KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas City T-Bones returned home in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, around 3:00 am to open their best of five game series with the Sioux City Explorers in the South Division Series of the American Association playoffs at T-Bones Stadium. The Explorers on the other hand had a short drive from their series in Wichita on Monday arriving at 7:00 pm and they appeared the more rested and better team Tuesday night in a 4-1 win.

James Dystra allowed one run on just two hits to keep the T-Bones second ranked regular season offense on ice during the series opener. Sioux City jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a one out single by Michael Lang and an RBI single from Nate Samson off T-Bones “ace” Tommy Collier. A sacrifice fly by Jose Sermo scored Samson from second in deep center field.  Todd Cunningham made a fantastic defensive play diving with his back to the infield to make the play off the bat of Sermo, but the throw back to the infield was off line to the cutoff man helping Samson score.

KC would cut the lead to one in the bottom of the fourth. Todd Cunningham walked, and Noah Perio Jr. followed with a double to put runners at second and third.  Adrian Nieto would make it a 2-1 game on a fielder’s choice RBI to second but that was a close the T-Bones would get. Dykstra would retire the next eight in a row to keep the KC bats in the freezer.

Jose Sermo would hit a solo home run in the sixth and Blake Schmit added another in the seventh both off Collier to close out the Sioux City scoring. In the bottom the ninth KC would get a two out hit and walk but a superb diving play by X’s right fielder Michael Lang ended the ball game with a final 4-1.

Dystra (1-0) got the win while Collier (0-1) the loss. The teams will play game two of the best of five game series tomorrow night at 7:05 pm at T-Bones Stadium. RHP Barrett Astin (10-3, 5.81) will try to even the series for Kansas City, while RHP Jason Garcia (3-0, 1.57) will go for a 2-0 stranglehold on the series for Sioux City. The game can be heard online on the T-Bones Broadcast Network.

Playoff tickets can be purchased by visiting the Box Office at T-Bones Stadium or by calling 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.

Box Score 

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