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Miracle winning streak stopped by Lakeland Tigers

By Staff | Jun 11, 2009

Danny Lehmann (9) of the Miracle is tagged out at second base by Lakeland’s Justin Henry Wednesday night. Photo by Yunet Jomolca

The Florida State League All-Star break figures to be a fun time for the Fort Myers Miracle. The festivities at Hammond Stadium include a Fan Fest, Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game.

First, the Miracle must deal with an eight-game road trip.

They had their season-best six-game win streak snapped Wednesday night in a 5-4 loss to the Lakeland Tigers at Hammond Stadium. The final home game before the road trip begins Thursday at Daytona.

“We’re getting near (60) games right now,” Miracle manager Jeff Smith said. “Guys are starting to get a little tired, but you have to find that extra energy and go with it.”

The Miracle (38-20) remain firmly in front in the South Division standings. They came back once against Lakeland Wednesday after falling behind early.

Danny Lehmann and Chris Parmelee each connected for solo home runs, in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, and Nicholas Romero had an RBI single in the sixth to tie it 4-4.

It was the solo home run the Miracle surrendered to Lakeland’s Michael Bertram in the top of the seventh that proved to be the difference.

Miracle reliever Henry Arias got the first two outs of the inning before Bertram belted a drive to right field.

“When we answered back and tied the game at 4-4, that’s when you really need to go back out there and get a shutout inning and keep the momentum going,” Smith said. “We got the first two outs in the seventh and we fell behind 2-0 and the guy did what he’s supposed to do and hit a home run.”

The Miracle tried to rally again in the ninth. With two outs, Chris Cates walked and Ben Revere singled to left, but Steve Singleton popped out to third for the final out.

Miracle starter David Bromberg hoped to improve his record to 6-0 this season, but Lakeland sprayed hits off the right-hander from the start. He took a no decision after the Miracle battled back to tie it.

The Miracle took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Evan Bigley. Lakeland answered with two in the second and one in the third,

They had nine hits in the first four innings. The biggest was a two-run triple by Kody Kaiser to deep center. Revere tried to chase it down and make an over-the-shoulder catch, but was unable to hang onto it.

The Miracle squandered several scoring chances throughout the contest. They grounded into double plays to end both the second and third innings and failed to score in the last three innings, despite getting the leadoff batter on each time.

The Miracle begin a four-game series at Daytona, with Tyler Robertson taking the mound in the first game, and then play a four-game series at Dunedin, before the All-Star Game on June 20. It’s the first time the Miracle have hosted the game since 2003.

Eight Miracle players were selected to the team and seven of those will participate. The Miracle coaching staff also will guide the South Division.

“It’s a really special opportunity,” Miracle general manager Steve Gliner said. “It gives us a chance to showcase Southwest Florida, Fort Myers, our ballpark and operations. It’s going to be fun to welcome everybody from around the league to our area.”

Lakeland 002 101 100 – 5 11 0

Fort Myers 100 012 000 – 4 11 1

W – Jacobsen. L – Arias.

2B – Leveret (F). 3B – White (L), Kaiser (L), Bigley (F). HR – Newton (L), Bertram (L), Lehmann (F), Chris Parmelee (F).