It was another extra-inning seesaw battle of leading, trailing and tying Friday evening at T-Bones Stadium.
It all came down to an 11th inning two-run RBI double from Alay Lago that sent the T-Bones walking off the field winners 6-5 over Cleburne.
After being in second place in the American Association for more than 80 consecutive days, the T-Bones (52-31) had a rough month in August.
The team was 7-8 on the month as the Cleburne Railroaders (28-56) steamed into Kansas City for the first in a three-game series Friday.
The Railroaders put their mark on the board first thanks to back-to-back doubles from Patrick Palmeiro and Hunter Clanin in the first inning.
But T-Bones starting pitcher Adam Bleday held them from doing any more damage by striking out two in the top of the second and retiring three straight in the third.
In the bottom of the fourth, the T-Bones tied it up with a center field sacrifice fly by Todd Cunningham that brought home Ryan Brett.
It wouldn’t take long for KC to get the go-ahead run. Next batter up, Colin Walsh drove the ball out of the park and over the right field fence for his sixth home run since joining the T-Bones July 13.
The lead-off batter in the top of the sixth, Todd Sealey, doubled to left field.
With one out in the top of the sixth, Kevin Hill came in for relief of Bleday, who struck out six during his time on the mound. The first batter he faced, Angelo Gumbs, singled to center field to score Sealey and even the score 2-2.
The game stayed tied until the eighth when Cleburne’s Palmeiro smacked a two-run home run ball into the left field bullpen. That gave the Railroaders a 4-2 lead.
But the T-Bones decided to answer quickly in the bottom of the eighth.
Back-to-back walks put T-Bone newcomer Anthony Phillips and Brett on base. Mason Davis then doubled down the left field line into the corner, allowing Phillips to come home and make the score 4-3 Cleburne.
The Railroaders walked Walsh to load the bases for Noah Perio Jr, who hit two home runs for Kansas City Thursday night. With one out, Perio Jr. hit a scorcher to the first baseman, who caught it for out number two and stepped back to the bag for the third out of the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Adrian Nieto doubled to the warning track in left field. Lago followed with a left-field single to put runners at the corners.
With one out, Phillips hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Nieto, tie the game 4-4 and take it into extra innings for the third time this week.
It went into the 11th before the next run crossed the plate. And that run was for Cleburne. Michael Gulino hit a ground ball that bounced off the glove of T-Bones shortstop Phillips to land him on first. On the next batter, Gulino advanced on a put-out, then Trevor Sealey singled to center field to bring him home and allow the Railroaders to re-gain the lead 5-4.
The T-Bones, however, had other plans. And they set it up perfectly.
Nieto walked, then Keith Curcio singled to right field to put runners on the corners and a win within sight. Lago came to the plate, and on the second pitch, doubled off the wall in center field to score Nieto and Curcio for an exciting 6-5 walk-off win.
The walk-off is the second consecutive for Kansas City. On Thursday evening, they defeated Fargo-Moorhead 9-8 in extra innings. Perio Jr. hit a walk-off home run, his second of the game.
Friday night, Pasquale Mazzoccoli (3-2), who worked the final three innings, is credited with the win and reliever Roman Gomez (0-7) received the loss for the Railroaders.
The T-Bones take on Cleburne again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday at T-Bones Stadium for the second and third games of the series.
The game can be heard on the T-Bones Broadcast Network at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
Season, group tickets, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at 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.
– Story from T-Bones