Category: Sports

Mittelstaedt’s bat lifts T-Bones

T.J. Mittelstaedt’s monster night led the T-Bones to a 9-6 victory against the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 6,018 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan.

Mittelstaedt went 3-for-4 with a single, double and home run. He finished with four RBIs, two runs and was only a triple short of the cycle.

Kansas City scored five runs in the sixth inning. The frame began with four singles, one being an RBI by Darrell Hudson. Mittelstaedt then came through with a bases loaded two-RBI double that tied the game 5-5. Robby Kuzdale scored on a throwing error by Gary pitcher Stephen Hiscock (3-4). Jonny Kaplan made it 7-5, scoring Mittelstaedt on a sacrifice fly.

The RailCats came back with a run in the seventh inning. Derek Smith tried to add another run that would have tied the game but he was thrown out at the plate by Kaplan.

Kris Regas pitched a scoreless ninth inning, notching his 10th save of the year.

Mike Nannini struggled for the T-Bones, pitching 4 1/3 innings, giving up 11 hits, five runs (all earned), one walk and striking out nine.

With the win, the T-Bones (21-21) take the first two games of the series against the Central Division leading RailCats (23-18). Kansas City will go for the sweep in Sunday’s series finale starting at 5:05. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.

Box score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=177885
– Story from T-Bones

Sporting KC regains first place in the Eastern Conference with victory at Portland


Sporting Kansas City earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Portland Timbers FC Friday night at Providence Park at Portland.

Lawrence Olum scored his first goal of the year as Sporting KC moved into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with D.C. United.

For the 16th consecutive MLS match, manager Peter Vermes fielded a different starting lineup, as Sporting KC was without Matt Besler and Graham Zusi due to national team duty, Antonio Dovale due to a red card suspension and six other players – including Benny Feilhaber and Claudio Bieler – due to injury.

With a sellout crowd of more than 20,000 fans, the Timbers came out the gate as aggressors, nearly striking first in the eighth minute when Diego Valeri’s corner kick fell to Will Johnson at the top of the 18-yard-box. The veteran midfielder took a touch and fired a shot on target, but goalkeeper Eric Kronberg reacted quickly to stop the attempt.

Seven minutes later, the Timbers thought they had gone ahead, but Fanendo Adi’s header past Kronberg was negated by an offside whistle.

The veteran goalkeeper was called upon again in the 18th minute when Adi’s shot deflected off defender Aurelien Collin and skipped to Valeri. Kronberg darted off his line and stayed big as the Argentine midfielder’s shot hit off the goalkeeper’s chest.

Kronberg finished the match with three saves en route to his League-leading seventh shutout of the season. The 31-year-old goalkeeper also improved his goals against average to 0.88.

Despite Portland having the better of the chances in the first half, it was Sporting KC who broke through first. The scoring play originated off a long throw-in by Seth Sinovic. The Kansas City native found homegrown defender Kevin Ellis at the penalty spot. Ellis one-timed the ball to Olum who wasted little time hitting a low strike under the out-stretched arm of goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

Olum was later subbed off in the 56th minute for precautionary reasons after suffering a hamstring strain. Peter Vermes brought on C.J. Sapong for Olum and moved winger Jacob Peterson to a defensive midfield position.

The home side continued to press in the second half but could not break down the Sporting KC defense. Despite controlling 67 percent of the possession, the Timbers managed only 11 shots on the night, with three on target.

Sporting Kansas City improved its League-leading road goal differential to +2 and is now 7-0-3 in 2014 when scoring first.

Sporting KC will now return home to face the Chicago Fire on Sunday, July 6, at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. Limited tickets are available and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.
– Story from Sporting KC

Barone retires 11 straight in T-Bones win

Kansas City ace Daniel Barone had a solid outing in the T-Bones 4-2 win over Gary SouthShore in front of 5,243 fans at CommunityAmerica Ballpark Friday night in Kansas City, Kan.

Despite giving up two early solo home runs, Barone picked up his fifth win of the year as he allowed just two runs off six hits and struck out five. Barone retired 11 straight batters before exiting after 7 innings.

Kansas City jumped on the RailCats with two runs in the first inning. After a leadoff walk and a throwing error by starter Dustin Crenshaw, the T-Bones had runners at second and third with no outs. David Espinosa then hit a slow roller toward third, driving in T.J. Mittelstaedt. Nick Schwaner followed suit with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Jonny Kaplan.

Gary SouthShore took back one of those runs when Craig Maddox led off the second with a homer into the T-Bones bullpen.

After Kansas City took a 3-1 lead in the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Mittelstaedt, Danny Pulfer led off the third with a home run that cut the T-Bones lead to 3-2.

Crenshaw settled down and retired 16 consecutive batters in a losing effort, as he gave up three runs off five hits in 7 innings of work.

Kansas City reliever Kris Regas notched his ninth save on the year with two scoreless frames.

The T-Bones (20-21) continue the three-game series against the RailCats (23-17) Saturday night at 7:05. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.
-Story from T-Bones