LINCOLN — In a game that barely lasted two hours, Lucas Irvine threw his first career complete game as the Kansas City T-Bones (13-15) topped the Saltdogs (15-13) 6-1 in front of 2,613 fans at Haymarket Park Friday night.
Irvine (1-2) went the full nine innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walking three and striking out six to earn the victory.
Kansas City got runs in each of the first two innings, then got home runs by Jairo Perez and Matt Padgett in a three-run fifth to make it a 5-0 T-Bones lead.
Mike Burns (1-1) pitched six innings, allowing five earned on 11 hits while striking out three and walking zero to take the loss.
Lincoln scored its run on a Mike Provencher sacrifice fly in the seventh following singles by Matt Forgatch and Tyler Goodro – the first two hits of the game for the Saltdogs.
Stephen Douglas made the defensive play of the year so far for Lincoln in the top of the sixth: sprinting back to his right, he laid out and made a full-extension dive, back-handed catch of a line drive to rob Nathan Ramler of extra bases.
It took the clubs just 123 minutes to complete the second game of the series. Travis Parker pitched three scoreless frames of relief for Lincoln to finish the game, allowing just one hit.
The clubs are back at it Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. for game three of the four-game series. Moises Melendez (1-0, 3.47) will square off against Eric Gonzalez (1-0, 1.39). Radio coverage begins at 6:35 p.m. on KFOR 1240.