The Fort Myers Miracle have responded quickly to first-year manager Jeff Smith.

Entering Wednesday night’s game against the Sarasota Reds at Hammond Stadium, the Miracle sat atop the Florida State League West Division Standings.

Juan Portes, who played for Smith at Class-A Beloit and now with the Miracle, said the team has been a good fit with the aggressive style of baseball Smith has instilled.

“We’ve been playing good baseball, aggressive baseball,” Portes said. “He understands and respects us, and just wants us to play hard.”

The Miracle (25-14) were up to the task, again, as they opened a four-game homestand with a 5-3 win over the Reds.

Portes jumpstarted the Miracle’s go-ahead rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. With the score tied 3-3, he lined a single to left field and raced around to score on an RBI double by Whit Robbins. Rene Tosoni added an RBI single, putting the Miracle up two.

They held off the Reds (21-18) with strong pitching. Alex Burnett (3-1) went six innings for the win, and Jose Lugo and Rob Delaney combined to pitch three shutout innings in relief.

It is the Miracle’s 12th win in their last 14 games at Hammond Stadium.

“We’re just going to keep going,” Portes said. “There’s a whole bunch of good guys on this team, and we’re just trying to play the game the right way.”

It didn’t take long for the Miracle to strike against Reds’ starter Daniel Guerrero. After Tosoni drew a four-pitch walk with one-out in the first, Danny Valencia launched a two-run homer to left. Valencia has five home runs this season and had three RBI to push his league lead to 35.

In the bottom of the third, Tosoni hammered a drive to deep right-center, but it hit off the wall, resulting in a triple. Valencia picked up an RBI on a fielder’s choice, putting the Miracle up 3-1.

Burnett, a 6-foot right-hander, was sharp for the most part, but surrendered one run in both the fifth and sixth. Sarasota’s Drew Stubbs hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth to tie it 3-3.

The Miracle took a 5-3 lead in the sixth, and turned the game over to the bullpen.

Lugo struck out three in 1 2/3 innings, and the Miracle replaced him with closer Delaney with two outs in the eighth. The Reds had a runner on for Chris Heisey, but Delaney forced a groundout to second to end the frame.

Delaney struck out the side in the ninth for his ninth save.

The Miracle open a three-game series against the Tampa Yankees Thursday at Hammond Stadium. First pitch is 7:05 p.m.



Sarasota 001 011 000 — 3 10 0

Fort Myers 201 002 00x — 5 11 0

W — Alex Burnett. L — Logan Ondrusek. S — Rob Delaney.

2B — Mike DeJesus (S), Jose Castro (S), Chris Heisey (S), Whit Robbins (FM). 3B — Rene Tosoni (FM). HR — Danny Valencia (FM), Drew Stubbs (S).