The Gary Southshore RailCats pushed the Kansas City Monarchs to the brink, but they could not pull out their second victory in as many days as they dropped a 6-4, 10-inning contest at The Steel Yard.
The RailCats mustered one run in the first inning without tallying a hit off former big-leaguer Akeem Bostick after Michael Woodworth walked, stole second, and advanced two extra bases on errant throws.
The Monarchs then plated four runs over the next four innings before the ‘Cats offense got going again in the fifth. Daniel Lingua’s double plated the team’s newest acquisition, Zach Racusin, whose leadoff single was the team’s first hit of the night and Racusin’s first in a RailCats uniform.
Tom Walraven and Chris Burgess each went two for four in the game, and each scored once to tie the ballgame in the seventh inning. Walraven’s one-out double got the rally started before Burgess singled and Lingua walked to load the bases. M.J. Rookard was hit by the first pitch he saw from Monarchs reliever Jacob Lindgren, and Woodworth beat out a would-be double play to bring Burgess home and tie the game at four.
Throughout the night, ‘Cats bullpen continued to impress. Carlos Vega entered in the sixth inning and struck out seven of the ten batters he faced, all consecutively. He allowed just one hit and no runs in his strong three-inning appearance.
Neither team could scratch a run across in the eighth or ninth, forcing both teams to play their first-ever extra innings game under the American Association’s new format which places a ghost runner on second base to begin each frame. While the Monarchs collected the go-ahead and insurance runs they needed in the top of the tenth, closer Jameson McGrane struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning to put the RailCats away.
The fourth and final of the series is tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. as Leif Strom takes to the mound coming off 5.1 hitless innings in a no-decision against the Lincoln Saltdogs last Saturday. Ryan Zimmerman and Tony Pasquesi have the play-by-play call on aabaseball.tv and the Gary SouthShore RailCats Broadcast Network through the Mixlr app.
