Laredo pitchers issued four walks in the top of the 10th inning, and Mark Haynes shut the door in the bottom of the inning, preserving Kansas City’s 5-4 win over the Lemurs on Tuesday night at Uni-Trade Stadium in Laredo, Texas.
With the game tied at 4-4, Laredo reliever Jeff Inman (2-2) gave the T-Bones a gift by walking three of the four batters he faced — Anthony Gallas, Tyler Massey and Vladimir Frias — in the 10th, loading the bases with one out.
The Lemurs turned to Kamakani Usui, who got the win against Kansas City on Monday after a 1-2-3 inning. Usui issued a walk to Steve Swingle on a 3-2 count, bringing in Galas.
Laredo limited the damage to that run when the Lemurs were able to get Massey at the plate on a fielder’s choice grounder by Starlin Rodriguez, and then on a groundout by Tyson Gillies. But Kansas City led 5-4.
As was the case for Usui, it was a reversal of fortune for T-Bones’ pitcher Aaron Baker, also.
After picking up the loss Monday night, Baker (2-2) shut down the Lemurs in the ninth before turning the game over to Mark Haynes in the 10th.
Haynes gave up a lead-off infield single to Ty Morrison before striking out J.D. Pulfer and Zane Chavez. Haynes picked up his 10th save of the season when Jesus Posso grounded out, ending the game that lasted three hours, 52 minutes.
From the first batter it looked as if it might be one of those nights, after Laredo starter Tyler Marks hit Gillies with the second pitch of the game.
Brett Wiley continued his hot hitting with a single, putting two on for Kansas City. After Jake Blackwood and Gallas flew out and struck out, respectively, Massey whacked a single that scored Gillies and gave the T-Bones a 1-0 lead.
Kansas City held that lead until Laredo got on the board with a run in the fourth, when Abel Nieves doubled in Morrison, who led off the inning with a single, against T-Bones starter Josh Hodges. That was Hodges’ only real trouble of the night, as he scattered seven hits and two walks over 6 innings.
The T-Bones came right back in the top of the fifth, though. With two outs, Massey doubled and Dalton Wheat tripled — both down the right field line — giving Kansas City a 2-1 lead.
The T-Bones extended that lead to 4-1 with single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. After Gallas walked in the seventh with two outs, Massey drove him home with an RBI single. In the eighth, Swingle, who came off the disabled list Monday, hit a home run, his second, giving the T-Bones a 4-1 lead.
However, Hodges’ reliever, Johnny Shuttlesworth, after shutting the Lemurs down in order in the seventh, ran into trouble in the eighth.
Cesar Valera started the inning with a walk and advanced on a single from Denis Phipps. Two batters later, Pulfer launched a three-run homer that tied the game at 4-4.
The damage could have been worse, when Alvaro Rondon reached on a two-out throwing error from Vladimir Frias, but a perfect throw by right fielder Wheat nailed Jimmy Norris trying to score. Shuttlesworth gave up four hits and three runs (all earned) in 2 innings.
Kansas City (23-28) will be looking for its fifth consecutive series win Wednesday night at 7:05 as it wraps up this series against Laredo (30-22). All of the action can be heard online at TBonesBaseball.com.
– Story from Matt Fulks, T-BOnes