NL Gary SouthShore Railcats

RailCats Score Seven in Second but T-Bones Win 10-7

Published on August 8, 2009 under Northern League (NL)
Gary SouthShore Railcats News Release


KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The Gary SouthShore RailCats scored seven times on nine hits in the second inning but had only one base hit after the third as the Kansas City T-Bones came from behind to win 10-7 Saturday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, snapping the ‘Cats five-game win streak.

The T-Bones scored runs in six of their eight offensive innings and put an astounding 27 runners on base in the game thanks to 18 hits, six walks, a hit batsman and three first inning RailCats errors. The T-Bones scored the final eight runs of the game without reply from the RailCats and had at least one hit in every inning, stranding 17 in the game.

Kansas City jumped on the ‘Cats for two first inning runs thanks to some porous defense, as each of the first two runners in the inning reached on errors and the T-Bones eventually scored a pair of unearned runs thanks to three RailCats miscues.

In the second, however, the RailCats responded in a big way. Steve Haake led off the inning with a single and scored moments later when Cristian Guerrero hit a mammoth home run over the RailCats bullpen in left-center - his seventh and third of the week - to tie the score at two. Two batters later Brett Wallace tripled and he scored the go-ahead run when Jordan Czarniecki reached on an infield hit. Three batters later with runners on first and second, Rob Marconi and Mike Massaro executed a double steal before both came in on an Eric McNamee single. Haake picked up his second hit of the inning two batters later to drive in a run and Jeff Beachum - the 12th RailCat to hit in the inning - walked with the bases loaded to force home the seventh run. All told, the RailCats scored seven times on nine hits - five coming with two outs - and sent 13 men to the plate.

Up 7-2 with Chris Jones on the mound, the game seemed under control but Kansas City immediately went back to work and never did let up. Damian Rolls and Greg Jacobs hit back-to-back solo home runs in the second with two outs and Aharon Eggleston collected an RBI single in the third to make it 7-5. After a scoreless fourth, Craig Hurba came through with a two-out, two-run single to tie the score in the fifth and chase Jones from the game. The right-hander had the worst outing of his RailCats career, allowing 13 hits and seven runs (five earned) in 4.2 innings.

Tristan Facer (0-2) finished the sixth but got in trouble quickly in the seventh, walking Neb Brown in front of Ryan Fox, who launched his 20th home run of the year to complete the comeback and give Kansas City a 9-7 lead. The T-Bones tacked on another run in the eighth to round out the scoring. Kansas City had runners on base in every inning and stranded at least two men in seven of their eight offensive innings.

Ryan Knippschild bore the brunt of the RailCats big second inning, leaving with one out in the third after allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits in 2.1 innings. The Kansas City bullpen, however, was untouchable and surrendered just one base hit in 6.2 combined sparkling innings. Cody McAllister (6-3) did the biggest job, going 3.2 innings in front of an inning each from Justin James, Daniel Sattler and Nate Cotton, who nailed down his eighth save.

The loss snapped the RailCats five-game winning streak but kept the ‘Cats only 1.5 games out of first place after league-leading Winnipeg lost to Schaumburg at home for the second straight night. The RailCats magic number to clinch a fifth straight playoff berth also stayed put at 10.

The RailCats (45-31) and T-Bones (34-42) play the third game of their five-game set on Sunday night at 5:05 p.m. when Garret Holleran (2-2, 2.61 ERA) makes his seventh RailCats start against Kansas City right-hander Chris Rhoads (5-3, 5.38 ERA). That game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

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Northern League Stories from August 8, 2009


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