NL Gary SouthShore Railcats

RailCats Beat T-Bones 7-6, Earn Series Win in Kansas City

Published on August 11, 2009 under Northern League (NL)
Gary SouthShore Railcats News Release


KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Daniel Sattler plunked pinch-hitter Chris Carrara with the bases loaded in the ninth and Grant Johnson worked out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth to give the Gary SouthShore RailCats a 7-6 win and a series win over the Kansas City T-Bones at CommunityAmerica Ballpark Tuesday night.

With the game tied 6-6 after three innings, the pitchers took center stage for the first time in the series to keep the game square at six all the way into the ninth. That's when Jay Pecci cracked a leadoff single against Payton Tweddale (1-4) and moved to second on a one-out walk to Cristian Guerrero. Mike Rohde came up next and was hit by a pitch from the lefty specialist, loading the bases and bringing Daniel Sattler into the game to face the pinch-hitting Carrara. On the second pitch of the at bat, Sattler came up and in and drilled Carrara to force in Pecci with the winning run.

Johnson, on in the ninth with regular closer Andy Shipman unavailable, gave up an Aharon Eggleston single to lead off the inning and Eggleston hustled all the way to third one batter later when Damian Rolls grounded out weakly to third. Jim Fasano was intentionally walked before Johnson got Jacob Blackwood to pop out and Neb Brown to hit into a game-ending fielder's choice to Eric McNamee at second. The save was Johnson's second of the season.

The game started much the same way as Monday's wild affair, with Kansas City starter Daniel Duclos unable to find the strike zone. After two first inning walks, Guerrero lined a two-out base hit to score the first RailCats run. In the second, Duclos faced six batters and allowed five to reach on three walks and two hit-by-pitches. Duclos came out of the game after walking Steve Haake to load the bases and the T-Bones down 2-0.

Justin James was sent in to face Guerrero in the second but his 1-1 pitch was wild, bringing Jeff Beachum in from third and also Pecci when catcher Craig Hurba's throw back towards home plate was off the mark. Two pitches later, Guerrero rendered the wild pitches moot with this third home run of the series, a two-run blast clear out of the stadium to make it 6-0. Guerrero has five home runs and 15 RBI in his last ten games, and went 7-for-20 in the series with those three longballs and nine RBI.

Kansas City erased the deficit quickly, however, getting a Hurba home run in the second and then five more in the third against spot-starter Tom Thornton. Rolls hit a two-run home run and Hurba a two-run single as part of the game-tying rally.

The RailCats bullpen was excellent Tuesday night, starting with Tristan Facer who struck out four over two scoreless, hitless innings. Eddie De la Cruz (5-1) gave up a two-out Jeff Helps single in the eighth but struck out Mark Minicozzi to end the inning and earn the win.

The RailCats scored at least seven runs in every game of the series and took three-of-five despite three times coughing up leads of five runs or larger (including Tuesday). The 'Cats scored a combined 40 runs on 60 hits in the series, while the T-Bones went off for a combined 42 runs on 63 hits in the five games.

The RailCats (47-32) will take Wednesday off before beginning a showdown four-game series against the league-leading Winnipeg Goldeyes (47-29) Thursday night at 7 p.m. Thursday is the final NIEMI Associates Money Giveaway of 2009, with the first 1,000 fans picking up an envelope filled wish cash, including one special envelope containing $1,000! It's also Thirsty Thursday, with $2 MGD and Miller Lite drafts available all night long to fans 21-and-over.

Derell McCall (4-0, 2.82 ERA) will start Thursday night for the RailCats against Winnipeg right-hander Andrew Cruse (5-5, 4.91 ERA). The game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Notes: With the win, the RailCats reduced their magic number to clinch a fifth-straight playoff berth to six ... Tuesday's game was the last of the regular season between the two clubs, with the RailCats winning the season series 10-6 over the T-Bones and splitting the eight games in Kansas City ... the RailCats drew nine walks in the game and earned 20 free passes over the final two games of the series. The RailCats were also hit by four pitches in Tuesday's game.

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Northern League Stories from August 11, 2009


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