Moment #10 Once again our “Voice of the T-Bones” Dan Vaughan brings you the top 10 moments from the booth from last season as we countdown the days until the opener. Some of these are obvious but one or two you just might have forgotten in the run to the trophy. Enjoy! #10 COMEBACK IN CHICAGO
KANSAS CITY- Kan. - We begin our look back at the top 10 moments from the 2018 T-Bones American Association Championship year with a historic early season trip. The T-Bones second road trip of the season came at the home of the newest member of the league, the Chicago Dogs. The Dogs got off to a slow start but finished strong.
The T-Bones caught Chicago at the right time despite all the energy an opening night in an inaugural season would bring. It looked like the locals would have an historic first win in their first home regular season game. But the T-Bones would steal the night and wait until the very end of the party to play the villain under the flight path of O’Hare Airport.
As I noted after the game on May 25, 2018, the new ballpark may have a new owner after the T-Bones comeback win.
“Impact Field in suburban Chicago, by all accounts, is a publicly funded park. After the Friday night historic first home opener for the Chicago Dogs in front of 6,317 fans, the T-Bones Zach Walters may be the sole owner of the new 60-million-dollar park. Walters launched two home runs and drove in four runs as Kansas City came from behind to win 8-4 for the team’s third straight win.”
The T-Bones took the lead in the first on a Dylan Tice solo home run off Scott Barns. In the top of the fifth, Zach Walters launched his first homer of the game off Tyson Perez to make it 2-0. Luis Paula held the Hot Dogs scoreless through four innings but ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth.
Paula retired the first man he faced, but then he hit back-to-back batters in Wilfredo Rodrigues and Trey Vavra. He then walked Matt Dean to load the bases. For the third time during the season’s first full week, a T-Bones pitcher hit a batter with the bases loaded, scoring a run. Paula hit Kyle Gaedele to bring home a run, and it was 2-1 Kansas City. Edwin Arroyo then singled to tie the game at two, and then Michael Macca drove in two with another single to give Chicago the lead, 4-2.
The T-Bones could not crack the Chicago bull pen, and it looked like the party was about to start, but then came the ninth. The T-Bones would go on to 18 comeback wins in the seventh inning or later that season, and their first of six ninth-inning comebacks was on deck. Chicago’s Kaohi Downing came in to work the ninth for the Hot Dogs and hit Dexter Kjerstad to start the inning. Jordan Edgerton would single with one out to put runners at the corners. Angel Rosa then lined a homer run to left center to give the T-Bones the 5-4 lead.
Johnny Davis reached on a perfectly placed bunt single, and Dylan Tice would be hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. Walters then provided the knockout punch with his second shot of the night to make it 8-4 Kansas City. The T-Bones Carlos Diaz worked a scoreless home half of the ninth as Kansas City won it 8-4.
In the first trip to Chicago, the club won in exciting comeback fashion, and the T-Bones go into the history books as the first winners at Impact Field. Zach Walters took over as the new owner of the park, and the T-Bones would eventually sweep Chicago over the next three games, and they left town with a six-game winning streak. It was an early gauge at what might wait down the road.
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