FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Crabs Pen Brilliant in 5-3 Win over Miracle

Published on August 6, 2016 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Charlotte Stone Crabs staved off the Fort Myers Miracle, 5-3, at Charlotte Sports Park on Saturday night.

In the first inning, the Miracle built a three-run lead off a short-lived outing from Stone Crab starter Grayson Garvin. With two out, Garvin struck Chris Paul with a 2-2 pitch. Joe Maloney then smoked a single into left field. With T.J. White at the plate, Garvin threw two wild pitches that moved the runners up 180 feet and scored Paul. White then unloaded on a 1-2 pitch with a fly ball that bounced off the outfield boardwalk behind the Miracle bullpen in left field. White's seventh homer of the season gave the Miracle a 3-0 lead.

The Stone Crabs answered immediately with two runs off Miracle starter Fernando Romero in the bottom of the first. With one out, Jake Cronenworth earned a walk and moved to second with Grant Kay singled into center. Romero (3-1) issued another walk to Joe McCarthy to load the bases. Mac James then hit a grounder to first base. Trey Vavra fielded the ball and got the force out at second, but James beat out the double play attempt to bring in a run. Nick Ciuffo then cut the Miracle lead to one-run with an RBI single through the right side, 3-2.

Charlotte evened the game, 3-3, in the second. Jace Conrad led off with a double off Romero into the left field corner. After Romero struck out Jonah Heim, Thomas Malone reached on a throwing error form Nick Gordon at shortstop while Conrad advanced to third. Jake Cronenworth then failed on a bunt attempt and was retired on a pop up for the second out, but the Stone Crabs tied the game when Kay singled on the infield. Conrad scored on the play.

In the third, the Crabs took the lead. James was struck by the first pitch of the inning from Romero, but was retired when Ciuffo hit into a force play. With Ciuffo at first, Cristian Toribio grounded out to short and Ciuffo moved to second. Conrad then laced an 0-2 fastball into left field for an RBI single and Charlotte jumped ahead, 4-3.

Romero lasted just three innings on the mound for the Miracle and gave up a season-high four runs, three earned, on five hits with two walks and one strikeout.

Charlotte's bullpen held the Miracle off the board in the final 8.1 innings after Garvin left the game in the first after just two recorded outs. Mike Franco was strong with a scoreless 4.1 innings. Franco (6-4) got the win and Diego Castillo earned a two inning save while Jose Alvarado also tossed two innings without allowing a run.

The Miracle (56-54, 22-19) wrap up a five-game road trip with the series finale with the Stone Crabs (53-55, 20-19) on Sunday afternoon at 12:35 p.m. Dereck Rodriguez (0-0) will make his first start for the Miracle this season with Greg Harris (7-6) going for Charlotte. The game will not be broadcast on MiracleBaseball.com, but fans can listen to Evan Weston call the action on the Charlotte Stone Crabs broadcast network.

Check out the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Florida State League Stories from August 6, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central