TAMPA, Fla. (July 4, 2017) - The Fort Myers Miracle (7-4) and Tampa Yankees (8-3) battled for 14 innings in the opening game of a three-game series on Tuesday night. Gosuke Katoh's solo home run in the 14th capped a 2-1 win for Tampa.The Miracle battled all night long on a
TAMPA, Fla. (July 4, 2017) - The Fort Myers Miracle (7-4) and Tampa Yankees (8-3) battled for 14 innings in the opening game of a three-game series on Tuesday night. Gosuke Katoh's solo home run in the 14th capped a 2-1 win for Tampa.
The Miracle battled all night long on a night where they used nothing but relievers and position players to pitch against the Yankees. Nick Solak put Tampa on the board first with a solo home run to right field against starter RHP David Fischer. The righty tossed four innings allowing just two hits and the one run.
In a 1-0 game in the top of the ninth, Jermaine Palacios led off with a single. As Zander Wiel flied out to right, Palacios made a gutsy call as he tagged from first to get to second. The throw beat him, but Solak could not handle the bouncing ball to apply the tag. Mitchell Kranson then floated a ball over shortstop to bring in Palacios and tie the game.
LHP Michael Theofanopoulos added three scoreless innings with six strikeouts to keep the game close in innings five through seven. After him, LHP Sam Clay dealt the next four innings to keep Tampa off the board. Meanwhile, Fort Myers was held to four hits over the first seven innings by starter LHP Ian Clarkin. Fort Myers and Tampa battled back-and-forth, but neither could plate a run as extras went on.
With the Miracle short on pitchers, they turned to Kevin Garcia (L, 0-1) to throw for as long as he could. The right-handed catcher shined for Fort Myers getting help from his defense along the way. Sean Miller made a fantastic diving play at second base to start a double play in the 12th. Garcia worked through a clean 13th and came out for the 14th to toss a third inning.
After RHP Chad Martin (W, 1-0) kept the Miracle off the board in the top of the 14th, Garcia started mixing in a changeup which led to a strikeout in the bottom half. With two outs and Katoh staring down a full count, the Yankees' third baseman got ahold of one and ended the game with one swing to right.
The Miracle turn to Sean Poppen for his FSL debut on Wednesday with first pitch at 7:00 PM ET.
To stay up to date on upcoming promotional nights, follow the Miracle online at Miraclebaseball.com or through social media; Twitter: @MiracleBaseball, Instagram: fortmyersmiracle, Facebook: Fort Myers Miracle, Snapchat: ftmyersmiracle. To purchase tickets, visit MiracleBaseball.com/tickets. For further information or questions regarding the 2017 25th Anniversary Season, call the Miracle offices at (239) 768-4210.
