Miracle fall 4-1 despite 10 strikeouts

Special to the Daily Breeze

The Clearwater Threshers used timely hitting and a pair of unearned runs in their favor, defeating the Fort Myers Miracle 4-1 Monday night at Hammond Stadium.

Both teams were scoreless through the first four innings before Clearwater broke through in the fifth for a 2-0 lead.

Welinson Baez singled to center. Lou Marson followed with a walk and after a Brad Harmon sacrifice bunt, the first Thresher run was pushed across via a Clay Harris groundout to third.

Kevin Howard grounded to short, a ball that Steve Tolleson had trouble fielding that allowed Marson to score from third and keep the inning alive.

The Miracle cut the deficit to one in the seventh as Erik Lis led off with a double to right and moved to second on Edward Ovalle’s sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Javi Sanchez delivered a flare to right scoring Lis on the play and accounting for the lone Miracle run.

Clearwater tacked on insurance runs in the eighth and ninth for the final margin.

Both starters were impressive. Thresher starter Josh Outman picked up his first win of the season, throwing 6 2/3 innings, allowing just the one run on four hits.

Miracle starter Ryan Mullins tossed seven innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits and struck out a season-high 10 in the loss.

The teams face each other again Tuesday night with Miracle sending right-hander Oswaldo Sosa (0-1, 5.11) to the mound.