Category: T-Bones

It was another extra-inning seesaw battle of leading, trailing and tying Friday evening at T-Bones Stadium.

It all came down to an 11th inning two-run RBI double from Alay Lago that sent the T-Bones walking off the field winners 6-5 over Cleburne.

After being in second place in the American Association for more than 80 consecutive days, the T-Bones (52-31) had a rough month in August.

The team was 7-8 on the month as the Cleburne Railroaders (28-56) steamed into Kansas City for the first in a three-game series Friday.

The Railroaders put their mark on the board first thanks to back-to-back doubles from Patrick Palmeiro and Hunter Clanin in the first inning.

But T-Bones starting pitcher Adam Bleday held them from doing any more damage by striking out two in the top of the second and retiring three straight in the third.

In the bottom of the fourth, the T-Bones tied it up with a center field sacrifice fly by Todd Cunningham that brought home Ryan Brett.

It wouldn’t take long for KC to get the go-ahead run. Next batter up, Colin Walsh drove the ball out of the park and over the right field fence for his sixth home run since joining the T-Bones July 13.

The lead-off batter in the top of the sixth, Todd Sealey, doubled to left field.

With one out in the top of the sixth, Kevin Hill came in for relief of Bleday, who struck out six during his time on the mound. The first batter he faced, Angelo Gumbs, singled to center field to score Sealey and even the score 2-2.

The game stayed tied until the eighth when Cleburne’s Palmeiro smacked a two-run home run ball into the left field bullpen. That gave the Railroaders a 4-2 lead.

But the T-Bones decided to answer quickly in the bottom of the eighth.

Back-to-back walks put T-Bone newcomer Anthony Phillips and Brett on base. Mason Davis then doubled down the left field line into the corner, allowing Phillips to come home and make the score 4-3 Cleburne.

The Railroaders walked Walsh to load the bases for Noah Perio Jr, who hit two home runs for Kansas City Thursday night. With one out, Perio Jr. hit a scorcher to the first baseman, who caught it for out number two and stepped back to the bag for the third out of the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Adrian Nieto doubled to the warning track in left field. Lago followed with a left-field single to put runners at the corners.

With one out, Phillips hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Nieto, tie the game 4-4 and take it into extra innings for the third time this week.

It went into the 11th before the next run crossed the plate. And that run was for Cleburne. Michael Gulino hit a ground ball that bounced off the glove of T-Bones shortstop Phillips to land him on first. On the next batter, Gulino advanced on a put-out, then Trevor Sealey singled to center field to bring him home and allow the Railroaders to re-gain the lead 5-4.

The T-Bones, however, had other plans. And they set it up perfectly.

Nieto walked, then Keith Curcio singled to right field to put runners on the corners and a win within sight. Lago came to the plate, and on the second pitch, doubled off the wall in center field to score Nieto and Curcio for an exciting 6-5 walk-off win.

The walk-off is the second consecutive for Kansas City. On Thursday evening, they defeated Fargo-Moorhead 9-8 in extra innings. Perio Jr. hit a walk-off home run, his second of the game.

Friday night, Pasquale Mazzoccoli (3-2), who worked the final three innings, is credited with the win and reliever Roman Gomez (0-7) received the loss for the Railroaders.

The T-Bones take on Cleburne again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday at T-Bones Stadium for the second and third games of the series.

The game can be heard on the T-Bones Broadcast Network at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.

Season, group tickets, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday – Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
– Story from T-Bones

The T-Bones (51-31) went into Thursday’s match-up against Fargo-Moorhead (45-37) trying to end a three-game losing streak and avoid the brooms of the RedHawks in the final game of the three-game series.

It was a back-and-forth ball game all night long. The T-Bones led, trailed, led, trailed, then tied to take it into extra innings.

Noah Perio Jr. was the hero of the evening with two home runs, one of which allowed for a walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th with a final score of 9-8 Kansas City.

In the T-Bones half of the first, lead-off batter Ryan Brett hit a center-field single off RedHawks starter Brandon Barker (2-4, 4.43). Colin Walsh, for his 20th RBI since being signed July 13, dropped a well-hit ball into right field to score Brett and put the T-Bones up 1-0.

KC held the modest lead until the top of the third when Devan Ahart slapped a ground ball down the middle that brought home Yhoxian Medina, who had doubled to left field.

Then the go-ahead run came home when Chris Jacobs hit a ground ball sharply to third to score Brennan Metzger. That would be the last play before the game was delayed roughly 40 minutes because of rain.

The RedHawks added to their lead in the fourth, but barely. With runners at the corners and one out, Tim Colwell hit the ball to first for the second out, but Charlie Valerio scored from third while the T-Bones chased down the runner between first and second for the third out. With that run that squeaked in, the RedHawks went up 3-1.

Despite five strikeouts to this point of the game, Tommy Collier (9-3, 3.15) sent back-to-back batters to the bases with walks to Devan Ahart and Chris Jacobs in the fifth.

A double to left field by Leobaldo Pina then brought home Ahart to make it 4-1 Fargo. Collier stayed off any more damage, striking out the last batter of the inning for strikeout number six of the night.

Colin Walsh, for his second RBI of the night, hit the ball into center in the bottom of the sixth. Both the shortstop and center fielder raced for the ball, but it dropped between them and allowed Mason Davis, who had singled and advanced on a passed ball, to score and make it 4-2.

With bases loaded, the RedHawks changed pitchers, but Keith Curcio lined the ball into right, allowing Colin Walsh and Todd Cunningham to score and tie up the game 4-4.

Another pitching change for the RedHawks meant another run for the T-Bones. Alay Lago hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, bringing home Adrian Nieto, who had singled earlier. The T-Bones grabbed the lead 5-4.

As quickly as the lead happened, it went away. In the top of the seventh, a three-run home run to right field by Kerry De La Cruz also scored Devan Ahart and Derrick Fox. It was 7-5 RedHawks.

Fargo tacked on another run in the eighth to make it 8-5 RedHawks. Tim Colwell, who had walked and stole a base, scored on an RBI double by Brennan Metzger.

But then the seesaw went back in favor of the T-Bones with another big inning. In the eighth, Noah Perio Jr. slammed a home run over the right field wall to cut into Fargo’s lead 8-6.

Adrian Nieto and Keith Curcio continued the T-Bones rally in the eighth, hitting back-to-back singles. Alay Lago once again came up to bat after a pitching change.

This time, he hit a double to right field to bring home Nieto and Curcio for his second and third RBIs of the night – and to once again tie the game – now 8-8.

That sent the game into extra innings. The stakes were high, with Kansas City battling to retain their second place standing in the league, which they’ve kept for 79 consecutive days going into the game.

A one-two-three top of the 10th quickly sent the T-Bones to the plate. Noah Perio Jr. took a ball for the first pitch, then connected with the second pitch, launching it over the fence for his second home run of the game, and the walk-off run.
The spectacular hitting by Perio Jr. gave Kansas City the walk-off win 9-8 over Fargo. Tommy Collier, the starter, got six strikeouts, and leads the American Association at 112 for the season.

Cody Winiarski (2-1, 1.84), who worked the ninth and 10th innings, got the win for Kansas City, and reliever Reese Gregory (3-3, 3.43) is charged with the loss for Fargo.

Kansas City begins a three-game series against the Cleburne Railroaders (28-55) Friday night at T-Bones Stadium.

Season, group tickets, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday – Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

– Story from T-Bones

Rain put a damper on Tuesday’s game as the umpires deemed the field unplayable, so the Kansas City T-Bones faced off against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in a doubleheader Wednesday at T-Bones Stadium. But the RedHawks put a damper on the T-Bones’ Wednesday as they swept the doubleheader.

In the first game, Fargo-Moorhead defeated Kansas City 5-4 in ten innings. The T-Bones were plagued with four errors and struggled to get runs home, leaving one man on base in the second, third, fourth, fifth innings – and two men on base in the seventh, eighth and tenth.

Devan Ahart, the third batter T-Bones starter Barrett Astin (8-3) faced, hit a stand-up double to right field. The next batter, Chris Jacobs, then singled to nearly the same spot to drive in Ahart for the first run of the game, giving the RedHawks an early 1-0 lead.

In the T-Bones’ half of the first, lead-off batter Ryan Brett hit a double to left field off Fargo starting pitcher D.J. Brown (8-2). Brett advanced to third on a put-out by Mason Davis. That was followed by a Todd Cunningham sacrifice fly RBI that brought in Brett and tied it up 1-1.

The RedHawks re-gained the lead in the top of the third. Astin walked the lead-off batter, Tim Colwell, then Brennan Metzger followed with a line drive single to center field over the head of the second baseman.

Fargo’s Chris Jacobs singled with an infield hit, the T-Bones attempted to get a force out at second but that was too late, then the second baseman Brett tried to throw the batter out at first but threw wide for an error, allowing Colwell to score and make the score 2-1 RedHawks.

Fargo continued their assault in the fourth inning as Yhoxian Medina hit into a fielder’s choice, landing on first. He moved to second on a single by Tim Colwell, then scored on an RBI single by Brennan Metzger, which increased the RedHawks lead 3-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, Todd Cunningham walked and Colin Walsh was hit by a pitch. RedHawks relief pitchers followed with back-to-back strikeouts, but then Keith Curcio came to the plate. With his parents and sister in the stands visiting from Florida, Curcio smashed his tenth home run of the season over the right field fence and more than halfway up the grass berm. The two-run home run gave the T-Bones the lead 4-3.

Kansas City was two outs away from a win when Cody Winiarski took the mound in relief. He walked the first batter of the inning, Devan Ahart. Chris Jacobs followed with a fly ball to Keith Curcio in left field, who got caught in between deciding whether to dive or step back and play it as a single. The error allowed Ahart to score and even up the game at 4-4.

In the top of the 10th, Leobaldo Pina singled to right field and moved to second on a put-out. Pina later raced for third on a wild pitch to Yhoxian Medina. The catcher attempted to throw Pina out, but overthrew third base, which allowed Medina to score the go-ahead run and make the score 5-4.

The T-Bones were able to rally in the bottom of the 10th and Fargo defeated KC 5-4.

Astin pitched five innings, giving up three runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and only one walk. Marcus Crescentini, Cody Winiarski, Joe Filomeno and Nick Lee worked in relief. Lee is credited with the loss, giving up one run on one hit in the tenth. Benji Waite is credited with the win for Fargo.

The second game of the doubleheader was a much faster game than the first. In seven innings, Fargo defeated Kansas City 3-0.

The RedHawks started off early as lead-off batter Tim Colwell singled to left, advanced to second on a single by Brennan Metzger and went on to third on a sacrifice bunt by Devan Ahart. Chris Jacobs then brought Colwell home with a sacrifice fly to left field, making the score 1-0 Fargo.

The fourth inning saw the RedHawks add two more runs to the board. T-Bones starter Hunter Adkins walked Leobaldo Pina, who then worked his way to second on a single by Derrick Fox. A follow-up double by RedHawks’ catcher Quinn Irey scored Pina for Fargo’s second run of the game. A single by the next batter, Yhoxian Medina, brought in Fox to give Fargo a 3-0 lead.

And in the end, the T-Bones weren’t able to put anything on the board in the second game, losing 3-0 to the RedHawks.

The T-Bones take on Fargo for the final game of the three-game series Thursday at 7:05 p.m. at T-Bones Stadium. Kansas City will continue their homestand when they take on the Cleburne Railroaders for a three-game series that begins Friday evening.

Season, group tickets, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday – Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
– Story from T-Bones