GARY, IN. 7-11-2010 – The Gary SouthShore RailCats dropped their seventh consecutive game Sunday afternoon at U. S. Steel Yard, falling 6-4 to the league-leading Kansas City T-Bones in the final game of the first half of the 2010 Northern League season.

The T-Bones scored four times in the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead, and despite a valiant comeback effort the ‘Cats were unable to avoid their 10^th loss in their last 11 games at home.  The RailCats out-hit Kansas City 12-10 in the game, waking up an offense that had been held to two runs or fewer in five of the previous six games.  The T-Bones – who have won 11 of their last 12 overall – were too much to handle offensively once again, scoring exactly six runs for the third straight day.

It was the T-Bones who lit up the scoreboard in the first when Rico Washington’s one-out double scored Keanon Simon from first.  The RailCats had an answer, however, tying the game in the third.  Jeff Beachum – who went 2-for-4 and played a sparkling defensive third base – singled to lead off the inning and was worked around to third base with one out for Brian Kolb, who lifted a sacrifice fly to earn his first career RBI.

The RailCats took the lead in the fifth – their first lead of the series – and again it was Beachum who scored the run.  After leading off the inning with a bunt single, Adam Klein’s sacrifice fly made it 2-1 RailCats.

RailCats starter Brad Halsey (2-4) pitched well before the sixth, limiting the T-Bones to just the one run and at one point retiring 10 batters in a row.  But the first three runners reached in the sixth and Ryan Fox drew a bases loaded walk to force in the tying run.  One batter later, Dwayne White singled in two more and a double play grounder added another to make the margin 5-2.

Mike Reese and Louis Ott hit back-to-back doubles in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3, and Kolb had another RBI with a single in the ninth to get it back to a two-run game, but Mike Massaro – representing the tying run – grounded out to third to end the game.

Halsey took the loss, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits in 6.0 innings. The left-hander walked two and struck out two, losing for the second time in as many starts during the ‘Cats losing streak.  Both RailCats All-Stars – Willie Glen and Andy Shipman – worked scoreless innings in relief.

Cody McAllister (5-3) was good enough to earn the win for Kansas City, allowing nine hits and three runs (two earned) in seven innings.  Franklin Perez pitched the ninth for this sixth save.

The RailCats, who had only one player with two hits combined in the first two games of the series, had four different players notch a pair of hits Sunday.  Kolb, Klein, Beachum and Cristian Guerrero all went 2-for-4 in the loss.  Rico Washington went 4-for-5 and was the only T-Bone with more than one hit.

The RailCats (23-26) are off for the Northern League All-Star Break until Friday, July 16 when the ‘Cats will travel to the Chicago suburbs to start a three-game series against the Schaumburg Flyers (19-31) at 6:45 p.m.  That game, along with every RailCats game, will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Notes: The last time the RailCats lost seven straight games was July 20-27, 2006, dropping three games in Joliet and four in Winnipeg … Kolb has played in four games with the RailCats, getting two hits in two of those games and going hitless in the other two … the 2010 Northern League vs. Golden League All-Star Game is scheduled for Wednesday, July 14 at 9 p.m. Central Time.  The game will be broadcast online as a live video stream at www.TucsonToros.com.