Yankees knock Miracle from unbeaten ranks

By SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

TAMPA — The thought of going 140-0 came to an end for the Fort Myers Miracle on Wednesday night at Legends Field as they lost to the Tampa Yankees 6-4.

The Miracle fell behind early and just couldn't quite get it all back in the end. With the game tied at one in the fourth, the Yankees got to Miracle starter Errol Simonitsch for three runs. After a leadoff walk and double put runners at second and third, Rudy Guillen, hitting under .100 for the season, singled to right to drive home a run. Tommy Rojas' RBI fielder's choice scored the second run and Ferdin Tejeda finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly. Simonitsch went just four innings allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits, while walking one and striking out three in the loss.

The Yankees added what looked to be a meaningless run in the seventh to make it 5-1 on a solo homer by John Urick. It turned out not to be so meaningless because in the eighth the Miracle scored three runs. Ron Perodin led off with a single and after Denard Span walked, Matt Tolbert tripled to center to score Perodin and Span.

Matt Moses extended his hitting streak to seven games with an RBI double that cut the lead to 5-4.

The Yankees got an insurance run in the eighth. In the ninth, the Miracle sent the tying run to the plate when Span hit a two-out triple to right, but Tolbert popped out to end the game. Span finished the night 3-for-4 with a triple, a run scored and a walk.

The Miracle will host the Dunedin Blue Jays at 7:05 tonight.