With power hitting, strong defense and fireworks in the background, the Kansas City T-Bones took the 9-4 victory against the Gary SouthShore RailCats in front of an Independence Day crowd of 6,710 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday night in Kansas City, Kan.
The T-Bones started the night out with a bang with a five-run first inning, in which Kansas City sent all nine batters to the plate.
The first three hitters, Ryan Cavan, Nate Tenbrink and Jake Blackwood, all singled. Blackwood’s base hit scored Cavan, giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead.
The big blow of the inning came off the bat of Brian Erie, who roped a two-out, two-RBI double to left-center.
After Gary SouthShore scored two runs in the second inning, against T-Bones started Blake Holovach, Kansas City’s power hitting continued.
Robby Kuzdale extended Kansas City’s lead to 6-2 with a solo home run in the third inning. The same thing happened an inning later. The RailCats scored two runs in the fourth inning before Adam Bailey led off the fifth inning with a solo home run that put Kansas City on top, 7-4.
Kuzdale hit his second homer of the night in the seventh that gave the T-Bones a commanding 9-4 lead. Kuzdale is now tied with Blackwood and Vladimir Frias for the team lead with five home runs.
Kansas City rookies Jacob Hayes and Christian Torres both got their first professional hits Saturday night. Hayes went 2-for-4 with a double, a single, an RBI, and a stolen base. Torres, who graduated from Park University in May and signed with the T-Bones on Friday, went 1-for-4 with a single in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The T-Bones pounded out 15 hits, with every batter getting at least one hit. Kuzdale and Tenbrink each had three.
Holovach (4-0) earned the win with one strikeout, four walks and four earned runs. He entered the game with a league-low 1.18. It’s now at 1.84.
With the win, the T-Bones (20-16) have won eight consecutive series.
Kansas City will go for its third sweep of the season in the series finale against Gary SouthShore (20-20) Sunday afternoon at 5:05 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Tickets are available by calling the box office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.
– Story from T-Bones