Miracle fall to Cardinals in 10 innings

Special to the Cape Coral Daily Breeze

Ian Church’s two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth and Brandon Buckman’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th sparked the Palm Beach Cardinals in a 4-3 come-from-behind win Sunday over the Fort Myers Miracle.

Trailing 3-1 entering the ninth, Buckman led off with a single to center, followed by Church’s second, two-run shot in as many games.

After a John Jay one-out single to center and a soft single to center by Allen Craig, Buckman lifted a deep fly ball to right that scored Jay with the game-winner in the 10th.

Palm Beach started the scoring Sunday with an RBI single by James Rapoport in the fifth, scoring A.J. Van Slyke.

Juan Portes tied the game a half-inning later with his third round-tripper of the year, a solo-shot to left.

In the seventh, Dwayne White had a one-out double and Toby Gardenhire had an RBI single, giving the Miracle a 2-1 lead. Brian Dinkelman picked up an RBI single to right, scoring Gardenhire for the two-run Miracle advantage.

Miracle starter Yohan Pino worked seven strong innings allowing one run on five hits. He had six strikeouts in the no-decision.

Game three of the four-game series is Monday night at 7:05 p.m. The Miracle send Zach Ward (2-9, 3.05) to the hill.