by Nolan Brooks
The Kansas City T-Bones (28-26) came into St. Paul (36-20) looking for a win on the road, but the dynamic St. Paul offense created fireworks with a walk-off grand slam to take game one, 9-7.
The T-Bones scored in the first inning. Shawn O’Malley gave KC the lead with an RBI single that would score Dylan Tice. The rally would continue after Casey Gillaspie smoked the baseball down the right field line to score Shawn O’Malley, giving the T-Bones a 2-0 lead just a half inning into the game.
The Saints offense is not first in the league in hits by chance as they would also put a run on the board via the base hit from Josh Allen. The Saints kept the heat coming as Jeremy Martinez laced one into the left field corner to tie the ball game at two runs apiece through only one inning of play.
The T-Bones bats were on fire in the second inning as well as Dylan Tice drove in Taylor Sparks, Mason Davis strolled into home plate after a called balk on Saints pitcher Jordan Jess, and the T-Bones took a 4-2 lead.
St. Paul tied it in the bottom of the inning. After a Chris Baker single, two runs scored to tie the ball game at 4-4, two innings into the ball game. As soon as it seemed like both teams could break double digits in under five innings, both teams made a complete turnaround, going scoreless in innings three through six.
The T-Bones broke the silence in the seventh inning after a lined shot to center from Christian Correa wiped the loaded bases clean, giving the T-Bones a 7-4 lead. St. Paul answered the call, scoring a run on a passed ball cutting the T-Bone lead to 7-5.
The T-Bones seemed to have a win in the bag, but St. Paul’s Josh Allen had other plans as Allen smashed a walk-off grand slam after three Carlos Diaz walks before Allen’s at-bat. St. Paul took game one by a score of 9-7.
St. Paul’s relief pitcher Ryan Smith was credited the win, improving to 1-0, and KC’s Carlos Diaz got the loss as he moves to 0-1.
The T-Bones will continue their mid-week series against the St. Paul Saints in game two of the series Wednesday afternoon. The game will be on the T-Bones Broadcast Network at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/ with the first pitch at 1:05 p.m.
Full and half-season 2019 ticket packages as well as mini plans are on sale online or by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.
- Story from T-Bones