0.82); L: C. Devries (1-3, 5.48); SV: J. Hovis (3)
HR: None.

It seems the Miracle generally do not perform well during morning starts, and Thursday's Education Day start in Tampa was no different as the Yankees took a 4-2 win from the Miracle at Legends Field.

With two outs on the board in the bottom of the first, James Cooper doubled out to left. An Edwar Gonzalez line drive was deflected by Miracle starter Cole Devries over to 2nd, allowing Copper to progress to 3rd. With Seth Fortenberry at the plate, Cooper then stole home and Gonzalez progressed to second on a missed catch by shortstop Toby Gardenhire who had three, count 'em, three, errors in the game.

Fortenberry would hit a single out to center, which allowed Gonzalez to score, putting two on the board for Yankees early.

The Miracle tied the game up though in the top of the 2nd. Johnny Woodard reached on a fielding error by Damon Sublett and Juan Portes followed that up with a double. Wilson Ramos would ground out, but Woodard would score on the play. Following a second ground out to Edward Ovalle, Rocky Palacios knocked a grounder to right that scored Portes.

That would be all the Miracle would get though as Tampa's Eric Hacker held the Miracle to 2 unearned runs on 4 hits and one walk over seven innings. He'd strike out three during his stay on the mound.

Devries pitched fairly well through the next three innings, allowing a pair of doubles and a single, but not all in the same inning.

That would end in the fifth, when Eduardo Nunez doubled, then came home on a James Cooper single for what would prove to be the game winning run.

With Danny Vais on the mound in the 8th inning, Luis Nunez would hit a ground rule double for the home team, and scored on a Sublett single for the extra run.

Jose Lugo worked 2 scoreless innings for the Miracle, allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out just one. Grant Duff and Jonathan Hovis finished off the game for Tampa, with Duff allowing 2 hits, but also striking out two.

The two teams rematch tonight for a more traditional 7:00 start with Jeff Manship (3-0, 4.12) making his way to mound. The Yankees will counter with lefty Michael Dunn (0-1, 2.95). The game will be broadcast locally at 1410/1660 AM beginning at 6:45 as well as on the internet.

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The Snappers had a day off after being swept by the West Michigan Whitecaps. They will travel now to Wisconsin to take on the Timber Rattlers with a 6:35 PM Central time start on Friday.

Trenton downed the Rock Cats 2-1, rallying past in the 7th inning for the win. David Winfree had the lone Rock Cats run, a solo shot homer in the 2nd inning. Yohan Pino suffered the loss, giving up 2 runs, both earned on 4 hits while striking out 4. (Boxscore)

The Rochester Red Wings took an 8-2 win over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Brian Duensing picked up the win, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 5 over 7 innings. Randy Ruiz was 2-for-3 with 2 runs and 4 RBIs after hitting his first home run of the season. Former Miracle catcher Jose Morales was 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs while Matt Macri and Garrett Jones were both 2-for-4, Macri with 1 run and Jones with 2 as well as one RBI. (Boxscore)

The Red Wings and Minnesota Twins announced a two-year extention of their Player Development Contract on Thursday. The Twins will activate OF Michael Cuddyer from the disabled list Friday, and option OF Denard Span to Rochester. The Red Wings will need to make a roster move when Span reports.