Miracle edge the SaraReds

BY PHIL DENIS
Sarasota Herald Tribune

SARASOTA -- The Fort Myers Miracle arrived at Ed Smith Stadium on Thursday night with the FSL's top pitching staff with a 3.22 earned run average.

First half West Division champion and rival Sarasota continued to enjoy the league's No. 1 offense with a team batting average of .273.

Four hours later, it was pitching that outshined the hitting as the Minnesota Twins affiliate earned a 2-1 victory.

Fort Myers' ERA dipped to 3.20 and Sarasota's offense to .271.

The SaraReds fell to 34-27 during the second half and 77-54 overall, while Fort Myers, managed by Cardinal Mooney High grad Kevin Boles, improved to 34-27 and 64-67.

In snapping Sarasota's four-game winning streak, the Miracle narrowed the Reds' season series edge to 9-8 with three games remaining.

Major league rehabber Homer Bailey, who started last season in Sarasota before his meteoric rise through Double A Chattanooga and Triple A Louisville and on to Cincinnati, is tonight's probable starting pitcher.

The 21-year-old Bailey, rehabbing a strained right groin injury, was the Reds' No.1 draft selection in 2004 and made his major league debut a victory against the Cleveland Indians on June 9.

Bailey has been working out with the organization's Gulf Coast Rookie League team and is expected to be on a "pitch count" of approximately 75.

Fort Myers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second Thursday and upped the score to 2-0 in the fourth before the SaraReds trimmed their deficit in half in the seventh.

Sarasota's Tonys Gutierrez led off with a single to center and scored when Anthony Esquer lined a base hit to right field four batters later.

The SaraReds six-single offense was led by two hits apiece from Josh Holden and Gutierrez.

After tonight, the SaraReds will play the Tampa Yankees at Legends Field in Hillsborough County the next three days.