By MATT FULKS, tbonesbaseball.com
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- SUNDAY: After a shaky first inning, starting pitcher Rick Zagone led the T-Bones to a 7-6 victory against the Laredo Lemurs on Sunday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
Zagone pitched 6 1/3 innings, surrendering seven hits and giving up five earned runs. He walked no batters and struck out four. Zagone improves his record to 4-0 for the season.
Laredo sent seven batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring three runs on RBI doubles by Travis Denker and Gerardo Avila. Zagone then retired 15 Lemur batters in a row.
Danny Richar led the T-Bones offensively, going 3 for 4 with a two-run home run, an RBI single and a stolen base. The homer was his second of the season.
David Espinosa added to the T-Bones scoring with a two-RBI triple in the third inning. He also scored two runs on the day.
Darrell Hudson and Brian Erie also chipped in with one RBI apiece.
Laredo attempted a comeback, scoring two runs in the seventh. One was on a sacrifice fly by Josh Scheffert and the other on an RBI single by Nick Van Stratten.
With the win, the T-Bones (12-12) take the series against Laredo two games to one. The team resumes action on Tuesday night in Wichita. The T-Bones return home on June 17 with a three-game series against Sioux City. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.
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SATURDAY: Nick Giarraputo’s first home run of his T-Bones career couldn’t have come at a better time. It was the final run in a three-run fourth inning that helped propel Kansas City to a 5-3 win over Laredo in front of 5,922 Saturday night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
Laredo struck first with a familiar weapon, the long ball. In the bottom of the second, John Alonso launched a solo home run off Kansas City starter Pat Doyle (2-2).
Trailing 1-0 and looking for their first hit of the game, the T-Bones got to Laredo starter Josh Strawn in the fourth inning. Danny Richar led off the inning with a triple and was brought home as Nick Schwaner flew out to center. Vladimir Frias then reached second on a throwing error by shortstop Devin Goodwin. Two pitches later — a steal and then a wild pitch — Frias scored. That’s when Giarraputo roped a solo shot over the mini-monster in left that gave Kansas City a 3-1 lead.
David Espinosa tacked on an insurance run in the fifth with a two-out triple to deep center, and was advanced home on throwing error to third by Travis Denker.
Doyle allowed just six hits off three runs and struck out five. Kris Regas notched his fifth save with a scoreless ninth. Giarraputo went two for three and scored two runs.
