By MATT FULKS, tbonesbaseball.com
KANSAS CITY, KAN.
SUNDAY: T.J. Mittelstaedt’s first home run of the year helped the T-Bones to a 7-3 win over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks on Sunday Night in front of 5,826 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
Kansas City once again played with an early deficit after Ronnie Bourquin cashed in on a Zach Penprase double with a two out, RBI single in the first. Tim Alberts followed suit in the second, lacing a double down the left field line and then coming around to score on a Travis Higgs single that extended the Fargo-Moorhead advantage to 2-0.
Kansas City finally got to RedHawks’ starter Taylor Stanton in the fourth with a Nick Giarraputo RBI double that scored Bryan Sabatella. Stanton would quickly regain form, however, and strike out Mittelstaedt, stranding two and preserving a 2-1 Fargo lead.
The T-Bones would take control in the sixth. David Espinosa led off the inning with a triple and later scored on a Danny Richar single that tied the game at 2-2. Vladimir Frias then singled and scored Sabatella, who had previously legged out an infield single. That gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead.
With runners still at the corners, Fargo-Moorhead called on ace reliever Joe Harris, who hadn’t given up a run in four outings, to escape the jam but saw him instead serve up a three-run homer to Mittelstaedt that gave Kansas City a 6-2 lead. That was the second home run in three games for the T-Bones, who had previously been held homerless in their first five home games.
“This offense is too good to be in the rut they have been in for too long,” manager John Massarelli said of the T-Bones five-run third.
Daniel Barone (1-0) picked up his first win of the season while Stanton (0-2) took the loss. Jared Messer got the save (1) for Kansas City.
With the win, Kansas City finishes up the home stand with an even 2-2 mark and a 5-6 record overall before embarking on a seven-game road trip Monday night.
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SATURDAY: The Kansas City T-Bones saw a one-run lead erased in the ninth inning, before falling 7-4 to Fargo-Moorhead in front of 5,016 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday night.
Clinging to a 4-3 lead, relief pitcher Chris Squires was three outs away from notching his second save. He gave up a leadoff triple to Tim Alberts who was later brought home as the tying run on an error by Vladimir Frias.
Manager John Massarelli then called on pitcher Chris Squires (1-1) with two on and one out. Squires surrendered a two-RBI double to Sawyer Carroll, and an RBI single to Ronnie Bourquin in the first two batters he saw. That’s all the RedHawks needed.
“You can’t have mental and defensive lapses late in the game or it’s going to cost you,” said Massarelli, whose T-Bones are now 4-6.
The T-Bones scored all four of their runs in the third. Trailing 2-0 with two outs and the bases loaded, Bryan Sabatella and Nick Giarraputo ripped back-to-back two-RBI singles, giving Kansas City a 4-2 lead.
Matt Smith made his first start in a T-Bones uniform. Smith, who left with a lead after five innings, gave up three runs off seven hits. The RedHawks got to Smith quickly, though, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. They tacked on another run in the top of the third after Zach Penprase tripled into left field and was brought home on a sacrifice fly. C.J. Retherford clobbered a solo shot in the top of the fourth over the left field wall cutting the deficit to one run.
