Miracle drop series opener at Lakeland 8-3
LAKELAND – The Fort Myers Miracle dug an early five-run hole and couldn’t recover eventually losing to the Lakeland Flying Tigers 8-3 Saturday night.
The early lead was plenty for Lakeland starter Charlie Furbush, who limited the Miracle to only one run on three hits in 6 2/3 innings for the victory.
Furbush took a no-hitter into the sixth inning when Joe Benson got the first hit for the Miracle, a one-out triple. The lefty had allowed just two base runners up until that point – a two-out walk to Chris Parmelee in the first, and Brian Dozier who reached on a fielding-error in the second. The 24-year-old then sent down 12 consecutive batters before Benson’s hit in the sixth. Trailing 5-0, the Miracle plated their first run when Benson scored on an RBI groundout by Estarlin De Los Santos.
He allowed just two more hits in the game, two-out singles by Parmelee in the sixth and Nate Hanson in the seventh.
Lakeland plated two runs in the first inning against Miracle starter Michael Tarsi on three hits. Kody Kaiser, the league’s leading hitter, drove in the first run of the game on a one-out double. Ben Guez then brought home Kaiser on an RBI single to left, putting the Tigers up 2-0.
The Miracle kept Lakeland off the board until the fifth when the Tigers broke through for three more runs. After a walk and a single, Tarsi was removed from the game. Joe Testa, who was added to the Miracle roster from Double-A New Britain earlier Saturday, came on in relief to face Kaiser. Already 2-for-2 with two doubles, Kaiser continued to frustrate Miracle pitching with an RBI single to right. With two outs in the inning, a throwing error by De Los Santos allowed the second run of the inning to score. Testa was called for a balk, allowing Kaiser to score from third, putting Lakeland up 5-0.
Tarsi (3-6) took the loss giving up three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. The left-hander gave up six hits, struck out three, and walked only one batter.
The Miracle made some late noise, scoring two runs in the eighth against the Tigers bullpen to cut it to 6-3, but the Tigers got the runs back in the bottom of the inning, this time against Miracle reliever Billy Bullock.
The teams play again Sunday at 1 p.m.