Casey Barnes and Derek Gordon were solid in their Kansas City starting debuts, leading the T-Bones to a doubleheader sweep of Sioux Falls, 4-2 and 10-0, in front of 5,964 Saturday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan.
In the nightcap, Jeff Lusardi got things going in the second inning for Kansas City, collecting his first RBI as a member of the T-Bones with a single that scored Vladimir Frias, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. Robby Kuzdale then roped a two-out home run over the centerfield wall that scored Lusardi and gave Kansas City a 3-0 lead.
Kansas City was back at it in the third, opening the inning with four consecutive hits, including RBI singles by Byron Wiley and Jonny Kaplan, that gave the T-Bones a 5-0 advantage. Brian Erie added an RBI single before Kuzdale muscled an RBI ground-rule double to right field, scoring Kaplan. The next batter, T.J. Mittelstaedt, then laced a two-run ground-rule double and extended the Kansas City lead to 9-0. The inning finally ended after 10 batters had stepped to the plate.
Gordon (1-0), who pitched an inning in relief Thursday at Winnipeg, threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout in the seven-inning game for his first win as a professional. Kye Winter (1-1) took the loss.
Kansas City took an early lead in the first game as well, this time off of Sioux Falls starter Joe Bircher (2-5), and would never look back. Wiley led off the second inning with a single before Frias launched a two-run home run over the left-field wall. Erie and Kuzdale both reached base later in the inning and scored on a hit by Mittelstaedt, helping Kansas City extend its lead to 4-0.
Making his Kansas City debut, Barnes (1-0) picked up the win. Kris Regas tallied his 11th save.
With the doubleheader sweep, the T-Bones move to 24-25 on the season. They conclude a four-game series with Sioux Falls Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.
Box score for game 2: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=177925
– Story from T-Bones