Ryan flirts with no-no in one-hit shutout of Miracle

FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 19, 2019) - Stone Crabs starter Joe Ryan came within four outs of a no-hitter Wednesday, leading Charlotte to a 5-0 win over the Fort Myers Miracle at Hammond Stadium.
After the Stone Crabs (37-32, 2-1) lost Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader 4-3 on a walk-off home run, Ryan (4-2) completely stifled the Fort Myers (40-29, 1-2) bats.
Ryan struck out nine batters over six innings of one-hit ball. He carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning before Trevor Larnach lined a double to left center with two outs.   
Alex Valverde worked a perfect seventh inning, fanning two as the Stone Crabs held their opponent to the lowest hit total (1) of the year.
Charlotte scored in four of the seven innings in Wednesday's win. In a scoreless game in the top of the second, Moises Gomez lined a one-out triple to the right field corner. The next batter was Kaleo Johnson , who drove in Gomez with a sacrifice fly to center.
Still up one in the top of the third, Zach Rutherford reached on an infield single. After he advanced to third on a Jim Haley base hit to center, Rutherford scored on a Taylor Walls groundout to make it 2-0.
Leading by that margin in the top of the sixth, Haley singled to start the inning. After he stole second, Ronaldo Hernandez lined a single into right to make it 3-0 Charlotte.
Ahead 3-0 in the top of the seventh, Johnson singled to start the inning before Garrett Whitley ripped a double to the left field corner. With two outs, Haley delivered the knockout blow with a two-run single to left to cap the scoring at 5-0.
After winning the first series of the second half, the Stone Crabs will begin a four-game set with the Lakeland Flying Tigers at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. LHP Shane McClanahan (0-0, 0.00) is scheduled to make the start at Charlotte Sports Park against RHP Garrett Hill (1-1, 2.89) of Lakeland. Coverage starts at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.