GOLDEYES LOSE OPENER DESPITE ALLOWING ONLY FIVE HITS

Although his Goldeyes dropped their home opener 3-2 to the visiting Kansas City T-Bones, Rick Forney had absolutely no complaints.

“That was a well-played ball game,” said the manager of the Goldeyes, shortly after Winnipeg was beaten in front of 6,232 at Canwest Park.

“Pitching, defence, even the offence was OK. It was a good ball game. And it was a game of inches. Brady Everett missed a double with the bases loaded by just inches in the bottom of the second that could have changed the whole game. I’m not at all disappointed.”

Kansas City scored a run in the second on a double by Rogers Player of the Game Kevin Mahar and a single by Neb Brown. The Goldeyes tied it in the bottom of the second when Everett’s sacrifice fly (right after he missed a double by inches) scored Kevin West from third and then, in the fourth, Goldeyes starter Ronald (Bear) Bay made his only mistake of the night when Craig Hurba hit a two-out, two-run homer to give the T-Bones a 3-1 advantage.

“He made a mistake and got a fastball up,” said Hurba modestly. “He’d been throwing some real good curveballs at me but he got that fastball high and I was able to drive it.”

Bay took the loss, but he deserved better. With help from relievers Brian Beuning, Ryan Ariail and Christian Mendoza, Kansas City mustered only five hits, but the Goldeyes could answer with only two runs on eight hits.

“Ron ran into trouble with two outs in the fourth and he just couldn’t get out of it,” said Forney. “But he gave us what we needed and the bullpen gave us a chance to win. We pitched real well tonight. I mean the guys in the bullpen, Beuning, Ariail and Mendoza all had great stuff. They kept us in the game and gave us a chance.”

The Goldeyes will get another chance on Friday when Kansas City’s Kenny Durost faces Winnipeg’s Brandon Kintzler in the second game of this four-game series.