The Windy City ThunderBolts completed a three-game sweep of the Kalamazoo Kings and extended their winning streak to five in a rain-shortened 7-4 victory Saturday night at Standard Bank Stadium.
Richard Barrett made his second start for the Bolts and improved on his first one, going five innings without allowing an earned run. The Kings did, though, get on the board first when Lee Rubin singled in the second inning and came into score later on a Gilberto Mejia error.
The Bolts responded with a two-run bottom of the second. With Pete Paris on third, Nick Kuroczko lined an RBI single to tie the game. The next hitter, Gilberto Mejia, singled to bring home Michael Torres. Mejia was thrown out at second ending the inning.
The ThunderBolts blew the game open in the fourth. With two outs, Torres and Kuroczko started a rally with back-to-back singles. Mejia hit a roller back to the pitcher, but Josh Whitlock threw it away, and he came all the way around to third with Kuroczko scoring. Two batters later, Ryan Basham doubled in both Mejia and Brandon Anderson for the 6-1 lead.
The Kings tried to make their way back with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth thanks, in part, to two Jeremy Hamilton errors, but Windy City put a cap on their victory in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kuroczko walked and then, with two outs, Basham doubled him in to put the Bolts back up by three. Ryan Quigley got the final five outs in the Bolts’ victory, as rain forced the game to be called after seven. Barrett earned his first Windy City win (1-0) while Whitlock fell to 0-8 on the loss.
The ThunderBolts continue their six-game home stand Sunday with the start of a big three-game series against the Lake Erie Crushers. Windy City was 1.5 games behind the Crushers at the conclusion of Saturday’s game with Lake Erie still in action. The starting pitchers in game one are Sean Toler (1-0) for the Bolts against Lake Erie’s Phil Rummel (2-5). Game time is 6:05. That contest can be heard on WXAV 88.3 fm.
