GAME NOTES 7/407/04/2012 5:49 PM - NEWS AND NOTES Wiley navigates another bases-loaded jam successfully In the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday night, Sioux Falls had a chance to take back the lead from Kansas City. Following T-Bones reliever Drew Bailey’s ejection, Jake Wiley entered the game with the bases loaded and nobody out. Wiley recorded a fielder’s choice, as third baseman Enrique Cruz retired the lead runner at the plate. Wiley then struck out Cory Morales, and Jared Bolden grounded out to first. “I knew that was a tough situation coming in,” Wiley said. “After that thing with Bailey, I was coming in cold, but you can't think about things like that. You've just got to go out and throw strikes.” Wiley also wriggled out of a tricky situation in his last appearance at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, when he loaded the bases in the ninth inning in the final game of the T-Bones series against Amarillo but got the outs and ultimately came away with his seventh save of the season. Each member of Kansas City lineup gets at least one hit on Tuesday. All nine T-Bones batters hit safely at least once in game one of the team’s series against the Pheasants. Justin Bass, Trevor Coleman, Ray Sadler, Hunter Mense and Jose Duran all hit singles. Devin Goodwin doubled, and Bubby Williams and Enrique Cruz both homered. The only Kansas City player with more than one hit was Gus Milner, who singled twice. Garceau remains undefeated Since last night’s starter, righty Shaun Garceau, replaced Matt Mitchell in the Kansas City starting rotation, he has gone 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA over 33 innings pitched, allowing just six earned runs while striking out 23 batters. On Tuesday Garceau allowed four runs – three of them unearned – on nine hits through six innings. He walked one and struck out four. Mehlich gets his third save Mike Mehlich entered Tuesday night’s game in the top of the ninth inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced, earning his third save of the season. His ERA is now 1.80, and over eight appearances he has struck out seven in 10 innings pitched. SERIES NOTES Sizing up Sioux Falls The Sioux Falls Pheasants are currently in second place in the North Division with a record of 24-19. Following a four-game series sweep of the Gary SouthShore RailCats, the Pheasants entered this week’s series in Kansas City on a five-game winning streak. Cristian Guerrero, the cousin of perennial Major League All-Star Vladimir Guerrero, provides a huge boost to the Sioux Falls offense, as his 12 home runs this season are the second most in the league. St. Louis, Mo., native Jonny Kaplan leads the Pheasants with a .340 average. Sioux Falls has six players who have accumulated a .300 or better average in at least 135 official at-bats. On the mound, Thursday’s scheduled starter Mark Michael leads the team with five wins. In his last four starts, Michael is 4-0 and has allowed only three earned runs over 27 innings. Kyle Mertins has performed well out of the bullpen, leading Sioux Falls with a team-low 1.05 ERA. Used primarily as a setup man, Mertins has struck out 30 batters while only walking seven in 25 2/3 innings of work. Last Time against the Pheasants This week will be the first series between the T-Bones and the Pheasants since last season, when the teams split a four-game series in Sioux Falls, S.D. Monday, June 20, 2011 Sioux Falls jumped out to an early lead on its way to a 9-5 victory in the first game of a four-game series against the T-Bones last year. The Pheasants scored four runs on four hits in the first inning against Kansas City pitcher Matt Mitchell, who is still part of the T-Bones rotation. One of the home runs hit against Mitchell came off the bat of Gus Milner, then with the Pheasants, who is now a regular in Kansas City’s lineup. Ray Sadler, who returned to the T-Bones in 2012 after playing abroad earlier in the year, blasted a two-run homer in the game. Kala Ka’aihue, who just recently retired from baseball after beginning the season with the T-Bones, also hit a two-run homer that night. Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Kansas City exacted some revenge in game two of the series, dominating Sioux Falls 16-3. Ka’aihue hit two home runs in the game, and Sadler went two-for-six with six RBIs. Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Sioux Falls regained its advantage in the series with a 6-3 win in game three. The Pheasants took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and the T-Bones could not come back from the deficit. Thursday, June 23, 2011 The T-Bones overcame a 5-0 deficit with nine straight runs, salvaging the series split with a 9-5 victory. The Pheasants took an early lead against Kansas City pitcher Devin Anderson, who is still part of the T-Bones rotation, by scoring three in the first inning and two in the second. The T-Bones’ comeback began when the team scored six runs in the top of the sixth inning and took a 6-5 lead. They scored two more in the eighth and one in the ninth. Kansas City pitcher Andy Shipman, now the T-Bones’ pitching coach, struck out two of three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth, sealing the win. One Year Ago Today … The T-Bones earned a split in their two-game series against the Wichita Wingnuts with a 6-3 victory in front of 7,289 fans at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Independence Day. The game featured several players now with the T-Bones in 2012, including pitcher Devin Anderson, closer Andy Shipman, infielder Jose Duran and outfielder Ray Sadler. Anderson is still part of Kansas City’s starting rotation, Shipman is now the pitching coach, Duran is now a regular member of the T-Bones lineup and Sadler rejoined the club after playing in Italy earlier in the year. On July 4, 2011, the Wingnuts took an early lead against Anderson in the second, using three straight one-out singles to force in the first run before a two-out, two-run single by Duran made the score 3-0. That was all Anderson would allow over six innings of work. He surrendered three runs on seven hits while striking out six. Chad Sherman held the T-Bones scoreless until the third inning, when Sadler hit a three-run home run to tie the game at three. Kansas City took the lead in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Aharon Eggleston. Eggleston drove in another run with a single in the sixth to give the T-Bones a two-run advantage. Prentice Redman opened the seventh with a solo home run to cap the score at 6-3. Martin Dewald and Steven Stewart each threw a scoreless inning of relief for Kansas City. Shipman earned his ninth save with a perfect ninth. Promotions: Fun…Well Done Tonight: - Special 4th of July $4 GA/Berm tickets. - Sizzle autograph session. - $1 hot dogs with any beverage purchase. - Post-game catch on the field by Conventry Health Care. - Post-game fireworks show by Verizon. Thursday: - $1 12 oz beers all night. Friday: - Turn Back the Clock Night: T-Bones Salute KC Royals All-Stars of the Past, presented by COUNTRY Financial. Meet John Mayberry, Amos Otis, Fred Patek, Hal McRae, Willie Wilson and Frank White. - Salute to America Theme Night. Wear Red, White & Blue and receive buy-one-get-one-free GA/Berm tickets. - Appearance by the Falcon Skydiving Team. T-Bones commemorate 10-year anniversary The beginning of the 2012 T-Bones baseball season marks the 10th year the club has been in Kansas City. For the 10 years the T-Bones have been in Kansas City, they have called the award-winning CommunityAmerica Ballpark their home. In 2008, the T-Bones were champions of the Northern League as they topped the Gary SouthShore RailCats in the championship series. This season marks the second for the T-Bones in the American Association. |