Miracle sweep Stone Crabs, win 4th straight
With a man standing at second base and two outs in the ninth, Fort Myers Miracle reliever Steve Blevins got Charlotte’s top RBI man, Henry Wrigley, to fly out as Fort Myers held on for a 5-4 victory Saturday over the Stone Crabs.
The Miracle (3-0) pulled off their first sweep of the season, and won their fourth straight overall. With Palm Beach’s loss earlier in the night, the win puts the Miracle in first place atop the FSL South after the first three games of the second half.
Blevins, who had given up at least one earned run in his previous eight straight outings, tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for his second save of the year. Miracle starting pitcher Liam Hendriks (5-2) tossed 7 1/3 innings, giving up up four earned runs on seven hits for the win. He struck out five and walked none.
After several scoring opportunities were squandered by the Miracle early against Charlotte starter Shane Dyer, they finally exploded for all five runs in the sixth. Trailing 3-0, Fort Myers batted around scoring the runs on two hits, two walks, and a hit batter. With the bases loaded and one-out, Angel Morales drew a walk to put the Miracle on the board. Jhonathan Goncalves singled to score the second run of the inning. Estarlin De Los Santos then singled home two runs to give the Miracle a 4-3 lead, and Brian Dozier capped off the inning with a sac-fly RBI.
Dyer (4-3) was charged with the loss, tossing 5 1/3 innings, giving up five earned runs on nine hits.
With the Miracle on top 5-3, Charlotte knocked Hendriks out of the game in the eighth with one out. Isaias Velasquez led off the inning with a base hit, and later came around to score on a single by Major League veteran Gabe Kapler, who is on a rehab assignment. Blevins then came on in relief and recorded the final two outs.
Hendriks was perfect through the first 11 batters, but the Stone Crabs broke through against him with two runs and two outs in the fourth. Tim Beckham singled to left to get Charlotte rolling. Steven Vogt followed with an RBI double to put them up 1-0, with Greg Sexton doubling home Vogt for a 2-0 lead. The Crabs added their third run against the right-hander in the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Shawn O’Malley.
Of the 12 games against each other this season, six have been one-run games and five two-run games.
The Miracle head to Bradenton for two-games with the Marauders. They play Sunday and Monday at Bradenton, then return home to host the Marauders Tuesday and Wednesday.


