The Kansas City T-Bones lost for the third time on the road trip Friday night, 1-0, against Lincoln at Haymarket Park.
The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the ninth inning, as Jeremy Hamilton looped a single into right field, to score Matt Forgatch for the game winner.
T-Bones reliever Fernando Hernandez (2-3) allowed a lead off single to Matt Forgatch.
With one on and two outs, Curt Smith was hit by a pitch thrown by Hernandez, and Lincoln had runners on first and second. Jeremy Hamilton came to the plate, and T-Bones catcher Brian Erie was charged with a passed ball, to allow both runners to move up, to set-up the game winner.
The T-Bones, for the second time on the road-trip, couldn’t take advantage of a dominating performance by starting pitcher Casey Barnes. Barnes allowed just three hits, and threw seven shutout innings, on just 81 pitches. Barnes allowed two runs in 13 innings on the trip. Aaron Baker pitched a perfect eighth inning in relief, with two strikeouts.
The T-Bones squandered their best chance to break the tie in the top of the eighth inning. James Boddicker and Jacob Hayes had back to back singles to lead off the inning. Ryan Cavan sacrificed the runners to second and third for Nate Tenbrink.
Tenbrink grounded the ball right back to Lincoln starting pitcher Zach Varce, but reached on a fielder’s choice, to load the bases. Jake Blackwood would come up with just one out, and the bases loaded, but would pop out to second base. Adam Bailey, grounded out to second to end the threat.
Lincoln closer Marshall Schuler (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, with a scoreless ninth inning.
The T-Bones collected seven hits, and Brian Erie was the only batter to collect a multi-hit game.
The T-Bones (28-20), continue the eight-game road-trip, Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. against Lincoln (22-31) at Haymarket Park. The T-Bones have gone 4-3 on the current trip, with two wins against Wichita and Lincoln.
The T-Bones will return to Kansas City, Kan., to play the RailCats at 5:05 p.m. Sunday, July 19, at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. For ticket information, visit www.tbonesbaseball.com or call the box office at 913-328-5618.
– Story from T-Bones