Jays' Ray takes no-hitter into eighth, beats Miracle

By Special to the Naples Daily News

FORT MYERS — Most of the time in sports, a good defense can shut down a good offense. That wasn’t the case on Monday night as the Dunedin Blue Jays put up eight runs on 10 hits in an 8-2 win over the Fort Myers Miracle at Hammond Stadium. Nothing went right for the Miracle against the first-place Jays on Monday as they committed three errors on defense along with shaky pitching that put the playoff hole back to 4.5 games.

Dunedin fed off of an outstanding start by hurler Robert Ray. The right-hander took a no-hitter into the eighth inning having it disrupted by a Juan Portes lead-off triple. Ray faced one more hitter in the eighth before ending his night eventually giving up one run on one hit in the win.

The second of nine walks given up by the Miracle pitching staff Monday led to the first Jays run. The lead-off free pass to Kyle Phillips, followed by a double from Jacob Butler, would set the table for Brian Jeroloman’s groundout to third and a 1-0 Dunedin lead. Carlo Cota added a run-scoring single later in the second that scored Butler for the two-run advantage.

A solo shot from Chris Gutierrez would push the margin to three in the fourth before a two-run round-tripper from Butler in the fifth gave the visitors a comfortable 5-0 lead. Later in the night, Dunedin would use a couple of sacrifice flies and a bases-loaded walk for their final three runs on the evening.

Portes’ lead-off triple in the eighth would lead to the first Miracle run as Edward Ovalle grounded out to second putting the good guys on the board. A one-out RBI single from Erik Lis in the ninth would cap off all scoring on the night.

Time is running out for the Miracle in their second-half playoff push as they are now 4.5 games behind the division-leading Blue Jays heading into Tuesday night’s contest. The 7:05 p.m. meeting will see RHP Kyle Waldrop (6-3, 3.00) go against Dunedin’s Adrian Martin (4-2, 2.63) on “NASCAR Night” and a TK Sports Bar “2-for-1” Tuesday.