The Kansas City T-Bones dropped two games Thursday evening against the Laredo Lemurs, 3-0 and 4-2, at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan.
Laredo reliever Zach Dodson (2-1) picked up the win in the resumed game from Wednesday night, with 6 scoreless innings. All three runs Laredo scored came Wednesday night against starter Mike Kickham (3-3). All three runs were unearned, as the Kansas City defense committed four errors in the loss.
The Lemurs first got on the board in the second inning Wednesday night. Leadoff batter J.D. Pulfer reached on an error by Kansas City shortstop Vladimir Frias. Pulfer then reached third on two wild pitches by Kickham.
Two batters later, Brennan Metzger bunted a ball back to Kickham that led to an error, but then Metzger sprinted to an uncovered second base. Alvaro Rondon scored Pulfer on a fielder’s choice, Abel Nieves knocked in Metzger with a base hit, giving the Lemurs a 2-0 lead.
Laredo added a run in the third. Kickham walked the lead-off batter Ty Morrison, who scored later in the inning on a throwing error by third baseman Ryan Retz. On that play, Jesus Posso, trying to score from first, was thrown out at home by right fielder Dalton Wheat, ending the inning. The rains came before Kansas City had a chance to bat in the bottom of the third, forcing the suspension until Thursday afternoon.
The series finale Thursday night didn’t go much better for Kansas City’s offense, until the seventh inning.
Laredo starting pitcher Tyler Marks (6-4) scattered six hits in five shutout innings. Meanwhile, Laredo’s offense came alive in the fourth inning, as nine Lemurs went to the plate against Kansas City starter Jordan Cooper (3-5).
After getting Denis Phipps to line out, Cooper walked Morrison and then gave up three consecutive hits to Posso, Zane Chavez and Pulfer. Chavez’s base hit scored Morrison and Posso. Two batters later, Metzger doubled to left, scoring Chavez and Pulfer, and giving the Lemurs a 4-0 lead.
The T-Bones made it interesting in the seventh inning, though. After Laredo reliever Kamakani Usui loaded the bases by hitting Frias in the head and walking both pinch-hitter Starlin Rodriguez and Tyler Massey, rookie Wheat ripped a two-run single to right that cut the game to 4-2. But Kansas City stranded the game-tying runners on base.
After sweeping Lincoln and Laredo in its last homestand, Kansas City (39-50) finishes this homestand with a 1-5 record. The T-Bones begin a seven-game road trip Friday evening at 7:10 against the Gary SouthShore RailCats. All of the action can be heard on TBonesBaseball.com.
– Story from Matt Fulks, T-Bones