Mets rally in the ninth to defeat Miracle, 7-4

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 5, 2015) - The St. Lucie Mets toppled the Fort Myers Miracle, 7-4, at Hammond Stadium in the middle of the three-game home stand on Wednesday night.

 

St. Lucie opened up the scoring in the top of the fifth. Miracle starter Stephen Gonsalves took the mound and faced Champ Stuart grounds into a force out and made it to first. Up next, Jeff McNeil, who singled on a bunt ground ball to third, advanced Stuart to second base and eventually tallied the first run after Matt Oberste tripled on a ground ball to right field, advancing Stuart and McNeil to home.

 

In the next at bat, Dominic Smith singled on a line drive to right, Oberste scored to make it 3-0.

Fort Myers would not only cut the lead, but they would surpass St. Lucie's 3-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Engelb Vielma opened up the batting sequence with a single on a ground ball up the middle.

Ryan Walker singled on a line drive to center and helped Engelb Vielma to second base. Aderling Mejia tripled on a line drive from Mets pitcher Miller Diaz and drove in Vielma and Walker to make it 3-2.

Following the triple, St. Luice called on Paul Paez from the bullpen to replace Diaz. With Mejia waiting on third, Paez (1-0) threw a wild pitch and Mejia scored to to the game. Michael Quesada then doubled to send Garver to home to take the lead, 4-3.

Tyler Jay took the mound and pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

In the ninth inning, a bizarre and intense series of events took place. Nick Burdi took the mound to replace Jay and walked two of his first three batters.

With Evans on third and Stuart on first, Jeff McNeil singled for an RBI and Evans scored to tie the game 4-4.

Burdi (2-2) walked a third batter, Matt Oberste, and McNeil went to second. Smith would single on a ground ball to third, which was deflected by Burdi and Stuart scored, 5-4.

Victor Cruzado stepped into the box and a wild pitch by Burdi allowed McNeill to score. A throwing error by Garver led Oberste to score a second run on the play, 7-4.

Despite Burdi covering home plate, Oberste beat the tag and was ruled safe. Burdi was then ejected by home plate umpire Dave Attridge after he argued the call.

The Miracle went to the bullpen and called on Todd Van Steensel to replace Burdi and close the Miracle pitching series.

Fort Myers was unable to come back in the bottom of the ninth to match the score of St. Lucie. The loss extends the Miracle losing streak to five.

The Miracle (59-51, 21-19) continue a three-game set with the Mets (55-52, 20-17) at Hammond Stadium on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. for Thirsty Thursday. Domestic draft beers are half-price. For more information, call the Miracle offices at (239) 768-4210 or visit www.miraclebaseball.com