The Kansas City T-Bones found a way to pull out a 2-1 win against the Lincoln Saltdogs in Lincoln on Tuesday night at Haymarket Park despite not scoring an earned run in the win.
Kansas City took advantage of two catastrophic errors in the second and seventh innings to seal the series-clinching win.
In the top of the second, the T-Bones jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, thanks to a key error by Lincoln.
With two outs, Keith Curcio races to second on a double to put the T-Bones in scoring position. At the next at bat, Dexter Kjerstad reached first on a throwing error by the third basemen Christian Ibarra, allowing Curcio to score an unearned run from second base.
The Saltdogs responded, setting the bottom of the second inning on fire. Three straight singles by Smith, Bennet, and Oduber allowed Smith to score, tying the game 1-1, heading to the third inning.
Another heartbreaking error by Lincoln gave Kansas City the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh.
With two outs and Adrian Nieto on third base, Mason Davis hit a pop fly to shallow right field that looked like it would end the inning, but Angel Reyes dropped the ball to allow Nieto to race home to score and Davis to stride into second for a 2-1 T-Bones lead.
The T-Bones bullpen had to work out of two tough spots in the late innings to help secure the 32nd win of the season.
Marcus Crescentini worked out of a jam in the eighth after the first two batters reached base, keeping the game at 2-1. Joe Filomeno worked the ninth and faced the winning run at the plate. After retiring the first batter with ease, the left-handed pitcher walked the next batter then got the second out of the inning. Cesar Valera hit a fly ball to the warning track for the third out to notch the save.
Tommy Collier (6-1) pitched a brilliant game in Lincoln, tossing seven innings and allowing six hits and one earned run. Collier now leads the team with six wins, posting a 4.41 ERA. Joe Filomeno picked up his first save on the season, pitching a scoreless ninth inning for Kansas City.
Saltdogs pitcher Eric Wooten (1-4) pitched a fantastic game, despite lackadaisical defense. He pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and giving up two unearned runs that put him in position to become tonight’s losing pitcher.
The T-Bones are back in the winning circle, and have gained a game on the first place Sioux City Explorers who lost Tuesday night.
Kansas City is now 32-17 and find themselves 4.5 games back on the South Division lead.
The Saltdogs lost their second straight game, falling to 27-22, and are now 10 games back in the South Division race.
The T-Bones and Saltdogs continue their three-game series Wednesday, July 10, at 6:45 p.m. in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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