Category: T-Bones

Three long balls and Drummond give T-Bones the win

In Texas in August the mercury regularly pushes triple digits. On Wednesday night at the Depot at Cleburne Station, Texas, it was 79 degrees at first pitch. The unseasonably cool weather was in sharp contrast to the Kansas City T-Bones “red hot” bats, in an 8-3 win over the Cleburne Railroaders.

Kevin Keyes went deep twice and Cedric Hunter added a solo shot as the T-Bones took game three of the three-game series to claim the series win. Calvin Drummond was terrific for the T-Bones, notching his third straight quality start, working six solid innings and giving up three unearned runs.

Hunter gave Kansas City the lead off Railroaders starter Laetten Gailbraith with a solo homer in the top of the second. The Railroaders got three unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 lead.

The T-Bones got an RBI from Chantz Mack in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2 and jumped ahead for good in the fifth, when Keyes took Onas Farfan deep to right to make it 5-3. Marcus Lemon added a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth then Keyes launched another home run to make it 8-3 Kansas City.

Drummond (6-2) picked up his third straight win for Kansas City, while Farfan (3-4) was tagged with the loss. Kansas City (40-27) moved to a season-high 13 games above .500, while Cleburne dropped to (29-41).

The 10-game road trip continues for Kansas City with the first game of a four-game series at Lincoln on Thursday night. The game is set for 6:45 p.m. with right-handed pitcher Scott Carroll (6-3, 3.14) set to face RHP Carlos Pimentel (6-4, 4.74) in the opener. Lincoln leads Kansas City by three games in the American Association Central Division.

Tickets are available online, by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting in person the Providence Medical Center Box Office.

– Story from T-Bones

T-Bones win in extra innings, 7-4

The Kansas City T-Bones added another extra inning game to their league-leading total of 11 Tuesday night with a 7-4 comeback win over the Cleburne (Texas) Railroaders in 10 innings from the Depot at Cleburne Station.

After being held to two hits the night before, Kansas City once again got off to a slow start on offense.

Both starters retired the other club in order with three straight strikeouts to start the game after the first inning. Cleburne got on the board first with a sacrifice fly run batted in from Blake Grant-Parks and another RBI single from Hunter Courson in the home half of the second.

The T-Bones tied the game in the fifth after being held to one hit through four by Cleburne starter Dylan Mouzakes.

Kyle Petty led off with a walk in the top of the fifth. Kansas City looked to have a hit-and-run play on with Chantz Mack rolling a slow ball to charging third baseman Courson down the third base line. With third base uncovered, Petty raced around second to third, drawing a low throw from first baseman Gerlado Valentine who was charged with an error, allowing Petty to score to make it 2-1.

With two outs in the inning, Zane Chavez walked, and Jerome Pena singled to put runners at the corners. Cedric Hunter then delivered an RBI single to tie the game up at two. Hunter became the first T-Bone to have five hits in a game since Ryan Cavan had five in July 23, 2015.

Matt Sergey settled in for Kansas City after the second and retired 12 straight batters. Cleburne would get to Sergey as he crossed the 100-pitch count in the seventh. The Railroaders scored on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Alex Polston to take the lead, 4-3.

The T-Bones forced extra innings with a top of the eighth comeback. Chantz Mack doubled to start the inning off reliever Casey Upperman. After a strike of Jordan Edgerton, Zane Chavez single and Jerome Pena walked. Cedric Hunter then tied the game with an RBI single, scoring Mack.

The teams played into the 10th after a scoreless ninth. In the top of the 10th Pena walked with one out and was followed by a single from Hunter.

Marcus Lemon then walked to load the bases. Lefty Will Mathis then issued a wild pitch to score Pena to give Kansas City a 5-4 lead. Then Kevin Keyes doubled down the third base line to score two more and the score was 7-4.

Grant Sides worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th to get his third save. Luis Paula (4-2) picked up the relief win while Will Mathis (0-1) was tagged with the loss.

Kansas City (39-27) moved back to a season high 12 games above .500 in the win while Cleburne dropped to 29-40.

The two teams will meet again Wednesday in Texas in the final game of the three-game series with game time set for 7:06 p.m. The game can be heard online on the T-Bones Broadcast Network with the pregame starting at 6:40.

Tickets to home games are available online, by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting in person the Providence Medical Center Box Office.
– Story from T-Bones

T-Bones start long trip with long loss

The Kansas City T-Bones opened their longest road trip of the season with one of their longest games of the season in a 2-1 loss in 14 innings to the Cleburne (Texas) Railroaders.

Gabe Perez tossed a quality start for Kansas City, going 6 2/3 innings with five strike outs in a no-decision. Perez would walk two in the game, the first of which led to the first run of the game for Cleburne.

Mitch Glasser led off the home half of the first inning with a walk and came home on an RBI single by Pichi Balet to make it 1-0. Balet, a recently signed veteran, had been out of professional baseball since 2009 and was playing in his 11th game for Cleburne.

The T-Bones were held to just two hits for 14 innings and were held hitless until two outs in the seventh by Cleburne starter Alberto Rodriguez. Kyle Petty got the only T-Bones’ hit off Rodriguez with a triple in the seventh. The right hander did walk six, but three double play balls kept Kansas City from gaining any offensive footing in the game.

In the top of the ninth, Kansas City managed to scratch out a game-tying run without recording a hit. Marcus Lemon reached base on a bunt that reliever Will Mathis misplayed with a throwing error at first to allow Lemon to reach second. Kevin Keyes reached on a fielder’s choice that Cleburne short stop Alex Polston elected to throw to third to try to retire Lemon on the play, but the throw was late, putting runners at the corners.

After a Tyler Horan strike out, Kyle Petty then hit a hard ball to the six hole that Polston was able to field and throw to second, forcing out Keyes on a play that second baseman Maikol Gonzalez had a hard time fielding cleanly. The umpire ruled he had control of the ball for the second out, but Lemon scored to make the score tied, 1-1.

The T-Bones found themselves in their eleventh extra inning ball game of the season—the most in the American Association. The two clubs were even into the 14th with reliever Cortland Cox working the last five innings for Cleburne, pitching 10 strike outs and giving up just one T-Bones hit.

With rookie Zach Morgenstern on the hill for Kansas City, Blake Grant-Parks led off the bottom of the 14th with a double. After a sacrifice bunt by Alex Polston moved him to third, Mitch Glasser had a base hit to the left side past a drawn-in infield to bring home the winning run after four hours and 24 minutes.

The T-Bones fell to 38-27 with the loss going to Morgenstern (1-1) while Cleburne saw their record go to (29-39). Cox (3-2) picked up the relief win for Cleburne. The 17 strike outs for Cleburne was the most the T-Bones had been struck out at the plate this season while the Kansas City staff notched 16 in a losing effort.

The two teams will meet again Tuesday for game two of the three-game series with game time set for 7:06 pm. The T-Bones will turn to right-handed pitcher Matt Sergey (3-3, 3.54) to get the start while Cleburne will send out right-handed pitcher Dylan Mouzakes (6-5, 4.75).

The game can be heard online on the T-Bones Broadcast Networkwith the pregame starting at 6:40.

Tickets to home games are available online, by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting in person the Providence Medical Center Box Office.

– Story from T-Bones