Before te fireworks went off at Hammond Stadium Tuesday night, the Fort Myers Miracle offense exploded for 11 runs and 13 hits in an 11-2 win over the St. Lucie Mets.
With the win, the Miracle took two of three from the Mets and a won their second consecutive series. They improved to 7-6 in the second half and remain just one game back of first place Bradenton.
The win over the Mets was highlighted by a six-run third inning against starter Yohan Almonte. Already leading 3-0 with two outs, Daniel Ortiz tacked on three more runs for the Miracle in the frame by belting a three-run double to right field.
St. Lucie briefly cut the lead to four with a pair of runs off of Miracle starter Cole Nelson in the fourth, but the Miracle offense responded with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Lance Ray lined an RBI single to left in the fourth and Angel Morales drove in a run with a double to left to make it 9-2.
Ray wasn't finished. He blasted a two-out, two-run homer off of Kyle Allen in the sixth to make it 11-2. It was Ray's team-high ninth home run of the season.
Ray, Santana, Ortiz, Kyle Knudson and Michael Gonzales all notched two-hit games for the Miracle. Andy Leer was the only player in the lineup held without a hit, but had two RBI.
Meanwhile, Nelson bounced back from a shaky start on the mound. The right-hander walked five and hit a batter, but only gave up two runs and five hits in five innings. One the runs came on a solo homer from Travis Taijeron to start the fourth.
Almonte gave up eight runs and eight hits over four innings in the loss.
The Miracle travel to Charlotte on Independence Day to play the Stone Crabs at 6:30 p.m.
