Category: T-Bones

Saints make T-Bones suffer; KC returns home tonight

Kansas City was plagued by a pair of four-run innings from the St. Paul offense Saturday night. On Sunday, a four-run second inning and a three-run fourth sealed the three-game series sweep for the Saints at CHS Field.

It started early when former T-Bone Zach Walters, who homered Saturday night, smacked the ball deep into right field in the bottom of the second. It bounced off the scoreboard and allowed Walters a stand-up double.

Next batter up, Dante Bichette Jr. bunted to the third-base side to reach first and put runners at the corners with no outs. Starting pitcher Lucas Irvine then grazed Nathaniel Maggio to load the bases.

Justin O’Conner, who hit a three-run home run earlier in this series, then dropped the ball into left center, allowing Walters and Bichette Jr. to score and make the score 2-0 St. Paul.

A sacrifice bunt by Phillips moved up the runners to scoring position. Still with no outs, Max Murphy lined a sacrifice to the shortstop to score Maggio. Kyle Barrett then singled with a right field hit, bringing home O’Conner and giving St. Paul a four-run lead.

In the fourth, a Noah Perio Jr. RBI single to right field brought home Todd Cunningham, who had reached on a center field single, then stole second.

However, one step forward was met with three steps back as the Saints pushed in three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Max Murphy crushed a two-run home run off Irvine over the left-center field fence.

An RBI double to right field by former T-Bone Zach Walters then scored Kyle Barrett, who had reached on a single earlier in the inning. Kansas City went into the fifth inning trailing 7-1.

In the top of the fifth, Alay Lago reached on a single and was pushed forward by a double from Logan Moon. Next batter, Tucker Pennell then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Lago and make the score 7-2 Saints.

St. Paul added insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run RBI single to center field by Max Murphy, which scored Nathaniel Maggio and Justin O’Conner to make the score 9-2. In the end, Murphy drove in five RBIs for the Saints Sunday.

The T-Bones tried one more time in the top of the eighth to rally, with a second RBI of the game from Perio Jr. as a single from him to right field that again drove in Cunningham. But that would be the end of it, with the final score 9-3 St. Paul.

Lucas Irvine (5-3) pitched 4 1/3 innings for Kansas City and got the loss. Chris Nunn (4-2) is responsible for the win.

The T-Bones saw strong relief pitching from rookie Adam Bleday who worked two and two-thirds innings, retiring all 10 batters he faced, and striking out half of them. Jackson Lowery pitched one inning, giving up two hits.

Kansas City (46-26) is 1-6 against the Saints (41-32) this year. The T-Bones begin a three-game homestand against the Texas Airhogs (19-52) Monday at 7:05 p.m. in Kansas City, Kansas.

On Monday night, the first 1,000 kids 12 and younger will receive a voucher good for a free hot dog, bag of chips and lemonade.

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

T-Bones thrash Canaries, 9-5

The Kansas City T-Bones started slow, but stormed back to take out the Sioux Falls Canaries 9-5 to sweep the three game series on Thursday.

After trailing by three runs in the first, the T-Bones offense erupted for 15 hits and nine runs. Noah Perio Jr. was the catalyst for Kansas City, going three for four with four RBIs on the night.

With one out, Mason Davis advanced to first on a single and later reached second due to a pitching error. Todd Cunningham hit a fly out to center field that helped advance Davis to third.

With two outs, John Straka sailed a pitcher to the backstop allowing Davis to charge home from third to score the first run of the game. Kansas City took a one-run lead to the bottom half of the first.

The Canaries bounced back in a big way, scoring four first-inning runs of their own. Mike Hart and Jabari Henry started the four-run inning with a pair of singles to put runners at first and second with one out.

Chris Grayson put Sioux Falls on the board slicing an RBI single scoring Hart and advancing Henry to second. A wild pitch to Jordan Dean send Henry to third and Grayson to second, putting both runners in scoring position. Dean kept the line moving for the Canaries, hitting another single, allowing Henry and Grayson to score. Dean later went on to score on a 6-3 out, putting the Canaries up 4-1 after an exciting first inning.

Back-to-back walks by Cunningham and Colin Walsh started the scoring threat for Kansas City in the third inning. Perio knocked a single to load the bases for Alay Lago with no outs. Lago sliced a single that scored Cunningham from third, cutting into the Canaries lead at 4-2.

In the top of the fifth, Cunningham hit a single to start an explosive inning. Colin Walsh hit a double to put runners on second and third to put Kansas City in scoring position. Perio Jr. hit a single for the third consecutive hit, scoring Cunningham and sending Walsh to third. With two runners on, Keith Curcio crushes a bases clearing home run to take the lead from the Canaries, 6-4.

Sioux Falls was able to manufacture a run in the bottom of the fifth. Jordan Smith hit a single to advance to first. He stole second and reached third on an error by the catcher. Smith scored on a sacrifice fly by Mitch Glasser to put the Canaries within a run of Kansas City.

Crucial walks by Sioux Falls in the eighth helped the T-Bones run away with the game. Dylan Tice reached first on a walk, but was later put out after Davis hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Back-to-back walks to Cunningham and Walsh set up Perio Jr for a three-run home run to extend the lead to 9-4 heading into the ninth.

The Canaries fought hard, scoring a late inning run, but were taken out by the T-Bones by a final score of 9-5.

Despite a rough first inning, Barret Astin (8-3) settled down and is credited with his team-best eighth win on the season. Astin pitched six innings allowing five runs on seven hits. John Straka (1-4) pitched four and two-thirds innings allowing six runs, five earned on 12 hits. Straka is credited as the losing pitcher.

After the win, Kansas City wins their third straight game improving to 46-23 on the season. The T-Bones sit firmly in second place in the South Division, 6.5 games behind the league’s best Sioux City Explorers (53-17). The Canaries lost their eighth straight game and fell to 26-43 on the season. Sioux Falls is in last place in the North Division, 14.5 games back of the first place Gary SouthShore RailCats (40-28).

The T-Bones completed the series sweep of the Canaries and headed to St. Paul for a three-game series with the third place Saints at 7:05 p.m. Friday at CHS Field.

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

Season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale 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

T-Bones rattle birdcage in 12-5 win over Canaries

The Kansas City T-Bones rattled the birdcage for the second night with a score of 12-5 at Sioux Falls Stadium on Wednesday night at T-Bones Stadium.

The T-Bones secured another road series win with their strong performance that included an impressive 17 hits.

The first day of August brought lovely weather for the birds, but the T-Bones started to sizzle first in the third inning when Logan Moon reached base on a lead-off error by Patrick Fiala.

Dylan Tice followed with a double, and a fielders choice by Mason Davis brought home Moon for an early 1-0 score. Todd Cunningham then hit a ground ball fielder choice toward third that brought in Tice, putting the T-Bones ahead, 2-0.

The Canaries answered as Mitch Glasser hit a ground ball base hit to get the birds in the air.

Kansas City pitcher Tommy Collier struggled with back-to-back hits by a pitch, and an RBI single by Chris Grayson made the score 2-1. A follow-up bases-loaded walk by Maxx Garret left the score at the end of the second inning an even 2-2.

The fourth inning brought more offense for Kansas City as Moon and Dylan Tice both got base hits.

Davis then hit a two-run home run, his sixth of the year, making the score 4-2 KC. Cunningham followed with another home run, bringing the KC lead to 5-2.

The Canaries kept the T-Bones on the grill though with another hit by a pitch by Collier. Glasser followed with a double and then Mike Hart popped up a long ball for a three-run home run to tie the score at 5-5 at the end of the fourth inning.

The fifth inning proved successful for the T-Bones as a single by Noah Perio Jr., a hit for Adrian Nieto and a walk for Alay Lago started the action. Then a double off pitcher Tyler Wolfe by Keith Curcio gave the lead back to KC, 6-5. Lago then came home on a wild pitch, making the score 7-5, KC.

A bunt by Davis got the sixth inning rolling. A balk by Wolfe put Davis on second, and another base hit by Cunningham put runners at the corners.

Closing the inning out, Davis stole home on a double steal and shut the cage door on the Canaries in the sixth inning.

Collier managed to dodge a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the sixth, but he kept the birds in the cage. Joe Filomeno came to the mound in the seventh and tossed three strikeouts to clip the wings of the Canaries.

The ninth inning continued to ruffle the feathers of the Canaries. A hit by Nieto and a double by Lago that scored Nieto made the score 9-5, KC.

Curcio hit a ground ball to first that was out but that scored Lago on a fielder’s choice, and it was 10-5, KC.

Ryan Fritze walked Dylan Tice before Trevor Jaunich took over on the mound for the Canaries. Cunningham hit a base hit off Jaunich to score Tice, bringing the score to 11-5. Colin Walsh’s RBI base hit brought home Davis whose run made the final score 12-5.

Collier (7-3) notched the win for the T-Bones and Dylan Thompson (4-7) earned the loss for the Canaries.

The T-Bones secured a new franchise all-time high of 22 games above .500 and a record of 45-23. The T-Bones are now two and a half games clear of Wichita in the Southern Division for second place and the wild card spot for post season play. The Canaries dropped to 26-42.

The teams will meet again at 7:05 p.m. Thursday with John Straka starting for Sioux Falls and a pitcher to be announced for Kansas City.

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

Season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale 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