by Sophie Darting and Gabby Albertson
The Kansas City T-Bones dropped the first game of a three-game series with the St. Paul Saints, 10-5.
Kenny Koplove (1-2) had a tough time Tuesday against the Saints’ (32-18) offense in the first inning, giving up five runs off of a two-run and a three-run home run by Devon Rodriguez and John Silviano.
The T-Bones (25-23) found themselves trailing St. Paul, 5-0, early and struggled to get their offense to connect against Jake Matthys (6-3). Through four innings, Kansas City left the bases loaded twice, in both the second and the fourth frames.
St. Paul got another run off of Koplove in the top of the fifth off of back-to-back-to-back singles by Dan Motl, Brady Shoemaker and Silviano, with SIlviano driving in Motl to make it 6-0.
When Josh Allen was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Koplove was pulled and Evan Korson was called to make his T-Bones debut. Korson forced Devon Rodriguez to ground into a double play and limited the damage in the inning.
The Saints hit their third home run of the evening, which was done by Max Murphy, making it 7-0 in the top of the sixth.
Kansas City fought back in the bottom of the sixth, hitting their first grand slam of the season by Taylor Sparks that sent Casey Gillaspie, Roy Morales, and Shawn O’Malley home, making it 7-4.
St. Paul furthered their lead, 10-4, with a walk by Max Murphy that scored Jeremy Martinez. Then, Dan Motl advanced on a walk as well, scoring Josh Allen.
Then Brady Shoemaker got a walk too, scoring Devon Rodriguez in the top of the seventh.
KC’s Mason Davis hit a single to center field that scored O’Malley, making it 10-5 in the bottom of the eighth.
The Kansas City T-Bones and the St. Paul Saints play game two of the series Wednesday, July 10, at 7:05 p.m. Hear all the action on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
Half-season 2019 ticket packages as well as mini-plans are on sale online or by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.
- Story from T-Bones