T-Bones Take Down Tornadoes 11-4
August 9, 2012 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Worcester Tornadoes News Release
Baseball is a game of inches and sometimes those inches add up real quick. Kansas City racked up fours runs in back-to-back innings after several close plays to earn an 11-4 victory Thursday night over the Tornadoes at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field.
The T-Bones took advantage of four Tornadoes errors and several bad hops to score eight straight runs to grab a 9-2 lead and never looked back.
Chris Torres led the way for Worcester offensively with a two-run home run and two runs on the night. Cam Kneeland finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored and Tony Patane added two hits and an RBI.
Designated hitter Mike Gedman and left fielder Brendon Kelliher tacked on two hits apiece, as Worcester amassed 11 hits on the night.
Despite the high hits total, T-Bones starter Brian Grening amassed a very impressive outing. The right-handed pitcher earned his team-high eight wins going eight innings striking out five, while walking no batters.
Kansas City jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning without hitting the ball out of the infield. Enrique Cruz singled to lead off the inning and stole second base before reaching third on a groundout. Justin Bass recorded his first of three RBI with a single to shortstop that scored Cruz.
The Tornadoes took their only lead of the game an inning later, when Worcester put together their longest rally of the game. Gedman started the rally with a broken-bat, but was erased on a Torres fielder's-choice. Kneeland put two runners in scoring position with a deep double to right center. Alex Nunez drove in the first run with a fielder's choice groundout to first in which Torres just beat the throw home, before Patane drove a bloop single to center to plate Kneeland.
Rookie starter Conner Hulse couldn't keep the lead for very long, as the T-Bones scored four runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Kansas City used four hits in each half inning, capped off by a two-run Lee Cruz homer in the fourth and a two-run Brandon Jones two-run single in the fifth.
Hulse couldn't get out of the sixth, as he finished the night allowing nine runs on 10 hits in five and two-thirds innings.
The Tornadoes got two runs back in the eight innings with three straight hits against Grening. Gedman lined a double to right field and walked home when Torres hit a moon-shot home run for his tenth homer of the season. Kneeland followed up with a single, but Grening induced a 4-6-3 double play from Mike Samela to end his outing.
Bryan Leigh worked two scoreless innings out of the pen for the Tornadoes, who were shorthanded after using all but two relievers in Wednesday's 15-inning loss at New Jersey.
Worcester and Kansas City will be back in action Friday night when Mike Gedman takes on right-hander Shaun Garceau. Make sure to come out to the HIP to check out the Atlas Fireworks Show after the game.
Canadian American League Stories from August 9, 2012
- Jackals Turn Pitchers Duel To Slugfest; Explode For 10 Runs In Ninth - New Jersey Jackals
- New Jersey scores 10 runs in the top of the ninth to blow past Rockland - New York Boulders
- T-Bones Take Down Tornadoes 11-4 - Worcester Tornadoes
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