Monday, June 17, 2013

Kansas City drops late lead to AirHogs in series opener

By MATT FULKS, tbonesbaseball.com

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A late battle awakened the Kansas City offense but it wasn’t enough to power past Grand Prairie in a 9-4 loss at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Monday night.

Kansas City broke through Grand Prairie defense after being held scoreless by AirHogs starter Brandon Bargas through six innings. Kansas City scored its first run of the game off a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth by Matt Padgett – his team-leading 10th of the season.

A Felix Molina two-run double in the following inning evened the score, before Padgett hit an RBI single that scored Molina and gave the T-Bones a 4-3 lead. Padgett ended the night going four for four.

In the seventh, though, the AirHogs put together a three-run rally against Devin Anderson (0-1).

The floodgates opened, and Grand Prairie expanded its lead with three more in the ninth.

The T-Bones finished the night with 11 hits.

“We got plenty of hits, as we’ve done several times this season,” said T-Bones manager Kenny Hook, “but guys aren’t getting crucial hits in big situations. When you have a pitcher or a team against the ropes, you need to keep adding pressure. We didn’t do that.”

Shaun Garceau started the game for Kansas City and struck out seven without walking any in 6 2/3 innings.

The three-game series against Kansas City and Grand Prairie continues Tuesday night at 7:05.

Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618 or at tbonesbaseball.com.