Cards deck Miracle 4-3 in 10 innings
JUPITER – The Fort Myers Miracle lost to the Palm Beach Cardinals 4-3 Monday night in 10 innings.
Tied 3-3 entering the bottom of the 10th, Miracle reliever Madison Boer began his third inning after pitching a perfect eighth and ninth frames. After getting the first out, Boer (1-1) clipped C.J. McElroy with a 1-1 pitch. McElroy stole second base, but Boer struck out Mason Katz to record the second out. The Miracle then decided to intentionally walk Bruce Caldwell and bring up Luke Voit. On a 1-1 delivery, Voit hit a ground ball up the middle and McElroy raced home to give the Cardinals a 4-3 win.
Fort Myers took the early lead in the second on four consecutive singles. Bryan Haar doubled to right to start the inning against Palm Beach starter Jimmy Reed. Mitch Garver then sliced a 2-1 pitch down the first base line to score Garver. Aderling Mejia followed with a single through the left side and Alex Swim singled home Garver to put the Miracle up by two. After Michael Quesada popped out in foul ground, Engelb Vielma hit into a fielder’s choice that brought in Mejia and put the Miracle up 3-0.
In the fifth, the Cardinals answered off Miracle starter Luke Westphal. Juan Herrera looped a single to center to start the inning and Robelys Reyes followed with a bunt single. After McElroy dropped a base hit into center, the Cardinals loaded the bases for Katz. On a 3-1 pitch, Katz pulled a ground ball fair down the third base line and into the left field corner to empty the bases and tie the game 3-3.
Tim Shibuya entered from the Miracle bullpen with two runners on after a walk to Caldwell and induced a 6-4-3 double play. Shibuya then struck out Rowan Wick to end the inning. Tossing two more scoreless frames, Shibuya finished with three punch outs.
After giving up the three runs to the Miracle in the second, Reed settled down to retire 16 consecutive hitters before allowing a hit to Quesada in the seventh. Fort Myers could not score any runs on the Cardinals bullpen arms of Kevin Herget and Josh Lucas. Pitching a scoreless 10th, Lucas (1-0) got the win.
The Miracle (5-7) and Palm Beach (8-4) play again on Tuesday.