Miracle scratch for 2-0 victory

By DAVE DEVEREUX
Cape Coral Daily Breeze

The way Fort Myers starter Yohan Pino was pitching against the Tampa Yankees Tuesday night, it appeared the Miracle offense might only need to score one or two runs.

Not an easy task for the Miracle through the first half of the Florida State League season.

Entering Tuesday night’s game, the Miracle were last in the FSL in batting average (.221), runs (218) and home runs (23), and they had been shut out 14 times.

“From a team standpoint, it’s been up and down all season,” pitcher Jay Rainville said. “We lost a lot of close games. We’ve had our chances, but just couldn’t capitalize.”

Pitching has not been much of a concern this season for the Miracle and it wasn’t Tuesday night.

Pino worked eight shutout innings, but had nothing to show for it until the bottom of the eighth.

Steve Tolleson came through with a bloop RBI single and Luis Ugueto followed with an RBI single to lift the Miracle to a 2-0 win at Hammond Stadium.

“We’ve had limited run support at times,” manager Kevin Boles said. “Our pitchers, tight game or not, they’ve performed well.”

Pino continued the success with seven strikeouts and no walks in eight innings, scattering five hits.

Pino entered the game with a 1-3 record in six starts, but had an earned-run average of 2.38.

Along with Pino, the three other pitchers who have spent significant time in the rotation — Rainville, Oswaldo Sosa and Zachary Ward — all have posted ERAs below 3.00 this season, but their combined records are a staggering 9-22.

“We just have to do our jobs and give the team a chance to win,” Rainville said. “We’re mostly young and there are some nights when we’re going to get whacked around, but they’re giving us time to progress.”

At the outset, the Miracle expected to be stocked with young pitchers.

Two of those, Ryan Mullins and Josh Hill, already have been promoted to Double-A New Britain, Conn. Sosa and reliever Eddie Morlan were selected to the FSL All-Star team.

Boles said the competition has been healthy and the pitchers have remained focused on improving and helping the team win.

“There is always going to be competition. There is a sense of pride,” Boles said. “What they have to understand is they’re facing the other clubs.”

Tampa (40-28) threatened twice against Pino, in the fifth and sixth.

Francisco Cervelli led off the fifth with a double to left center and reached third, but after a line out to the Miracle shortstop Ugueto, Cervelli was doubled off the bag at third.

The Yankees had two on in the sixth, but Pino forced groundouts on the final two batters of the inning.

Tampa starter George Kontos and reliever Jose Valdez combined for seven shutout innings, but the Miracle offense emerged in the eighth.

Whit Robbins led off with a single, Juan Portes walked and, with two outs, Tolleson blooped a single in front of oncoming Yankees right fielder Jose Tabata, scoring Robbins. Ugueto, who went 2-for-3, followed with a sharp single to right, scoring Tolleson.

Alexander Smit pitched the final inning for the save.

“We’re happy with how our bullpen and starting pitching has performed,” Boles said. “We’ve really improved on the defensive end. Offensively, we need to improve, especially situational hitting, playing small ball and with runners at third base.

Those guys are working hard and we expect to see improvements in all those areas.”

The Miracle (30-39) return to action Wednesday night when they host the Yankees in the final game of the three-game series.