Amarillo, Texas – Kansas City used a strong start from pitcher Jared Messer as it snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over Amarillo on Wednesday night.
The T-Bones got on the board first with a two-run fourth inning. Matt Padgett scored the first run off a wild pitch from Amarillo starting pitcher Clayton Tanner (2-2), and Bryan Sabatella grounded out to the shortstop Kyle Bellows, allowing Ray Sadler to score and giving the T-Bones a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, Kansas City used two doubles from Brian Erie and T.J. Mittelstaedt to take a 3-0 lead.
That’s all Messer needed. Making just his second professional start, Messer gave up only one run and five hits, struck out seven and didn’t allow a walk in 7 innings.
Amarillo finally was able to break through against Messer in the bottom of the fifth, when the Sox scratched across their only run of the night courtesy of Gerardo Valentin’s RBI single that scored Jason Martin from second base.
T-Bones closer Kris Regas battled through the final 1 1/3 innings, but slammed the door for his 17th save of the season.
The win breaks a seven-game losing streak, which was the longest since the club lost eight in a row early in the 2011 season.
The T-Bones (37-44) look to win the series outright Thursday night against Amarillo (29-51), with first pitch scheduled for 7:05.
Box score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=178135
– Story from T-Bones