Kansas City, Kan. –It may be the dog days of summer, but it wasn’t the Lincoln Saltdogs’ day as the

T-Bones welcomed them to Kansas City by handing them a loss on Tuesday night. The T-Bones defeated the Saltdogs 6–3 at home for an upbeat opening to their second series in their lengthy homestand.

The T-Bones started strong in the field, with the T-Bones’ fielding and pitching keeping the Saltdogs from getting past second base all the way until the sixth inning. It was a battle of the goose eggs for the first three innings, until the T-Bones blew it wide open in the fourth, making it all the way through their batting order and tying a season high for hits in an inning.

To start the fourth inning, Mason Davis hit a double to left field. Todd Cunningham followed that with a single that had him racing to first base just in time to put runners at first and third.  Colin Walsh came up to bat next and hit a ball right past the shortstop, giving Davis time to score one for the T-Bones and resulting in a 1-0 lead. The inning still wasn’t over as Noah Perio Jr. came up to bat and hit a single that sent Todd Cunningham home and doubled the T-Bones’ lead at 2-0.  Adrian Nieto was then hit by a pitch from starter Joe Bircher to load the bases. New T-Bones Alay Lago then drove in a run with an infield single and was followed by Dexter Kjerstad who hit a sacrifice fly to center to score another run to give KC a 4-0 lead. Keith Curcio drove in the fifth run in the inning for a 5-1 T-Bones advantage.

The Saltdogs weren’t able to answer in the fifth as pitcher Adam Bleday took over for the T-Bones. A single for Perio Jr. and a double for Nieto put Kansas City back in a threatening position, but they couldn’t score as Lago flied out to center field for the third out. Pasquale Mazzoccoli came in to pitch for the T-Bones in the sixth and walked the bases load.  The Saltdogs came back and scored a run on an RBI single from Randolph Oduber. Another pitching change for the T-Bones brought Kevin Hill, who came in to try and stop the Saltdogs. Lincoln was able to score one more on a sac fly from Dan Johnson before they were stopped by a diving catch from Kjerstad for the third out, making the score T-Bones 5 – Saltdogs 3.

After stretching it out and switching pitchers for Nick Lee in the seventh, the T-Bones struck back with Todd Cunningham hitting a solo homerun for the T-Bones’ only run of the inning. The eighth and ninth innings were quick work for the T-Bones’ defense, with Marcus Crescentini striking out one in the eighth and relief pitcher Cody Winiarski striking out the last batter for the win Kansas City 6 – Lincoln 3. Aquino (1-0) picked up the win while Bircher (3-5) was charged with the loss. Winiarski picked up his sixth save as Kansas City moved to (40-21) while Lincoln dropped to (30-30). The T-Bones will face the Saltdogs’ again tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. as they look to get their 41^st win of the season.

Season, group tickets, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the Box Office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the Box Office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday – Friday and 10:00 am to 2:00 pm Saturday. For additional information or interview requests, members of the media may contact the T-Bones Media Relations Department at (817) 739-3693. Stay tuned to tbonesbaseball.com and the T-Bones Facebook and Twitter pages for updates throughout the season.

Box Score

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