Miracle lose close one

The Dunedin Blue Jays smacked a couple of home runs and the Fort Myers Miracle gave up a run in the ninth in a 4-3 road loss Tuesday at Knology Park.

Of the 25 outs recorded by the Miracle, four were groundballs, two were strikeouts and 19 were flyballs, including 10 putouts by right fielder Alex Romero. He fell one shy of tying the FSL record for putouts in a nine-inning game by an outfielder, set last season by Jason Waugh of the Blue Jays with 11.

The Miracle entered the bottom of the ninth tied at 3, but a leadoff walk by Jannio Gutierrez, followed by a single from Vito Chiaravalloti put the winning run in scoring position. One out later, Rodney Medina lined a single to right center that scored the winning run.

The Miracle jumped out to the early lead when Trent Oeltjen singled, went to third on a two-base throwing error by the catcher and scored on a Danny Matienzo single.

The Blue Jays answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-run shot by Ron Davenport.

The Miracle knotted it up in the fourth. Matienzo led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a two-out single by Elvis Corporan.

The Blue Jays used the long ball to regain the lead in the fifth when Raul Tablado hit his 14th homer of the season off Miracle starter Manny Tejada.

Tejada went six innings, allowing three runs - two earned - on six hits, while walking two and striking out one.

The Miracle tied it at 3 in the seventh on a Jesus Merchan single and a Felix Molina RBI double.

The hitting stars for the Miracle were Matienzo and Doug Deeds, both going 2-for-4. Deeds extended his hit streak to seven games.

The same two teams meet this afternoon at Hammond Stadium for Big Splash beginning at noon. Gates open at 9 a.m. The Miracle send Francisco Liriano (3-7, 4.24) to the hill against Neomar Flores (5-4, 4.65).