In his second professional start, Matt Hauser pitched five impressive innings and the Fort Myers bullpen continued to shut down the Charlotte Stone Crabs in a 5-0 win Friday night at Hammond Stadium.
Hauser allowed just two singles and a walk while striking out four. He induced two double play balls, including one that ended the fifth inning with runners at the corners.
A.J. Achter, in his second game since being called up from Beloit, retired all six Stone Crabs he faced in the sixth and seventh. He struck out four of those six hitters.
Michael Tonkin pitched the final two innings to close out the game, striking out the side in the ninth.
The Miracle scored all five of their runs in the first inning off C.J. Riefenhauser. Levi Michael started the rally with a single and after another single by Daniel Ortiz, Kyle Knudson doubled down the right field line to drive in two runs.
Josmil Pinto followed with a walk and Knudson scored on an RBI single by Jairo Perez to make it 3-0.
Danny Rams added a run-scoring single and Angel Morales finished the inning off with a sac-fly.
Riefenhauser didn't allow another run and gave up just two hits in the next four innings, but took the loss.
Hauser improved to 2-1. His only blemishes were a full-count walk to Mikie Mahtook after his long layoff between the bottom of the first and top of the second and back-to-back singles by Riccio Torrez and Philip Wunderlich in the fifth.
Knudson, Perez and Morales each had two-hit games for the Miracle.
The Miracle (32-44, 4-5) and Stone Crabs (32-42, 3-4) conclude their three-game series in Port Charlotte Saturday.
