The ThunderBolts eight game win streak was snapped on Friday night with a 6-3 loss to the Kalamazoo Kings at Homer Stryker Field in Kalamazoo.
The game started well for the Kings as they scored twice in the first on a Matt Maloney sacrifice fly and a Zach Aakhus throwing error that scored Eric Suttle.
Windy City answered quickly with two runs of their own in the second. After a two base error on Matt Greener put runners on second and third with no outs, Pete Paris hit a sacrifice fly and Aakhus stole home on the back end of a double steal that saw Michael Torres take second.
The Bolts took their first lead of the game in the fourth when Paris singled to lead off the inning. He eventually came in to score on Torres’s double play grounder.
Andrew Werner started for Windy City and was nearly unhittable from the second through the fifth innings. In the sixth, though, Lee Rubin and Kris Miller knocked back-to-back home runs to left to give the Kings a lead they would not relinquish. They added two runs for insurance in the eighth, while the Kalamazoo bullpen threw three hitless innings to secure the win.
Guido Fonseca pitched the first six frames for Kalamazoo and allowed just one earned run on four hits for the win (3-5). Werner officially allowed five runs 7.1 innings in the loss (8-3). Scott Reid picked up his seventh save. The loss makes the ThunderBolts’ record 1-10 in opening games of away series. It also marks just the second time they have lost in the last 18 games, both coming in series openers at Kalamazoo.
Windy City and Kalamazoo are back in action Saturday night at 6:05. Brent Solich (6-5 gets the start for the Bolts against Alex Szymanski (0-1). That game can be heard on Sportsjuice.com.
