KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A day after being named Northern League Player of the Month for July, second baseman Rob Watson (pictured) propelled the T-Bones past the Joliet JackHammers with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning as Kansas City took the rubber match of a three-game series 9-5 in front of 5,119 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark Thursday night.

The game started off as a pitcher’s duel between starters Anthony Boughner and Josh Regits, who each threw five consecutive scoreless innings in the game before the teams combined to score 13 runs in the final four innings.

The T-Bones took a lead in the first when Geoff McCallum led off with a single, stole second and came around to score on a single by Calvin Pickering.

Joliet was held scoreless until a two-out, two-RBI double by Derek Nicholson gave them a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.

Joliet added two more runs in the eighth, the first on an RBI single by Kevin Sullivan before Travis Schlichting relived Boughner and allowed a solo homer to Eric Scriven to put the JackHammers up 4-1.

Kansas City gained a run back in the seventh when McCallum knocked in Nelson Gord with a single. Danny Core then relieved Schlichting and allowed a solo homer to Nicholson to push Joliet back ahead by three.  Core picked up the victory, improving to 2-0 on the year.

Kansas City erupted for seven runs in the eighth, plating two off reliever Aaron Williams before Matt Petrusek came into the game with two runners on and one out.  Petrusek hit McCallum with the first pitch he threw, loading the bases for Rob Watson, who hit his second grand slam of the year. Matt Schweitzer pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game.  Williams took the loss for the JackHammers.

Game Notes: Rob Watson’s grand slam in the eighth moved his home on-base streak to 34 games…Designated hitter Calvin Pickering moved his Northern League RBI lead to 68…With Mario Delgado’s double in the second he extended his hitting streak to nine games…Gord doubled in the seventh to extend his hit streak to nine games…Danny Core allowed his first earned run since July 6, going 13 and one-thirds innings of shutout relief…Kansas City improved to 3-31 when trailing after seven, Joliet fell to 28-3…Geoff McCallum’s single in the first extended his hit streak to eight games.