The Fort Myers Miracle won in unconventional fashion Monday night at Hammond Stadium, 5-4 over the Charlotte Stone Crabs thanks to a passed ball with Jonathan Goncalves on third base.
With the score tied 4-4 and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Stone Crabs reliever Lenny Linsky delivered a 2-2 pitch high to Daniel Ortiz. The ball popped out of the glove of catcher Lucas Bailey and landed a few feet behind the plate. Sensing an opening, Goncalves raced home from third and scored the game-winning run before Bailey could find the ball and toss it back to Linsky.
Goncalves led off the inning with a single up the middle. He moved to third on a sac bunt by Daniel Santana and to third on a groundout by Levi Michael.
A.J. Achter pitched two innings of relief to pick up his first win in a Miracle uniform.
The Stone Crabs jumped on top in the first inning when Hector Guevara led off the game with a solo home run off of Pat Dean.
The Miracle got to Stone Crabs starter Braulio Lara in the second. Angel Morales plated Kyle Knudson on a sac fly and Anderson Hidalgo bashed his third home run of the year, a two-run shot, to left field to put Fort Myers ahead 3-1.
Kevin Kiermaier moved the Stone Crabs one run closer in the fourth with an RBI single to center, but the Miracle answered right back in the bottom of the inning when Goncalves delivered a run-scoring single to bring home Morales for a 4-2 Miracle lead.
Pat Dean and A.J. Achter were unable to hold the lead in the eighth. Dean came out to start the inning but gave up a double to Steve Tinoco and an RBI single to Derek Dietrich before being removed from the game clinging to a 4-3 lead.
Achter got Riccio Torrez to fly out for the first out of the inning, but Phil Wunderlich singled up the middle to move Dietrich to third. Kiermaier followed with a fielders choice that allowed Dietrich to score and tie the game, 4-4.
Dean lasted seven innings and gave up 10 hits and four runs, all earned.
Lara pitched five inning and also gave up four earned runs.
The Miracle (43-56, 15-17) and Stone Crabs (41-56, 12-18) continue their three-game series Tuesday at Charlotte Sports Park at 6:30 p.m.
