Saltdogs Lose Game #1 with KC

LINCOLN, Neb. - Both teams started out slow on Tuesday night, but after the second inning the Lincoln Saltdogs and Kansas City T-Bones combined for 14 runs with K.C. coming out on top with a 9-5 victory. Greg Bicknell won his league leading 12th game of the year for the T-Bones while Kyle Ruwe took his first loss of the season. Lincoln fell to 40-31 overall and 13-10 in the second half while Kansas City improved to 37-33 and 10-14 in second half action.

The scoring began in the third inning, with the Dogs breaking through against Bicknell. Dan Underwood started the inning with a triple off the wall in right center field. Mike Goss followed with an RBI double and he came around to score when Bryan Warner hit a bloop single into center field for his 86th RBI of the season to lead the league.

In the top of the next half inning Kansas City struck right back against Lincoln and Ruwe. A pair of singles by Greg Jacobs and Ray Brown started the inning and back-to-back RBIs by Cody Nowlin and Michael Brown knotted the game up at two.

Kansas City pulled ahead in the fifth inning with a solo home run from their nine-hole hitter, Chad Sosebee, his ninth of the season to give the T-Bones the 3-2 lead.

The T-Bones took advantage of an untimely error in the sixth inning to extend their lead. With two down and a runner on first base, Brandon Jones hit a ground ball back to Ruwe who overthrew Pichi Balet at first allowing Nowlin to score from first and give K.C. a 4-2 lead.

When the seventh inning came along, the T-Bones got all the runs they would need to take the first game of the series. After a strikeout to begin the inning, the next four batters reached base in the seventh. An error put Eric Vega on and Jacobs followed with a single. Ray Brown cleared the bases for Kansas City with a two RBI double. Brown had three on the night to bring his RBI total up to 54. David Segui followed in the inning with his first hit of the night, an RBI double scoring Brown. Michael Brown also picked up an RBI in the inning to give K.C. the 8-2 advantage.

Two home runs in the bottom half of the inning kept the Dogs close. Mike Goss hit his third of the year with a runner on base to bring the Dogs within four. Albenis Machado also homered in the inning, a deep shot to right field, to get Lincoln within three runs. It was Machado's fourth homer of the year.

Despite the loss, Lincoln held on to their slim half-game lead in the Southern Division. The Saltdogs are scheduled to send Michael Kesten to the mound in the second game to face-off with Jon McDonald for Kansas City.

#Saltdogs