Tampa 2 at Fort Myers 3
W: J. Manship (5-1, 3.62); L: C. Garcia (0-1, 1.93); SV: A. Slama (7)
HR: None.
Friday, as we were leaving the park, I told Jeff Manship I wanted a shut out. After all, both Tyler Robertson on Thursday and Cole Devries on Friday had pitched excellent games against this same Yankee's team.
Sadly, I had forgotten to mention to Mr. Lugo that I was looking for a shut out.
Manship however pitched a stellar game, giving up only 3 hits and 1 walk over 6.2 innings while striking out six, more than earning his barbed wire*, Lugo put up the 2 Yankees runs, unearned, on 2 hits and a great, big error, while striking out 2 in .2 innings worth of work.
Both the Miracle and the Yankees would go scoreless through the first four innings. In the bottom of the fifth, with one out on the board, Brian Dinkelman singled his way onto the bags. Whit Robbins followed up with a line drive which got Dink to third. A wild pitch by Christian Garcia moved Robbins to 2nd. Juan Portes sent a ground ball to left field to bring in Dinkelman. A passed ball by Yankees catcher Kyle Anson made it 2-0 Miracle.
Manship would work the 6th and would get to within one out of seven innings before his pitch count was up. Jeff Smith would bring in Jose Lugo who got Kevin Smith to swing for the final out.
Dinkelman would hit a triple, and Robbins would follow him onto base again, this time with a walk. Portes would ground into a double play, which allowed Dinkelman to score, making it 3-0 Miracle.
The problem started in the top of the 8th when a fielding error by Mr. Lugo allowed Luis Nunez on base. Damon Sublett then singled his way on as well. After Mitch Hillgoss struck out swinging, James Cooper would double a ball out to Portes, which eluded the Miracle left fielder, allowing both Nunez and Sublett to cross the plate, and put the tying run on 3rd. Smith wasted no time going to the Miracle bullpen for closer Anthony Slama, who would get Andrew Perez - who did not sign an autograph for me - and Seth Fortenberry - who did - out on strikes.
The Miracle would get nothing out of Tampa's Jose Valdez in the bottom of the 8th, and Slama would strike out 2, including taking Kevin Smith out after he hung one through a number of foul balls, to end the game.
Dinkelman would go 3-for-4 at the plate with 2 runs to lead the Miracle offense. Danny Valencia, still not in the line up, did a great job of dugout cheerleading.
The Miracle jump on the bus tomorrow morning and will play a 4:05 PM game in Jupiter, Florida, against the Hammerheads. Deolis Guerra (4-1, 4.93 ERA) will get the start against the Marlin's Christhian Martinez (0-0, 0.00). Martinez was 4-1 with a 4.67 ERA record with Greensboro of the Sally League, and is making his first High A start.
Boxscore
Log
Miracle
News Press
NP - Miracle Alumni Chad Moeller
NDN
Pending Pinstripes
* When I had Alex Burnett sign the last 8 x 10 I'd done of him, Jeff was there and said "You put barbed wire on his picture? I want barbed wire on my picture!" I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but evidently, he thinks it looks "manly".
Visit Rookie Whites for the rest of scores from around the Twins minor league system. Former Miracle Steve Tolleson was 4-for-4 at the plate and Luke Hughes had his 17-game hitting streak snapped as the New Britain Rock Cats doubled up the Portland Sea Dogs in game one of a double header Saturday afternoon.
2 comments:
Dianna, any word on why Valencia has missed the last few games?
It's on the game report for Friday down at the bottom. I don't think his hand is broken though, only bruised. Lynn had suggested I could tell how much the hand was bothering him by how much he was chewing on his fingers. If it was really hurt, he'd be laying off the nail biting, but frankly, I didn't have time to monitor his teething activities on Saturday night.
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