Late rally bags 6-4 Miracle win
PORT ST. LUCIE – Trailing 3-1 in the seventh inning, the Fort Myers Miracle sent their entire order to the plate, scoring four runs with some help from St. Lucie on defense and held on to beat the Mets 6-4 Monday night.
The victory snapped the first-place Mets’ nine-game winning streak and pulled the Miracle (7-5) within three games of first place. The third game of the current series is Tuesday night.
Jhon Goncalves and Aaron Hicks led off the seventh with consecutive one-out walks to set up the Miracle’s big inning. Brian Dozier smoked a line drive to shortstop Wilmer Flores that skipped off his glove into center field with Goncalves scoring. Nick Romero grounded one to second baseman Rylan Sandoval, who hesitated on his throw home before throwing it to the backstop, allowing Dozier and Hicks to score to put the Miracle in front for the first time 4-3.
After Nate Hanson singled, Chris Herrmann blasted an RBI double to the right field extending the lead to 5-3.
The Mets (10-2) got within a run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Miracle added an insurance run in the eighth. James Beresford led off with a double, took third on a bunt by Goncalves and scored on a sac-fly by Hicks.
Andrew Albers picked up the win, allowing one earned run in 1 2/3 innings of work. Blake Martin tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings before handing the game to Dakota Watts for the final two outs and his second save.
Dan Osterbrock went five innings in his second start for the Miracle, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits.