SATURDAY: The T-Bones will be happy when Tim Alberts leaves Kansas City. The Amarillo right fielder hit his third home run in two games and led the Sox to a 4-2 win over the T-Bones on Saturday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
In the fourth inning, with the game tied at 1-1, Alberts launched a home run to left-center, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead. Amarillo added two more runs in the fifth when Adam Buschini hit a two-run home run to left.
With all due respect to the T-Bones’ pitchers, most teams have struggled against Alberts this season. Alberts began Saturday night with a .491 batting average.
“We left balls up to (Alberts) again tonight in his first couple of at-bats,” said T-Bones manager Kenny Hook. “Then, we threw all breaking balls later in the game.”
Kansas City added one more run in the bottom of the sixth when Trevor Coleman scored Ray Sadler on a sacrifice fly.
“Grening left a couple of pitches up that were hit out, but he certainly pitched well enough to win,” Hook said. “We should’ve gotten to (Christensen) earlier. I thought we’d put up more than two runs.”
The T-Bones (7-8) will face Amarillo (8-7) for the series finale on Sunday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, with first pitch set for 5:05. Josh Rainwater (1-2) is scheduled to pitch for Kansas City against Chuck Lofgren (0-1) for Amarillo.
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FRIDAY: Despite two home runs and solid defense, the Kansas City T-Bones fell 10-7 to Tim Alberts and the Amarillo Sox on Friday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
A combination of good hitting by Amarillo and control problems for T-Bones’ starter Matt Mitchell (1-2) helped the Sox hold a lead most of the game. Alberts, who’s batting .491 on the season, led the Sox with a 5-for-5 night, including two home runs and six runs batted in.
Trailing 10-5 heading into the seventh, the T-Bones appeared to be headed for a big inning after Reid Fronk and Trevor Coleman delivered RBI singles with the bases loaded and one out.
However, Amarillo brought in Wes Littleton, a sidearm pitcher who got two quick outs and ended the inning with the Sox holding a 10-7 lead.
“He did a good job with his pitches in that stretch, plus seeing a guy with a different arm angle affects you,” Hook said. “I thought we had them there. That was the difference in the game."
The T-Bones played from behind most of the night. The only exception came in the second inning.
With Amarillo leading 1-0, Kansas City’s Devin Goodwin launched a two-run homer to left, putting the T-Bones up 2-1. That was Kansas City’s only lead of the game.
