Jan Hernandez provided some pop with his seventh home run of the season on Thursday, but Clearwater suffered a series sweep at Fort Myers after a 5-2 loss at Hammond Stadium.The Threshers (22-19) now sit in second place behind the Dunedin Blue Jays in the FSL North, ending a string
Jan Hernandez provided some pop with his seventh home run of the season on Thursday, but Clearwater suffered a series sweep at Fort Myers after a 5-2 loss at Hammond Stadium.
The Threshers (22-19) now sit in second place behind the Dunedin Blue Jays in the FSL North, ending a string of 39-straight days atop the division.
Fort Myers (21-20) got on the board in the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Sean Miller.
Two innings later the Threshers pushed ahead. Herlis Rodriguez got it going with a single to right, moved to second on a grounder, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. An out later, Hernandez lifted a towering drive to left-center, bumping the Threshers ahead, 2-1.
The Miracle made their mark in the fifth.
With one down Kevin Garcia reached on an infield singled off Alberto Tirado (2-2), and Miller drew a walk. A wild pitch sent them both to scoring position. Tirado got Daniel Kihle to go down swinging, but Max Murphy singled to right to score Garcia and Miller.
Murphy took second on the throw home, and would cross the plate as well when Bradley Strong grounded one up the middle to make it 4-2.
Luke Leftwich worked two scoreless innings in relief of Tirado, permitting just a single. The Miracle added their final run in the eighth off Jeff Singer on Tanner English's RBI hit to center.
Clearwater looks to snap the four-game skid on Friday, when the Threshers return home to Spectrum Field for the series opener against the Lakeland Flying Tigers. Blake Quinn (1-2) will have the ball for the Threshers, opposed by the league's ERA leader Beau Burrows (4-1). First pitch is set for 6:15 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com beginning at 6 p.m.
