08/17/2018 4:14 PM - KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas City T-Bones announced today that the club has acquired RHP Jared Mortensen from the Cleburne Railroaders in exchange for a player to be named later to complete the June 27 trade and as part of the April 17 trade between the two clubs. Kansas City also has traded RHP Lucas Irvine to Sugar Land (Atlantic League) to complete an earlier trade and activated RHP Barrett Astin from the Disabled List. Astin is scheduled to pitch game two of the double header tonight against Fargo-Moorhead.
Jared Mortensen returns to Kansas City where he spent the last few weeks of the 2017 season after pitching for the Texas AirHogs. This season, the right-hander has gone 4-5 with a 4.00 ERA for Cleburne. He has notched 96 strike outs in 110 innings with 47 walks and allowing 100 hits. Mortensen is coming off a start last night where he didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and threw five scoreless innings getting his fifth win of the season over Texas.
Mortensen has tossed seven quality starts of three earned runs or less going at least six innings and he has worked at least six innings in 13 of 17 starts in 2018. In two games against Kansas City he allowed seven runs in 16.2 including an eight-inning gem on July 1st at Cleburne. Mortenson held KC to two earned runs, while striking out 11 and scattering nine hits in a 5-2 win for the Railroaders.
Mortensen was acquired last season by the T-Bones on August 26, 2017 from the Texas AirHogs in exchange for right-handed pitcher Calvin Drummond and a player to be named later. In two starts for the T-Bones the resident of Irving, Texas worked 12 innings giving up 18 hits and 10 earned runs with 13 strike outs and three walks and a 0-0 record.
Mortensen was 8-2 for Texas in 2017 with a 2.57 ERA in 10 games. The righty out of the Louisiana State University-Shreveport, appeared in 15 games for the AirHogs working 70 innings with 64 strike outs this season. Mortensen won his last five decisions giving up eight earned runs in 34 innings pitched with a 2.12 ERA in that stretch in 2017.
Mortensen hails from Abbotsford, British Columbia and was a 2015 member of the Canadian National Team that participated in the Pan-Am Games. He began his career in 2013 with the Grand Prairie AirHogs going 4-6 with a 3.77 ERA and was signed as a non-drafted Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Rays during that season. He would spend the rest of 2013 in the Florida State League with Charlotte appearing in four games working 17.1 innings with a 1.04 ERA and a 2-0 record.
In all Mortensen spent parts of three season with the Rays organization reaching AAA Durham in 2015. In 2014, he saw time at both high A Charlotte and AA Montgomery. He would go 7-2 combined with a 4.73 ERA in 85 innings of work. The next season he would spend the bulk of his time at AA totaling 114.1 innings pitched with a 3.78 ERA in the Southern League. Mortensen would post a 7-5 record with Montgomery and finish with two games at Durham going 2-0 in a pair of starts and a 2.77 ERA.
His final season in the Rays system was in 2016 where he worked 72.1 innings at AA Montgomery with a 7-7 record and a 5.23 ERA. Mortensen has spent two winter seasons in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in his career and began the 2017 season at AAA Fresno for Houston in the Pacific Coast League.
Lucas Irvine is a native of Kansas City, Missouri and leaves the T-Bones 5th in franchise history in innings pitched with 307 and 4th all-time with 247 strike outs. This season the right-hander started 15 games going 5-4 with a 5.98 ERA in 85.2 innings with 48 strike outs and 20 walks. Irvine spent two seasons with the T-Bones in 2012 and 2013 and joined the club again after a solid 2017 season for Somerset in the Atlantic League. Irvine went 9-4 with a 4.26 ERA in 135.1 innings with 89 strike outs in 25 starts for the Patriots. He would lead the team with nine wins and was first in innings pitched at 135.1 innings.
Irvine spent parts of two seasons early in his career with Kansas City. In 2012 he appeared in 30 games (13 starts), going 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 104.1 innings. He was second in the club in strike outs with 107 for the T-Bones. In 2013 Irvine returned to make 17 starts for the T-Bones, going 6-5 with three complete games in 121.1 innings. He was traded to New Jersey in the CAN-AM League on August 13th, 2013 joining current T-Bones Manager Joe Calfapietra’s club for a late playoff run. Irvine, was in the top five in the league in ERA (2.96, third), strikeouts (94, fifth), complete games (3, tied-second) and innings pitched (121 2/3, second) at the time of the trade and would finish second for the T-Bones staff in innings and strike outs (94). He would be moved once again after the Jackals season to Camden in the Atlantic League and would pitch in one game to close out a busy 2013.
Barrett Astin comes off the disabled list with an 8-3 record in 80.1 innings with 49 strike outs and 30 walks posting a 6.49 ERA. Astin has a six-game stint in 2017 where he played in the Big Leagues with the Cincinnati Reds on his resume and also serves as the T-Bones pitching coach. Astin, born in Forrest City, Arkansas and played college ball at the University of Arkansas.
The T-Bones return to action Wednesday night the 15th, opening a three-game series with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks at 5:30 pm at T-Bones Stadium as part of a doubleheader. The club is in the thick of the playoff race with a half-game lead in the South Division Wild Card race of the American Association.
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 www.tbonesbaseball.com. and the T-Bones Facebook and Twitter pages for updates throughout the season.
