Kansas City got a home run from Ray Sadler in the eighth inning, but it was too little, too late as the T-Bones dropped a 3-1 decision to Lincoln on Saturday night at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Neb.
Kyle DeVore pitched well enough to keep Kansas City in the game, but he didn’t get the offensive support through his 5 innings of work. DeVore (3-4) allowed two runs, both in the fourth inning. Tyler Smith grounded out to Vladimir Frias, but Mike Gilmartin, who led off the inning with a double, was able to score from third. One batter later, Chad Mozingo ripped an RBI double in right-centerfield that scored Matt Forgatch and expanded the Saltdogs lead to 2-0.
The Saltdogs scored an additional run off T-Bones reliever Hamilton Bennett in the sixth inning after Tyler Smith started the inning with a walk and then came around to score on an Ian Gac sacrifice fly to deep center.
Lincoln starting pitcher Zach Varce (3-6) held Kansas City to just three hits in 6 shutout innings. The T-Bones got only five hits in the game, one night after knocking 18 in a win.
The lone run for Kansas City came in the eighth inning, when Ray Sadler belted a solo homer off Saltdogs reliever Connor Spink, making it a 3-1 T-Bones deficit.
Marshall Schuler (23) pitched a scoreless ninth inning against Kansas City.
The T-Bones (32-35) look to take the rubber match from Lincoln (34-31) Sunday afternoon at Haymarket Park with first pitch slated for 2:05.
Box score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=178043
– Story from T-Bones