KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas City T-Bones were held to just two hits tonight as left-hander Josh Habel threw eight shutout innings in a 3-0 victory by the Gary SouthShore RailCats at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.  The T-Bones now need to win two of their final four games to quality for the playoffs.

In front of 4,304 fans, Habel surrendered a single to the second batter he faced, Rob Watson, and held Kansas City hitless until allowing a two-out double to Neb Brown in the eighth inning.  Habel allowed just two baserunners in the contest, Watson’s single and a hit by pitch to Nelson Gord in the third, both of whom were caught stealing to allow the left-hander to face the minimum through seven.

Kansas City’s best chance came in the eighth when Patrick Arlis followed Brown’s double with a walk, bringing Nelson Gord to the plate as the tying run.  Habel struck out Gord to end the threat and improved to 12-6, striking out seven in the outing.  His scoreless innings streak now stands at 25 and one-thirds innings.

The RailCats gave Habel all the support he needed in the second inning off Rick DeHart (pictured) on an RBI triple from Mike Reese and a sacrifice fly from Eric McNamee.  DeHart was saddled with the loss, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings of work.

Gary added one more in the seventh off reliever Travis Schlichting when McNamee scored from second on a wild pitch by the right-hander.  Schlichting threw a scoreless eighth and Danny Core finished the game with a perfect ninth, striking out two in the frame.

Tony Cogan threw a perfect ninth for Gary, picking up his league-leading 23rd save of the season.

The two teams face off again tomorrow with Chris Krawczyk of the T-Bones set to face Willie Glen of Gary.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.

Game Notes:  Watson’s single in the first extended his home on-base streak to 44 games, every game played at CommunityAmerica Ballpark this season…Mario Delgado and Calvin Pickering both went 0-for-three tonight, snapping home hit and on-base streaks respectively.  Delgado’s hit streak ended at 13 games while Pickering’s on-base streak was stopped at 29…Tonight was the second time in the last three match-ups between the teams that the RailCats held Kansas City to just two hits.  The last time came in Kansas City on August 15 when Willie Glen, Matt Brinkman and David Byard combined for a two-hit shutout of the T-Bones.