Threshers Shut Down Miracle Again, Extend Division Lead

The Clearwater Threshers combined to shut out Fort Myers for the second straight day, as Clearwater increased its division lead to four games after a 2-0 win at Hammond Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Threshers remain atop the Florida State League North with only 13 games remaining in the regular season. With Lakeland's loss to Florida on Sunday, the Threshers sit four games up on the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
Phillies rehabber Pedro Florimón finished 0-for-2 with a walk, hit-by-pitch, and a run scored, serving as the designated hitter. Florimon is working his way back from a right foot fracture suffered in May.
Clearwater (37-19) (69-55) grabbed a pair of runs in the third inning, after Jose Gomez led off with a single off Griffin Jax (3-2). With one out, Daniel Brito ripped a triple to center to score Gomez, and crossed the plate as well on an errant relay throw from second baseman Travis Blankenhorn.
Bailey Falter (8-4) dealt six scoreless innings in the start, limiting the Miracle (33-23) (61-63) to just four hits and walk. He struck out six, and needed only 75 pitches to get through six innings.
The game entered a lengthy delay in the top of the seventh, lasting two hours and 16 minutes.
Trevor Bettencourt took over upon resumption, and hurled a perfect bottom of the seventh. He worked around a two-out single from Taylor Grzelakowski in the eighth, picking up three strikeouts across two scoreless innings.
Addison Russ locked it down in the ninth, permitting one hit in a shutout frame to record his 12th save for Clearwater in as many tries.
Following an off day on Monday, the Threshers return home for a big series against the Dunedin Blue Jays with first pitch on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Ramon Rosso takes the hill against Connor Eller in the series opener, and Josh Appel will have the call on threshersbaseball.com beginning at 6:45 p.m.