Kansas City scored in three consecutive innings and avoided the sweep, defeating Gary SouthShore, 5-1, Sunday afternoon at U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Ind.
After the T-Bones tied the game at 1-1 in the fifth, they took the lead in the sixth. Anthony Gallas started things off with a one-out single against RailCats’ reliever Carlos Pinales (0-2).
Tyson Gillies brought Gallas home on the next pitch when he tripled to center field and gave the T-Bones a 2-1 lead. But the T-Bones did not stop there. Vladimir Frias brought Gillies home with a base hit to right. The T-Bones led 3-1 after six.
The T-Bones added insurance runs in the seventh inning. Tyler Massey led off the inning with a double and was moved to third on a sacrifice by Dalton Wheat. The next batter, Brett Wiley, brought in Massey with a double of his own. Gallas then knocked Wiley home with a single to left field, giving Kansas City a 5-1 lead.
With the way the Kansas City pitchers worked throughout the game, a four-run lead was plenty.
The only blemish came in the second when Alex Crosby scored on a hit by E.J. Devarie against Kansas City starter Jared Messer (5-3). Messer went 6 innings and allowed six hits with the lone run and struck out three.
Josh Tols pitched one perfect inning of relief. Mark Haynes entered in the eighth and slammed the door on the RailCats with two scoreless innings.
The T-Bones trailed 1-0 until the fifth, when Ryan Retz led off the inning with his first home run as a T-Bone.
After salvaging the three-game series against Gary SouthShore, Kansas City (40-52) will start a four-game away series against Fargo-Moorhead (48-44) on Monday night, with the first pitch set for 7:05. All of the action can be heard at TBonesBaseball.com.
– Story from Matt Fulks, T-Bones