The Kansas City T-Bones were back in the groove Tuesday night, defeating the Sioux Falls Canaries 3-2 at T-Bones Stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.
The decision marks the eleventh win for the T-Bones in their last 13 games.
Sioux Falls took an early lead, scoring two runs in the third inning.
Despite a valiant attempt at a diving catch by T-Bones’ Dexter Kjerstad, Patrick Fiala reached second with a shot to the left field corner.
Fiala then advanced to third on a wild pitch and was brought home on an RBI single by Jordan Smith, making the score 1-0 Sioux Falls.
Smith later raced to steal second, and as the catcher attempted the throw-out, the ball ricocheted off the runner into the outfield, allowing him to move to third. A sacrifice fly by Canaries’ shortstop Blake Schmit scored Smith, giving Sioux Falls a 2-0 lead.
Mason Davis answered in the T-Bones’ half of the third inning, leading off with a base hit to right center field. He then stole second and was later brought home with an infield single by Nick Torres, making the score 2-1 Sioux Falls.
In the seventh, the T-Bones took advantage of Canaries’ reliever Nicco Blank (3-2).
Todd Cunningham lined a shot to the shortstop, who bobbled it with an error, allowing the T-Bones to tie by scoring Mason Davis who had reached base on a walk and advanced on a wild pitch.
Rally time for Kansas City started in the bottom of the eighth, as Dexter Kjerstad reached second on a base hit to left center off Canaries’ Miles Nordgren.
An RBI double by Adrian Nieto down the left field line brought Kjerstad home and gave the T-Bones a late-game lead of 3-2.
Kansas City never looked back, keeping the lead and chalking up their 26th win of the season with a score of 3-2.
T-Bones’ right-handed pitcher Lucas Irvine (4-0) worked seven innings, striking out five and allowing two runs on six hits. He was followed in relief by Cody Winiarski (1-0) in the eighth and Carlos Diaz in the ninth. Diaz struck out two of the four Sioux Falls batters he faced. Winiarski was credited with the win.
The T-Bones will go after Sioux Falls again Tuesday evening as they take on the Canaries in the second of a three-game series. Game time 7:05 p.m. at T-Bones Stadium with fireworks following the game.
Individual tickets, season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium or www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The T-Bones games are airing on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
– Story from T-Bones
