FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 13, 2018) - Vidal Brujan delivered his first High-A home run Monday, but the Charlotte Stone Crabs squandered a 3-2 lead in the eighth to lose 4-3 to the Fort Myers Miracle at Hammond Stadium.With Charlotte (64-52, 30-19) up by one in the bottom of the
FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 13, 2018) - Vidal Brujan delivered his first High-A home run Monday, but the Charlotte Stone Crabs squandered a 3-2 lead in the eighth to lose 4-3 to the Fort Myers Miracle at Hammond Stadium.
With Charlotte (64-52, 30-19) up by one in the bottom of the eighth, the Miracle (58-60, 29-21) put runners at first and second with two outs against Stone Crabs reliever Trevor Charpie (2-1). Fort Myers catcher Caleb Hamilton then grounded a double down the first base line to plate both runners and give Fort Myers the decisive 4-3 lead.
Stone Crabs starter Brendan McKay turned in five innings of two-run ball, striking out four while walking two. Phoenix Sanders went two scoreless innings in relief while fanning three.
Charlotte trailed 2-0 entering the top of the sixth before the bats woke up against Fort Myers right-hander Griffin Jax. With one out, Brujan clobbered a 411-foot home run to right, cutting the deficit to 2-1. With two outs, Robbie Tenerowicz singled before Jake Fraley drew his second walk to push the tying run to second. Rene Pinto followed by pulling a double down the left field line, scoring both runners to give the Stone Crabs a 3-2 lead.
Fort Myers' win pulls them to within 0.5 games of the Stone Crabs for first place in the FSL South.
Tuesday's 7 p.m. game will determine first place. Kenny Rosenberg (9-2, 4.53) will make the start for Charlotte against Clark Beeker (4-7, 4.17) of the Miracle. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
