Jay, bullpen top Manatees 1-0
Jay (5-4) delivered six scoreless innings and scattered seven hits with two walks. Jay struck out four and induced three double plays from the Manatee lineup. With a scoreless inning streak of 15 over his last three starts, Jay has lowered his ERA to 2.18 for the season.
Chris Paul put the Miracle on the board in the top of the fourth with a two-out, run-scoring double. Edgar Corcino started the rally with a line drive hit into right field off Manatee reliever Jon Perrin with two outs. Paul followed by yanking the next pitch to deep left field for an RBI double. Corcino scored to put the Miracle up 1-0 and provide the only run of the game.
Perrin (0-4) went six innings in relief after Cody Ponce started the game for the Manatees and former Miracle Zack Jones made an MLB rehabilitation appearance. The Manatees pitching staff combined to strike out 15, a new season-high for Miracle batters this season.
Luke Bard took over for Jay in the seventh and recorded a perfect frame. In the eighth, Bard allowed the first two Manatee batters to reach on back-to-back singles from Angel Ortega and Dustin DeMuth. Bard then struck out Elvis Rubio and got George Iskenderian to roll into a 6-4-3 double play.
In the ninth, the Miracle turned to Yorman Landa. After allowing a one out single to Dustin Houle, Landa recorded his third save of the season when he Taylor Brennan to hit into the fifth double play of the night. The five twin killings was a new season-high for the Miracle in a single game for 2016.
The Miracle (28-30) and Manatees (20-37) meet for the second straight game Wednesday.