Tigers pin 5-0 defeat on Miracle

Special to the Cape Coral Daily Breeze

Less than 24 hours after the Fort Myers Miracle picked up their first shutout of the season, the Lakeland Tigers returned the favor Tuesday night with a 5-0 decision over the Miracle at Hammond Stadium.

Lakeland starting pitcher Burke Badenhop shut down the Miracle offense with 6 2/3 innings of four-hit ball and striking out eight to register his second win over the Miracle in a week.

The Tigers scored a pair of runs in the second as Michael Hernandez led off with a solo homer to right, his third of the season, followed by an RBI single by Ryan Roberson.

Cameron Maybin’s fourth homer of the season led to two more Lakeland runs in the eighth. All four of Maybin’s home runs this season have come against the Miracle.

The Tigers tacked on their fifth and final run on Ovandy Suero’s RBI single. Suero finished the night 4-for-5 with four singles, an RBI, and a run scored.

The Miracle had several scoring chances, but could not push across a run. Caleb Moore led off the second with a double to left and was stranded at third.

With runners at second and third in the seventh, Steve Tolleson hit a ball hard to Mark Haske at short that got Tolleson by a step at first. The final chance to jump on the board came in the eighth as Dwayne White reached on an infield single, followed by a walk to Erik Lis. Both runners were left on base as Lakeland reliever Anthony Tomey retired the next three hitters on strikes to end the inning.

The teams play the third game of the series Wednesday night.