David Espinosa had two hits and scored two runs, including one on his first home run of the season, as the T-Bones beat the Wingnuts 4-2 Wednesday night at Lawrence Dumont Stadium in the Kansas Turnpike Showdown.
Espinosa gave Kansas City an early 1-0 lead with his first homer in the first inning against Wichita starter Anthony Capra. The T-Bones added another run in the second with an RBI double from Brian Erie that scored T.J. Mittlestaedt from first base and gave the T-Bones an early 2-0 lead. Mittelstaedt and Danny Richar also ended the game with two hits apiece.
T-Bones starting pitcher Daniel Barone (4-0) pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs, both of which came in the seventh. Kansas City’s offense rallied, however, in the top of the eighth inning, securing the win for Barone. With the score tied at 2-2, the first six T-Bones in the eighth reached base against Wichita relievers Matt Robertson (0-2), Alex Hinshaw and Daniel Bennett. The big blow was an RBI single from Nick Giarraputo, who came through with his first hit of the series that gave Kansas City the decisive 4-2 lead.
Chris Squires and Kris Regas (6) pitched two scoreless innings out of the pen, preserving the win and tying the series at one game apiece.
The T-Bones (13-13) and Wingnuts (18-9) conclude their three-game series Thursday night at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium at 7:05.
Box score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=177784
– Story from T-Bones