Man Bites Dog, Miracle Finally Score, Win 7-3

By Sean Aronson
Fort Myers Miracle

FORT MYERS, FL – Their bite was just as bad as their bark on Saturday night at Hammond Stadium as the Fort Myers Miracle ended their 19 consecutive inning scoreless streak and defeated the St. Lucie Mets 7-3 on Saturday night.

In front of man, female and canine, the Miracle ended their scoreless streak in the first inning capitalizing on a couple Mets mistakes. With one out Garrett Guzman singled to right. Kyle Geiger then hit a grounder off the glove of third baseman Josh Petersen, that ricocheted to the shortstop Jose Coronado who threw the ball away at first. Geiger was awarded second and Guzman went to third on the two errors. Brock Peterson’s sacrifice fly ended the offensive drought. Matt Tolbert’s infield single and Trevor Plouffe’s walk loaded the bases and Jeremy Pickrel forced in a run when he walked and the Miracle led 2-0 after one.

The Mets took the lead in the fourth when they scored three runs off of Anthony Swarzak. With two on and one out Jose Enrique Cruz doubled home Mike Carp and Jamar Hill’s groundout tied the game at two. Jonathon Malo singled to right-center that drove in Cruz to make it 3-2 Mets.

The Miracle, who moved to 23-19, tied it in the bottom of the inning when Korey Feiner ended an 0-20 slump with a two out single to right. Deacon Burns followed with a single to left-center and Alexi Casilla doubled off the right field wall to score Feiner.

The Miracke took the lead for good in the seventh. Casilla led off with an infield single and Guzman just cleared the right field wall for a two run homer, his fifth of the season to make it 5-3.

The Miracle tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Feiner and an RBI groundout by Guzman. He finished the night 2-5 with a homer, three RBI and two runs scored. Casilla was 3-5 with a double, RBI and a run scored.

The same two teams meet Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. The Miracle send RHP Kevin Slowey (2-1, 1.12) to the hill against Mets RHP Mayque Quintero (0-0, 0.00). It is Armed Forces Day, where the Miracle honor those in the Armed Forces. Following the game is the inaugural home run derby.