Simonitsch, Portes lead Miracle over Dunedin

By Special to the Naples Daily News

DUNEDIN — A strong outing by Errol Simonitsch along with a four-RBI night from Juan Portes helped the Fort Myers Miracle begin the spoiler role in Dunedin with a 7-4 win Friday night over the Blue Jays. Simonitsch went seven frames allowing one run, six hits and struck out seven, while Portes went 3-for-4 at the plate with a two-run dinger.

The first five runs on Friday belonged to the Miracle helping Simonitsch out with some run support and also putting the powerful Jays in a five-run hole. A one-out, first inning single by Dustin Martin and a two-run single by Portes staked the Miracle out to a 3-0 lead after three.

After a two-out walk to Martin kept the inning alive in the seventh, Portes would blast his 12th homer of the season into the night time sky for a five-run cushion. The Jays would breakthrough in their seventh as Brian Jeroloman’s single made it a 5-1 game, before the Miracle would tack on two more late runs for another healthy margin.

Steve Tolleson’s RBI single in the eighth, along with Dwayne White’s two-out single in the ninth gave the Miracle a half-dozen run lead before Dunedin made things interesting in the ninth. After a ground out, sacrifice fly and RBI single sliced the lead to 7-4, Kyle Phillips would single to center bringing the tying run to the plate.

Jacob Butler, the Florida State League’s home run leader represented that tying run, hit a towering fly ball to left that died just shy of the warning track and into the glove of Portes to end the game. Game two of the series happens on Saturday night as the Miracle send RHP Jeff Manship (7-5, 3.41) to the Knology Park mound against the Jays RHP Adrian Martin (5-2, 2.79).