Madison Boer limited St. Lucie to just two runs, one earned, over six innings and the Fort Myers Miracle came up with more timely hits to defeat the Mets 4-2 Sunday afternoon at Hammond Stadium.
Boer worked in and out of trouble during his six innings, stranding seven runners. He gave up seven hits, two walks, hit a batter and struck out two in improving to 4-6.
The Miracle fell behind early, but Lance Ray came up with a clutch two-out, two-run single to tie the game, and Anderson Hidalgo broke the tie with an RBI single in the fifth.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the second when Robbie Shields doubled to left field and Joe Bonfe brought him home with a single. St. Lucie tacked on another run in the fourth on sloppy defense by the Miracle. Juan Torres led off the frame with a double, and on a ground out, took off to third. Ray tried to throw back across the diamond from first to cut down Torres, but the throw was offline and went into left field, allowing Torres to cross the plate.
Ray redeemed himself in the fourth. With the bases loaded and two outs, he knocked Angel Cuan's 2-2 pitch back up the middle to score Daniel Ortiz and Josmil Pinto to tie the game, 2-2.
The Miracle took the lead for good in the fifth. Daniel Santana tripled to left and scored on Hidalgo's bloop single into center field. Two batters later, Pinto drove a double into the left-center gap that plated Hidalgo for a 4-2 Miracle lead.
The Mets nearly tied the game in the seventh. Ricky Bowen started the inning by getting two quick outs but lost his command and loaded the bases on three straight walks. Torres then sliced a pitch down the right field line that home plate umpire Ryan Clark ruled just foul. Bowen came back to strike out Torres three pitches later.
A.J. Achter retired all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth to earn his first save in a Miracle uniform.
Ortiz came up with another two-hit performance for the Miracle, his fourth in his last 10 games. He went 2 for 4 with a double.
Cuan lost his fourth straight decision to fall to 4-5. He allowed six runs and nine hits over six innings.
The Miracle (34-44, 6-5) and Mets (53-26, 4-7) meet again on Monday at Hammond Stadium at 7:05 p.m.
