Jax Dominates, Miracle Shut Out Lakeland Again
August 7, 2018 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release
LAKELAND, Fla. - Griffin Jax delivered a dominant start and the Fort Myers Miracle shut out the Lakeland Flying Tigers for the second consecutive game, 5-0, on Tuesday night at Publix Field.
Jax (3-1) went a career-high 7.1 innings, allowed four hits, one walk, and struck out seven. He threw 94 pitches, 67 for strikes. At one point, the right-hander retired 12 batters in a row. He lowered his ERA to 3.04.
Jovani Moran completed the shutout by retiring all five hitters he faced, striking out two, to earn his third save. It is the third shutout win in the last four games for the Miracle.
The game was scoreless until the seventh, when Travis Blankenhorn and Robby Rinn picked up back-to-back singles with one out to put runners on first and third. Caleb Hamilton then came through with a sacrifice-fly to open the scoring. Hamilton finished 2-for-3 in the game.
In the eighth, Jose Miranda blasted a two-run home run to left. It was just his second game with the Miracle after his promotion from Low-A Cedar Rapids. The Miracle added two more runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Aaron Whitefield and Taylor Grzelakowski.
Matt Manning (3-2) started for Lakeland and suffered the loss, despite not allowing a hit until the fifth inning. The right-hander went 6.2 innings and was charged with one run on five hits. He struck out six.
Spenser Watkins, the league-leader in ERA (2.02) coming into the game, was tagged with four runs on six hits in just 2.2 innings in relief.
The Miracle out-hit Lakeland, 11-4. They have now won seven consecutive series and 16 of their last 20 games.
The series concludes on Wednesday night at Publix Field, as the Miracle go for the sweep. Right-hander Clark Beeker will start for Fort Myers.
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