After winning a three-game series against the Wichita Wingnuts Friday, the Kansas City T-Bones (62-35) hit the road for their final games of the regular season this Labor Day weekend.
The T-Bones were looking to potentially clinch a playoff spot with a win Saturday but fell to the Gary SouthShore RailCats 9-1. Two home runs from Randy Santiesteban and a five-run sixth inning helped fuel the RailCats win.
In the bottom of the first, the RailCats put the first runs on the board and grabbed an early lead on a two-run home run by Randy Santiesteban.
Gary’s Jeffrey Sneed led off the bottom of the second with a double to left and was brought home by a Cole Fabio RBI single to center for the RailCats’ third run of the game.
In the Kansas City half of the third, Ryan Brett led off with a double to left field then Mason Davis brought him home with a two-out RBI single. The run put the T-Bones on the board, but still trailing by two, with a score of 3-1.
Gary’s Fabio added another RBI to the game in the fourth with a double to left field that scored Garrett Copeland to make it 4-1 RailCats.
A five-run sixth inning for Gary locked in a RailCats win. Sneed scored on an RBI single to center by K.C. Huth, then Copeland came home on a Fabio putout and Huth later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Andy DeJesus.
That gave the RailCats a comfortable 7-1 lead, but then Santiesteban hit his second two-run home run of the game to put Gary up a whopping 9-1.
After the second Santiesteban home run, T-Bones starter Hunter Adkins was relieved by Pasquale Mazzoccolli. Adkins gave up nine runs on 13 hits in 5.2 innings of work. T-Bones newcomer Robert Calvano also worked one inning in relief, striking out two and preventing any further damage.
In his first pro start, Mario Samuel worked five innings for the RailCats, giving up only one run on four hits and striking out three.
The win Saturday marked a franchise-high-tying 58th win for the RailCats. Gary will meet Kansas City for the second in the three-game series at 6:10 p.m. Sunday.
Follow the game with the voice of the T-Bones, Dan Vaughan Jr., at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
– Story from T-Bones