Miracle solve Dodger mystery

Special to the Daily Breeze

The Fort Myers Miracle used a little extra-base power to finally figure out the Vero Beach Dodgers in a 6-5 victory Wednesday night at Hammond Stadium.

The Miracle connected for five doubles and a triple and pounded out 13 hits for just their second victory in seven games against the Dodgers.

Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Brandon Roberts roped a one-out double to right and scored on Trevor Plouffe’s double to make it 2-1.

In the fourth, the Dodgers got the run back on a solo homer by Russell Mitchell, his first of the season with the Dodgers.

The Miracle tied it in the fourth. With Jeremy Pickrel at first and two outs, Caleb Moore smacked an RBI double to the center field wall. Roberts followed with his second double of the night, driving in Moore.

The Miracle (24-20) took their first lead in the sixth when Roberts reached on an infield single ahead of Plouffe’s RBI triple to right-center to make it 4-3. Roberts finished the night 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored while Plouffe was 3-for-5, lacking only a homer for the cycle with two RBI.

The lead didn’t last long, though, as the Dodgers tied it on Drew Locke’s sac-fly.

The Miracle took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh when Deacon Burns led off with an infield single. Two outs later, Pickrel walked and both moved up a base on a wild pitch. Moore then bounced one up the middle into center field to drive in both runners for a 6-4 lead.

Tim Lahey pitched a perfect eighth for the Miracle and got the first two batters on strikeouts in the ninth. Lahey struck out Xavier Paul to end the game and earn his eighth save of the season.

The teams wrap up their four-game series Thursday night.