Tuesday, July 16, 2013

T-Bones ride hit parade to victory over AirHogs

By MATT FULKS, tbonesbaseball.com

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Twelve hits, including a grand slam by Kyle Nichols in the fifth inning, gave the Kansas City T-Bones their first series-opening victory in more than a month in a 9-3 rout of the Grand Prairie AirHogs at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Monday night.

Nichols’ shot to left was the first T-Bones grand slam since Ray Sadler’s on August 29, 2012. The homer, against Grand Prairie starter Brandon Bargas (3-3), was the second for Nichols since joining the club on July 4.

“It was a breaking ball that was left up and it might even have been out of the strike zone,” said T-Bones manager Kenny Hook. “Good middle of the lineup guys will hit the ball hard when guys make mistakes and leave the ball up in the zone. It just so happens in that instance that we had the bases loaded.”

Devin Goodwin added a pair of RBIs in the fifth and sixth innings, and Kennard Jones and Steve Yoo also drove runners in.

T-Bones starter Shaun Garceau (4-6) collected his fourth win in his last five starts. Garceau struck out four over six innings while allowing eight hits. Defensively, the T-Bones turned three double plays in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

The T-Bones (20-36) and AirHogs (29-24) continue their three-game series on Tuesday night at 7:05 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618 or at tbonesbaseball.com.