After each team scored a run in the first inning, Sioux Falls sent nine to the plate in the top of the third against T-Bones starter Mike Kickham. After Ethan Chapman and Darwin Perez led off the inning with back-to-back singles, Kickham struck out Jake Taylor. J.C. Linares then grounded out but scored Chapman and advanced Perez to third. A wild pitch brought Perez home extending the Canaries’ lead to 3-1. Sioux Falls did not stop there. Kickham issued back-to-back walks to Blake Schmit and Cameron Monger, before Patrick Fiala smashed a three-run home run, his third of the year, giving Sioux Falls a 6-1 lead.

 

Sioux Falls starter Ray Hanson, who hadn’t won a game in 2016, had plenty of runs with which to work. Hanson did not allow a walk and he struck out seven in 7 innings. From the final out in the second inning until the first out in the seventh, Hanson (1-7), who allowed only four hits in the game, retired 14 straight.

 

After Sioux Falls added a run in the top of the seventh, Ryan Retz cut the lead to 7-2 in the eighth with his second home run of the season and the T-Bones’ first since August 28. Retz also hit Kansas City’s last home run on the 28th at Gary. In the ninth, Anthony Gallas belted a one-out triple to straight away center. Tyson Gillies scored Gallas when he reached on an error by Canaries first baseman Taylor, cutting it to a 7-3 Sioux Falls lead.

 

Sioux Falls took an early 1-0 lead when Chapman led off the game with a single and eventually scored from third on a double steal. The T-Bones answered in the bottom of the first when Dalton Wheat led off with a single and stole second before Jake Blackwood singled for the 1-1 tie.

 

In spite of the rough first and third innings, Kickham (3-5) retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. He allowed seven hits and six runs (all earned), while walking three and striking out six in 6 innings.

 

Kansas City (41-57), which has lost three straight overall and six consecutive at home, continues the four-game series against Sioux Falls (39-59) Sunday night at 7:05. Tickets are available by calling the Providence Medical Center Box Office at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 913-328-5618.

 

 

– T-Bones –