In just one inning, the Kansas City T-Bones gave up a five-run lead and the St. Paul Saints came away with a 10-8 win at T-Bones Stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.
The loss is the third straight for the T-Bones, who remain in second place in the league with a 33-20 season record.
Like Friday evening, the Saints gained an early-game lead. In the first inning, Kyle Barrett reached base on a fielder’s choice, then Burt Reynolds, the third batter up for St. Paul, smacked a two-run home run over the left-center field fence into the St. Paul bullpen.
The hit, off T-Bones starting pitcher Barrett Astin (6-2, 5.27), was Reynolds’ 13th RBI of the season and gave the Saints a 2-0 lead.
But the lead didn’t last long as the T-Bones answered back with speed in the bottom of the first.
Starting pitcher Ryan Zimmerman (1-1, 4.69) walked the lead-off batter Dylan Tice.
His walk was quickly followed by a shot deep down the right field line by Todd Cunningham, who leads the league with a .384 average.
That hit allowed Tice to score from first, and as Cunningham was racing toward third the relay man overthrew third, allowing him to come home and even the game 2-2.
In the bottom of the second, Kansas City increased their assault on St. Paul with a huge five-run inning.
Mason Davis was hit by a pitch, followed by a right field single by Tice which sent the speedy Davis to third. With one out and runners at the corners, Cunningham lined to right center, sending Davis home.
The hit was the 23rd RBI for Cunningham this season. With Tice at third, an RBI sacrifice fly to left field by Colin Walsh made the score 4-2.
Then, Nick Torres hit a towering two-run home run into the Saints’ bullpen, making the score 6-2 Kansas City.
Noah Perio Jr. walked and was followed by an Adrian Nieto double to the warning track just outside the St. Paul bullpen, which sent Perio home and made the score 7-2.
However, it was a painful fourth for the Kansas City as St. Paul came back to score seven runs off starting pitcher Barrett Astin, who had retired seven of the last eight prior to that inning.
It started with a walk to Reynolds, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch to Brady Shoemaker. Back-to-back walks put Shoemaker on first.
With no outs, Astin, with his third straight walk of the inning, put former T-Bone Zach Walters on first to load the bases.
Dante Bichette Jr. then singled to left field despite a diving attempt by center fielder Cunningham, allowing Reynolds to score.
Astin went on to walk Nathaniel Maggio, which brought home Shoemaker for the sixth Saints run of the game. Zach Walters scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Anthony Phillips, making the score 7-5.
Max Murphy then singled to left field to once again load the bases, followed by a Kyle Barrett single up the middle that scored two runs and tied the score. Burt Reynolds lined into left center to score yet another run and give St. Paul the lead 8-7.
Brady Shoemaker, the 11th batter of the inning, hit a ground-rule double to right field to score Barrett and make the score 9-7.
With two outs in the fourth, recent T-Bones addition Ian Hardman came in for relief. And a relief it was as Hardman struck out Walters to finally put an end to the inning.
Marcus Crescentini came in the top of the eighth, giving up a double to St. Paul’s Barrett, who was then driven home with an RBI single by Shoemaker, making the score 10-7.
The T-Bones loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth as Keith Curcio reached on a fielder’s choice, Dexter Kjerstad singled and Mason Davis lined a single to left to keep the line moving.
With one out, a sacrifice fly to left by Tice scored Curcio, bringing the T-Bones a step closer to re-gaining the lead, with the score 10-8. But Kansas City left two on base going into the ninth.
The T-Bones weren’t able to gain any more traction and St. Paul defeated the Kansas City with a final score of 10-8.
Kansas City wraps up a four-game series with St. Paul on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
Individual tickets, season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale and can be purchased by visiting the box office at T-Bones Stadium or www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The T-Bones’ games are airing on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.
– Story from T-Bones