Miracle down Vero Beach for 3rd straight

Vero Beach 1 at Fort Myers 3

W: H. Reyes (1-0, 1.93); L: C. Kelly (5-2, 5.23); SV: A. Slama (12)
HR: FTM: A. De San Miguel (1).

The Fort Myers Miracle broke open a scoreless game in the sixth inning Wednesday night, and went on to top the Vero Beach Devil Rays, 3-1.

Matt Fox worked 4 innings, allowing 3 hits while striking out 4 for his first start of the 2008 season. Henry Reyes would work the next 2.1 innings, picking up the win when the Miracle got onto the board.

Chris Kelly would replace Ryan Morse on the mound for the bottom of the 6th, and allowed a walk to Danny Valencia. Whit Robbins singled his way onto base. Wilson Ramos' ground ball to center sent Valencia scampering for the plate to give the Miracle one. A wild pitch by Kelly moved Robbins to 3rd, and a a sac-fly by Juan Portes brought in Robbins for the second run.

The Rays took one back in the top of the 7th, with J.T. Hall getting hit by a pitch. Following a strike out to Ryan Roystar, Nevin Ashley singled to put a pair of runners on. Manager Jeff Smith would get All-star closer Anthony Slama out of the bullpen. He would allowed a since to Garrett Groce which scored Hall before inducing Neil Walton to ground into a double play.

Allan de San Miguel would go yard in the bottom half of the stanza, a fly ball out to left field. It was the light-hitting Aussie's first of the year.

That would be it however. Slama allowed 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 4 over the next 2.2 innings for his 12th save of the season. Reyes pitched well during his short stint on the mound.

Robbins hit 3-for-4 with a triple and a run in the contest.

The two teams conclude the series Thursday night with the long awaited match up of Cole Devries (5-5, 3.11) vs. David Price (2-0, 1.16) on the mound.

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· The Win allowed the Miracle to tie the 2003 record for most wins in a half-season. There are still 4 more games to go in the first half of the FSL 2008 season. The prior record was 44-26.

· The game was delayed by one hour due to a late afternoon thunderstorm.

· Milt Cuyler reported that pitcher Mike Allen was suspended, which more or less coincides with what Cole told me, which was "something happened". I do not know if this was substance related or not, but if so, there won't be many games left in Elizabethton's season when he returns.

· The Twins may have picked up a player from try out camp, but have not signed him to a contract yet. He played with current GCL catcher Andres Diaz in West Palm Beach last year. His contract will depend on whether there is a need for him at the GCL level or not.

· Lots of autograph opportunities at the game tonight, including several GCL players (Andres, Lara) and E-Town bound players (Rams, Waltenbury) in the stands. I think I gave Diaz and Lara a kick by asking for their autographs.