The St. Paul Saints had been on a roll entering Kansas City, but the T-Bones have been anything but gracious hosts, downing the visitors for the second straight night, 8-5. Zach Walters proved to be quite ungracious on this night, driving in four and wrapping out to hits, including his fifth home run of the season and Joe Jackson belted his third in the victory. That ruined the return of Dustin Crenshaw.

The Saints got off on the right foot by plating two in the top of the first. Danny Oh walked to start the game and moved to third on a base hit by Breland Almadova. A base hit by Nate Hanson scored Oh, and Brady Shoemaker plated the second run of the inning with a base hit into the right field. That made the score 2-0.

Kansas City got one of those runs back right away in the bottom half of the inning. Omar Garcia walked to get their rally started, then stole second base. He moved to third on a sacrifice and scored on a base hit by Walters.

In the bottom of the third, the T-Bones would take the lead. After Eddie Newton was hit by a pitch to start the inning, before Garcia singled in right field. Marcus Lemon laid down a perfect bunt, but the throw on the sacrifice was wild, allowing Newton to score while both runners moved into scoring position. Next up was Kevin Keyes, who lined a double into right field, scoring both Garcia and Lemon, and giving Kansas City the 4-2 lead.

In the fifth, the T-Bones looked to put this game away. Back-to-back walks to Lemon and Keyes started the frame, bringing Walters to the plate. On a 1-1 pitch, he drilled the ball over the right field wall to extend the lead to five. Joe Jackson followed with his third home run of the season, the second night in a row that Kansas City had back-to back home runs, and it was 8-2.

Following the tough first-inning, Calvin Drummond responded by throwing four scoreless innings through the fifth. He looked quite sharp, but St. Paul would finally get to him in the top of the sixth. The Saints loaded the bases on a walk to Tony Thomas and back-to-back singles by Anthony Gallas and Tim Colwell. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Tony Caldwell hit into a double-play that scored Thomas but basically brought an end to the threat.

In the top of the ninth, St. Paul would mount a rally trying to get back into the game. Colwell and Caldwell each drew walks to start the inning and an error loaded the bases. Hanson singled to score 2, but that is as close as the Saints would get, as Kansas City won 8-5.

Zach Walters finish the game 2-4, with a run and 4-RBI. He extended his hitting streak to 9. Kevin Keyes had a big game as well, going 1-3 with a run and 2-RBI. Nate Hanson finished 2-4 with 3-RBI.

The final game of this three-game set is tomorrow. The Saints send John Straka (2-2, 7.17) to the mound to face Gabe Perez (2-0, 4.63). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier