NL Gary SouthShore Railcats

Guerrero's double caps wild Railcats win in KC

Published on August 10, 2009 under Northern League (NL)
Gary SouthShore Railcats News Release


KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Cristian Guerrero's two-out double in the top of the tenth inning gave the Gary SouthShore RailCats a nail-biting 10-9 (10 inning) win over the Kansas City T-Bones Monday night in the latest chapter of a wild series at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.

The fourth slugfest in as many days between the two clubs featured a myriad of late inning comebacks for the second night in a row, as after the T-Bones tied the score with a three-run seventh before Rob Marconi knocked home Mike Rohde with a two-out, check swing single in the ninth to put the RailCats in front 9-8. Kansas City would get the tying run in the bottom of the ninth on a Jacob Blackwood sacrifice fly before the ‘Cats finally ended it in the tenth.

Eric McNamee led off the 10th inning by drawing a walk against Cody McAllister (6-4), although McNamee was quickly replaced at first by Jay Pecci after a fielder's choice groundout. With two outs and Pecci now at second on a wild pitch, Guerrero hit a line drive to the wall in left-center to score Pecci easily. Andy Shipman (4-2), who had given up the lead in the ninth, got Damian Rolls to line out to Guerrero with the tying run on second in the bottom of the inning to end the nearly four hour game.

Guerrero went 2-for-6 with a team-high four RBI, getting his first three with a three-run home run to cap a six-run fourth inning. Guerrero's eighth longball of the year came after McNamee hit a run-scoring double and Pecci cracked a two-run single against reliever Weston Curles. The RailCats led 7-2 after their fourth inning, but for the second time in three games a five run lead was not enough.

Rolls and Greg Jacobs hit solo home runs against RailCats starter Tony Cogan, and Mark Minicozzi added a two-run, two-out single in the bottom of the fourth to make it 7-4. Jordan Czarniecki extended the RailCats lead again with his second home run of the series - a solo shot - in the fifth, but Kansas City put five straight runners on with two outs in the seventh to tie the score, capped by a two-run Blackwood double.

The RailCats got the scoring started in the second inning against T-Bones left-hander Chris Graves, who was making his professional debut. Graves allowed only one hit but he walked six of the 11 men he faced, including McNamee with the bases loaded in the second to end his night. Graves went 1.2 innings and was replaced by Curles, who allowed seven runs on six hits in 3.1 innings of relief.

The RailCats had 11 hits in the game and also drew a season-high 10 walks, including nine in the first four frames. Every RailCats starter but Guerrero walked in the game, including McNamee, Steve Haake and Mike Massaro, who walked twice. Massaro and Haake both had big offensive games, with Haake going 2-for-3 with two doubles, while Massaro was on base four times (two walks, a single and double) from the leadoff spot. Every RailCats starter reached base at least once for the fourth straight game in the series.

Cogan allowed eight runs on 11 hits in 6.2 innings for the RailCats before Kyle Heyne replaced him out of the bullpen and retired all four batters he faced.

Kansas City collected 14 more hits Monday, led by three each from Rolls and Jacobs. The T-Bones have scored 31 runs in the last three games on 45 hits and bashed two more home runs Monday, bringing their four-game series total to nine longballs. Not to be outdone, the RailCats have hit six homers in the series and scored a combined 26 runs on 38 hits the last three nights.

The RailCats (46-32) and T-Bones (35-43) bring their long five-game series to an end Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. Tom Thornton (7-5, 5.85 ERA) will make his first start since July for the RailCats against Kansas City right-hander Derek Duclos (1-3, 4.64 ERA). The game will be broadcast live on 89.l1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Notes: With the win, the RailCats moved within 1.5 games of first place Winnipeg and reduced their magic number to clinch a fifth straight playoff berth to eight ... Guerrero has hit four home runs in his last nine games, with three of them coming in Kansas City ... Rohde extended his on-base streak to 14 games ... Kansas City's Aharon Eggleston extended his on-base streak to 37 games with a 10th inning single.

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