Corcino drives in four, Miracle top Cards, 5-3
JUPITER – The Fort Myers Miracle defeated the Palm Beach Cardinals 5-3 Tuesday night as Edgar Coercino homered for the second night in a row and drove in a total of four runs.
Miracle starter Kohl Stewart surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Casey Grayson reached on a leadoff walk and moved to second on Blake Drake’s base hit through the left side. With two on, Casey Turgeon hit a sharp ground ball to Nick Gordon at short. The ball bounced off Gordon’s chest for an error and loaded the bases. Stewart (2-0) threw a wild pitch with Orlando Olivera at the plate to bring Grayson home from third. Olivera then hit into a fielder’s choice and Drake scored for a 2-0 lead.
Corcino answered for the Miracle in the top of the third. After Cardinals starter Blake McKnight walked Ryan Walker to start the inning, Corcino launched his second home run in the last two days. Coming on a 3-1 pitch, Corcino sent a blast over the wall in right field to tie the game 2-2.
In the fourth, the Miracle surged ahead. With two outs, Chad Christensen earned a walk and stole second. McKnight (0-3) struck Kevin Garcia on the heal with a 2-2 pitch. Ryan Walker then yanked a 1-2 pitch through the right side for an RBI single. Corcino pushed the Miracle lead to three runs with a two-run single to right-center field.
Corcino finished 2-for-4, homered for the second night in a row and drove in four runs for the second consecutive game. Corcino has driven in eight of the 13 runs scored by the Miracle in the series.
Stewart went five innings and gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts to pick up the win. Stewart’s final recorded out was a pop up by Danny Diekroeger into shallow right-center. Christensen and Gordon collided on the play. Gordon made the catch, but both players left the game.
Brian Gilbert entered out of the Miracle bullpen in the sixth and retired the first two batters, but walked Casey Turgeon. Olivera then slapped a double into right to score Turgeon to slice the Miracle lead to 5-3.
In the seventh, John Curtiss took over for the Miracle and tossed two scoreless frames. Yorman Landa recorded the final three outs and allowed one hit in the ninth to earn his first save of the season.
The Miracle (15-11) close out a nine-game road trip in Wednesday’s series finale at Palm Beach (14-12).
Miracle 8, Cardinals 3: The Miracle knocked off Palm Beach Monday thanks to a two-out grand slam home run by Edgar Corcino in the fourth inning.
The grand slam extended the Miracle lead to 6-1 at the time. Alex Swim led off with a base hit to left, but was forced out at second on Alex Real’s ground ball to third base. Max Murphy singled to right and Chad Christensen hit into a force play to erase Murphy at second and put runners at the corners.
Palm Beach starter Aus-tin Gomber then walked Ryan Walker to load the bases. Corcino took a first pitch strike, but blasted the next offering over the wall in left to clear the bases. The homer is Corcino’s first of the season and the first grand slam by a Miracle player this year. Fort Myers has now homered in six consecutive games.
Stephen Gonsalves (3-1) went six innings and surrendered just one run on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Stone Crabs 2, Miracle 1: Reminiscent of Satur-day’s game, the Miracle homered, but lost a one-run decision at Charlotte Sun-day.
The Miracle (13-11) tied the game at 1-1 in the third on Max Murphy’s home run to left-center, but Riley Unroe led off an inning with a double for the second time in the game and scored on Bralin Jackson’s double to put the Stone Crabs (12-12) in front in the fifth.
Randy Rosario (2-2) took the loss allowing six hits and two runs while walking three and striking out four in his 5 1/3 innings of work.
Stone Crabs 2, Miracle 1: Charlotte snapped the Miracle’s three-game shut-out streak against the Stone Crabs Son sturdy.
The Miracle pitching staff had recorded 32 straight scoreless innings against Charlotte, dating back to the sixth inning of the April 22 game in Fort Myers. That streak was extended to 33 with a scoreless first inning by Fort Myers starter Felix Jorge, but the Stone Crabs (11-12) broke through in the second frame.
The Miracle (13-10) tied the score 1-1 on Alex Real’s solo home run to left-center in the fourth. The Stone Crabs added the game-winning run in their half of the fourth inning to seal the victory.
Jorge (1-2) took the loss despite allowing five hits and two runs while walking just one and striking out three.
Miracle 5, Stone Crabs 0: Starter Keaton Steele dealt seven scoreless innings of one-hit baseball to guide the Miracle shut out at Charlotte on Friday.
Steele (1-2) faced just three batters over the minimum despite three walks. Only Cade Gotta reached on a hit for the Stone Crabs (10-12) , an infield single in the second inning. Steele retired 10 in a row before exiting the game. Eleven of the 21 outs recorded by Steele were on the ground and only three outs were made in the outfield.
The Miracle (13-9) plated two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Chris Paul reached base after hitting a slow roller to shortstop that was booted by Alex Sole. Nick Gordon then ripped a first pitch from Stone Crabs starter Hunter Wood down the first base line for a double with Paul taking third. Trey Vavra and Alex Swim delivered the RBI.