FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Knudson, Miracle Bats Stay Hot with 9-5 Win over Mets

Published on June 21, 2012 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


ST. LUCIE, Fla. (June 21, 2012) - The Fort Myers Miracle used five first inning runs to set the tone for a 9-5 win in the second half opener over the first half champion St. Lucie Mets on Thursday night at Digital Domain Park.

Fort Myers sent 10 hitters to the plate against Mets starter Yohan Almonte with the first seven reaching base. Daniel Santana led of the inning with a walk then Levi Michael reached on a bunt single. Then, on a 1-1 pitch, Danny Ortiz laced a fastball down the right field line for a two-run scoring triple. Ortiz came home on an Almonte wild pitch to give the Miracle a 3-0 advantage.

After a Josmil Pinto walk, Kyle Knudson delivered an RBI double into the left center to score Pinto from first. Lance Ray then singled to put runners on the corners and Danny Rams reached on a fielding error from St. Lucie third baseman Robbie Shields allowing Knudson to score. The Miracle plated five runs on four hits before starter Pat Dean took the hill.

The Mets would answer in the bottom of the second inning with three runs on four hits including two doubles. Dean (5-4) gave up a two-run double to Shields and then a two-out RBI double to Alonzo Harris.

Leading 5-3, the Fort Myers bats added some insurance in the top of the third inning. Knudson led off with a base hit and one batter later Rams followed with a double. With one out and runners at second and third, St. Lucie manager Ryan Ellis went to the bullpen and brought in reliever Kyle Allen to face Andy Leer.

Going down in the count 0-2 quickly, Leer ripped a single into left field plating two runs. After Angel Morales earned a walk, Santana had a base hit up the middle to score another run and push Fort Myers' lead to 8-3.

Levi Michael would extend the lead to 9-3 in the fifth inning with a two-out RBI base hit.

The Mets would rally for a pair in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out, two-run homer from Cory Vaughn off of Dean.

Picking up his first win since May 27, Dean lasted 5.2 innings giving up five runs on nine hits with five strikeouts. Michael Tonkin came on in relief in the sixth inning. In his Miracle debut, Tonkin went 2.1 scoreless innings and struck out the side in the eighth. Tonkin's fastball registered at 95 miles per hour on the Digital Domain Park radar gun.

Dakota Watts pitched a scoreless ninth, but hit a batter and allowed a single before striking out Alan Dykstra and inducing a 4-6-3 double play out of Vaughn to close out the game. Five Miracle hitters had multi-hit nights including back-to-backs for Leer, Rams, and Ortiz. Leer had multiple runs batted in for the second night in a row.

Knudson racked up his third consecutive three-hit game and is now 9-for-14 during that stretch with two doubles and two RBI

The Miracle (29-39, 1-0) head back to Digital Domain Park on Friday night for game two of the series with the St. Lucie (49-19, 0-1) with Marty Popham slated to start against the Mets' Chase Huchingson at 6:30 p.m. Every pitch can be heard on www.miraclebaseball.com with the "Voice of the Miracle" Brice Zimmerman beginning with the State Farm pregame show at 6:15 p.m.

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Florida State League Stories from June 21, 2012


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