05/22/2004 2:42 PM - The Kansas City T-Bones put up a six-pack in their first three innings and held on to defeat the Lincoln Saltdogs 7-5 in front of 5,846 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.

Rick Prieto walked to lead off the bottom of the first and promptly stole second. Three batters later, Ray Brown hit his second homer of the season to put the T-Bones up 2-0.

Lincoln came back with a run in the top of the second when Darren Doskocil scored on a single by JuJu Foreman, but the T-Bones plated three in the bottom of the second on back to back singles by Chris LePine and Rick Prieto.

Back to back doubles by Eddie Pearson and Ray Brown gave the T-Bones a 5-1 lead, and Brown scored on Cody Nowlin's single for the sixth Kansas City run, chasing Lincoln starter Darren Truty.

Lincoln cut the lead to 6-3 when Bryan Warner smacked a two-run double against T-Bones starter Caleb Balbuena. But the T-Bones came right back with one in their half of the inning when Ray Brown doubled to lead things off and came around to score on Matt Ceriani's fielder's choice.

The Saltdogs had three consecutive hits against T-Bones reliever Clint Marcus to score a run. But reliever Matt McClellan retired all three batters he saw in the seventh, allowing one of the inherited runners to score on a sacrifice fly. McClellan worked a scoreless eighth and D.J. Johnson a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the season.

With six innings of work and three runs allowed (one earned), Balbuena picks up his first win since returning from Tommy John surgery. Darren Truty takes the loss for the Saltdogs.

Tomorrow night, RHP Jon McDonald takes the hill for the T-Bones against RHP Hideki Nagasaka in a 5:05 game at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in the final game of the series.