Morris Stuns Miracle, Threshers Hang On

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Will Morris spun his strongest outing of the season on Thursday, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning in a 3-2 victory over the Fort Myers Miracle on Taps and Tacos Night at Bright House Field.

Morris (6-2) was spotless midway through the contest, taking a perfect game two outs into the sixth inning before AJ Murray drew a base on balls to break up the bid. TJ White would walk as well, but Morris struck out Chris Paul swinging to end the inning.

With six no-hit innings under his belt, Morris induced a groundout to second to open the seventh. He fell behind Reynaldo Rodriguez 2-0, and Rodriguez lined a home run to left to snap the no-hitter and the shutout.

Morris finished off the frame, giving Clearwater (18-10) a season-high seven innings and permitting just the lone run on one hit and two walks, ringing up five strikeouts in earning the win. The 23-year-old has permitted only one hit across his last 11 innings at home.

The Threshers got to Randy LeBlanc (3-4) in the first inning, rallying with two down to plate the game's first run.

Scott Kingery smacked a double off the wall in left to get the offense going, and Mitch Walding followed with a walk to extend his on-base streak to 13 games.

Chace Numata then came through with a single to left to score Kingery and put Clearwater up, 1-0.

The Threshers capitalized on some defensive mistakes to plate two more in the fifth inning.

Carlos Tocci drew a one-out walk, and Malquin Canelo followed with a single to right-center to set up runners at the corners. With Kingery at the plate, Canelo took off for second, and the throw from the catcher Murray squirted through into center for an error, permitting Tocci to score.

Walding later lifted a fly ball deep to left that was misread by left fielder Chris Paul and settled in for a double, bringing in Canelo to make it 3-0 Threshers.

After the Miracle ended Morris' no-hit bid with the Rodriguez dinger in the seventh, Fort Myers (15-13) put a pair on against Tom Windle in the eighth. Ulises Joaquin took over, and with two outs Paul singled to left to score one run. Jiandido Tromp came up firing with a strike home to nab pinch runner Daniel Kihle at the plate, keeping the tying run from crossing and putting an end to the inning.

Jimmy Cordero finished it off in the ninth, hurling a perfect frame to earn his first save of the season.

The Threshers and Miracle battle for game two of the series on Pitch for Pink Night on Friday, with first pitch at 6:15 p.m. Proceeds from the night benefit breast cancer research through the hospitals of Morton Plant Mease. Clearwater will be wearing special pink jerseys, which will be auctioned off during the game.

Drew Anderson (0-0) will have the start against lefty Sam Clay (1-0), and the game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com and the TuneIn app beginning at 6 p.m.