By MATT FULKS, tbonesbaseball.com
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas City T-Bones used a strong defensive outing and timely hitting in Saturday night’s 6-2 win over the Lincoln Saltdogs at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
More than once the defense came up big, keeping the Saltdogs from clawing back in it, but one stood out in particular.
The Saltdogs were threatening with the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh, when T-Bones reliever Zach Fowler snagged a liner from Kevin Howard and tossed it over to third for the double play. Fowler then struck out the final batter and got out of the seventh-inning jam.
In spite of getting only six hits off Lincoln pitchers, the T-Bones cracked the scoreboard with two runs off only one hit.
Right fielder Bryan Sabatella smoked a leadoff single through the left side and scored when left fielder T.J. Mittelstaedt reached on a fielder’s choice. Third baseman Nick Giarraputo was hit by a pitch and scored the second run of the inning on a ground out.
Kansas City tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a pair of singles from Sabatella and Robby Kuzdale, and took a 4-1 lead over the Saltdogs. Sabatella and Kuzdale were the only T-Bones players with more than one hit.
They had two apiece. Kuzdale scored Kansas City’s first earned run of the game in the seventh, on a base hit to center by Danny Richar.
Pat Doyle (1-0) struck out two, gave up two runs and nine hits, in five innings.
With the win, the T-Bones now have their first winning record of the year at 2-1.
