09/14/2018 11:24 PM -

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A solo home run and a grand slam by Todd Cunningham locked in a 7-3 win over the St. Paul Saints Friday evening. The T-Bones went into the game with the American Association Championship Series tied at one.

Tommy Collier struck out the game’s lead-off batter, but the second batter, Kyle Barrett, smashed a 2-0 pitch over the right field fence for a home run that gave the Saints an early 1-0 lead. Collier, however, limited the damage to one run, leaving runners at the corners.

In the second, a pair of RBI singles for Joey Wong and Kyle Barrett upped the Saints lead to 3-0.

Todd Cunningham smashed a long ball to put the T-Bones on the board in the bottom of the third.

In the bottom of the sixth, Adrian Nieto doubled and was brought home when Alay Lago hit into a fielder’s choice. An RBI single to left by Ryan Brett tied it up 3-3 when Keith Curcio scored. Then, with two outs and bases loaded, Todd Cunningham, who led the league in batting average for a good part of the season, connected with a 1-0 pitch and sent it over the right field wall for the T-Bones first grand slam of 2018.

Cunningham’s grand slam propelled the T-Bones to a 7-3 lead over the Saints. St. Paul wasn’t able to produce anything else in the game, ending it with a final of 7-3 Kansas City.

Two-time Rawlings Pitcher of the Month Tommy Collier worked eight innings, six of them scoreless after giving up the three early-game runs. Reliever Cody Winiarski came in to finish off the ninth.

Now with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five American Association Championship Series, the T-Bones have an opportunity to win it Saturday evening. First pitch is at 7:05 pm at T-Bones Stadium. Tickets are available for $8.00 at the Box Office or tbonesbaseball.com.

Box Score