FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Miracle Drop 3-2 Decision at Clearwater

Published on July 21, 2016 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


CLEARWATER, FL- The Clearwater Threshers opened up a 3-0 lead through five innings, and then held off a late rally to defeat the Fort Myers Miracle, 3-2, on Thursday night at Bright House Field. The loss was the fourth in-a-row for the Miracle, who now find themselves in third-place in the Florida State League South Division, one-and-one-half games behind the St. Lucie Mets.

The Threshers opened the scoring in the very first inning. Miracle starter Randy LeBlanc retired the first two Clearwater hitters on ground balls, but then surrendered a double to Scott Kingery. Following a walk to Mitch Walding, Chace Numata lined a single to left field to score Kingery with the first run of the evening.

Clearwater added to their lead in the fifth. With one out, Carlos Tocci walked, and then went to third on a single by Malquin Canelo. One out later, with Walding at bat, Canelo stole second, and when the throw by Miracle catcher A.J. Murray went into center field for an error, Tocci scored and Canelo went to third. Walding then doubled to left field to score Canelo, giving the Threshers a 3-0 advantage after five innings.

Meanwhile, the Miracle bats were silent against Clearwater starter Will Morris, who retired the first 17 batters before allowing back-to-back walks to A.J. Murray and T.J. White with two-outs in the sixth inning. The visitors came away empty-handed, however, as Chris Paul struck out to end the inning.

Fort Myers finally broke through in the seventh inning as Reynaldo Rodriguez, playing in his first game of the season for the Miracle, took care of the no-hitter and shutout with one swing of the bat as he blasted a homerun to left-center field to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Miracle closed the gap to 3-2 off of the Threshers' bullpen one inning later on Chris Paul's two-out RBI single to left, scoring Alex Perez, who had led off the frame with a walk. Pinch-runner Daniel Kihle, who was on second base when Paul singled, also tried to score on the play, but was thrown out at home to end the inning.

Morris (6-2) picked up the win for Clearwater as he allowed just the one hit, Rodriguez' homerun, in his seven innings of work, while walking two and striking out five. Jimmy Cordero, the fourth pitcher of the night for the Threshers, retired the Miracle in order in the ninth inning to record his first save of the season. LeBlanc (3-4) suffered the loss for Fort Myers after allowing six hits and three runs in six innings of work, walking three and striking out six.

The Miracle (49-48, 15-13) and the Threshers (57-39, 18-10) will meet again at 6:15 p.m. on Friday night at Bright House Field in the second game of this four-game series. Sam Clay (1-0) is scheduled to start for the Miracle, and he will be opposed by Drew Anderson (0-0) for Clearwater. The game will not be broadcast on www.miraclebaseball.com, but fans can listen to Kirsten Karbach and Josh Appel on the Threshers online broadcast feed.

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Florida State League Stories from July 21, 2016


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