Miracle post 8th consecutive win

Special to the Daily Breeze

JUPITER — The impressive numbers and streaks continue to pile up for the Fort Myers Miracle who won for the eighth consecutive time Wednesday night, a 2-1 decision over the Jupiter Hammerheads.

The win extends the Miracle’s lead in the Florida State League’s Western Division to 1 1/2 games over the Clearwater Threshers.

In a series that has been dominated by pitching the Miracle carried a 19-inning scoreless streak into Wednesday’s game. Starter Kyle Aselton did all he could to extend the streak by going six scoreless innings, allowing four hits while striking out seven. Aselton hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last three games.

The only trouble he got into was in the fourth when he gave up back-to-back singles with two outs, but coaxed a ground out to end the inning.

The Miracle (31-20), a season-high 17 games over .500 overall, got all the offense they needed in the seventh. The Miracle didn’t have a runner to second off of Hammerheads starter Matthew Goyen, until Trevor Plouffe led off the inning with a single and stole second. One out later Brock Peterson hit a two-run homer to left, his 19th of the season, giving the Miracle a 2-0 lead. The homer puts Peterson one shy of tying the Fort Myers single-season mark of 20 set by Tommy Peterman (1998) and Matthew LeCroy (1999). It is the seventh consecutive game the Miracle have homered.

The Miracle hung on from there. The scoreless streak ended at 26 innings in the eighth. It is the second-longest scoreless streak by the Miracle pitching staff this season. They had a 39-inning streak from May 28 to June 1.

During the win streak the Miracle have outscored their opponents 32-13 and have a seven game road winning streak.

They go for a five-game sweep of the Hammerheads Thursday night.