On a second-chance prom night at CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Kansas City T-Bones (32-31) took the first dance, winning game one over the St. Paul Saints (40-25) 2-1 in extra innings.
St. Paul got on base first with a ground rule double by Dan Motl, but it wasn’t enough to score for the Saints.
The Saints, however, redeemed themselves as they got on the board first in the bottom of the second when Jeremy Martinez hit a solo home run, making it 1-0 off of Jon Perrin, the KC starter. Perrin went on to toss a quality start for the T-Bones working seven innings scattering four hits.
The T-Bones attempted to score in the top of the fourth, when Dylan Tice advanced to first on an error by the second baseman, Chesny Young. Mason Davis moved Tice to second with a sacrifice bunt. Then when Daniel Nava was up to bat, Tice advanced to third on a wild pitch, but KC struggled to bring runners home.
Kansas City once again attempted to turn up the heat in the top of the seventh when Nava hit a single off Karch Kawalczyk. Then, Christopher Colabello advanced to first on a walk that advanced Nava to second. Tyler Marincov also hit a single that advanced Colabello to second and Nava to third, but again the T-Bones failed to bring runners home.
With two outs in the top of the ninth inning the T-Bones got runners at the corners off Saints closer Todd Van Steensel. Danny Mars hit a single to center that scored Nava to tie the game at one apiece and the teams were forced to extra innings, after a 1-2-3 ninth from T-Bones left-hander Carlos Diaz.
Kansas City broke the tie in the top of the eleventh when Mars hit a solo home run off left-hander Ken Frosch with two outs, making the score 2-1.
Robert Calvano (2-2) kept the Saints from coming back in the bottom of the 11th, earning the win for the Kansas City T-Bones. The losing pitcher is Ken Frosch (2-3) for the St. Paul Saints.
The win marks the 999th regular-season win for manager Joe Calfapietra.
KC will return home on July
30 to face the Sioux Falls Canaries in a three-game series at JustBats Field at T-Bones Stadium. Tickets to all T-Bones home games can be purchased online 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