by Nolan Brooks
The Kansas City T-Bones, (12-13), came into game three against the Cleburne Railroaders, (13-13), looking to extend their win streak to three games and sweep the series, but Cleburne had other plans as they stole game three 7-6 with a two-run eighth inning.
Robert Calvano, (0-2), who appeared in relief for KC, was tagged the loss, and Martire Garcia, (1-1), was tagged the win for Cleburne.
There is a first time for everything, and Danny Mars proved it by smashing his first home run as a T-Bone over the right field wall to put the T-Bones up 1-0 in the top half of the first inning. The Railroaders wasted no time though after a double from Zach Nehrir and a single from Chase Simpson would tie the ballgame at one run a piece in the bottom of the first.
The bats would go quiet for both teams until a resurgence single from Roy Morales in the top of the fifth that would start a chain of events for the T-Bones. With a two-run fifth, Kansas City would take the 3-1 lead, making that the 16th run scored by the T-Bones in the fifth inning so far this year.
Cleburne would not go down quietly. After a walk and a double, a three-run rocket shot home run from Zach Nehrir put the Railroaders up 5-3 through the fifth inning.
The four-run fifth inning that ended Magliaro’s four scoreless innings, marked that as the 22nd run and fifth home run given up in the fifth inning alone this year by KC. As soon as the bats heated back up, the ice pack was applied as Cleburne and Kansas City both went quiet again, going scoreless for another four innings.
The rally towels came alive for the T-Bones in the eighth after a double from Casey Gillaspie scored two runs, and a cherry-on-top single from Roy Morales scored Gillaspie to give the T-Bones a 6-5 lead with two outs on the board.
Cleburne had their own rally towels though after a two-out triple from Grant Buck cleared the bases and give Cleburne a 7-6 lead after eight innings, breaking the T-Bones’ lead.
As soon as Kansas City seemed to have a win in their grasp, Cleburne responded with late-game heroics, ending 7-6.
The T-Bones continue their road trip as they head to take on the Texas AirHogs in a four-game series this weekend, including a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. The game can be heard on the T-Bones Broadcast Network, at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/. with a first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.
Full and half-season 2019 ticket packages as well as mini plans are on sale online or by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale.
- Story from T-Bones