by Gabriel Lopez, Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs (6-5) dropped game two, 2-1, on Tuesday against the Gary SouthShore RailCats (4-7) at U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana, after winning the first game Monday night, 7-0.
The RailCats wasted no time Tuesday morning as Ray Jones drove in the first run of the game, giving the team a 1-0 lead over the Monarchs.
The RailCats had the bases loaded with only one out. However, Matt Hartman was able to minimize the damage as only one more run scored, giving the RailCats a 2-0 lead entering the second inning.
Nick Garcia had a great start for the RailCats, striking out four and allowing no runs through five innings of work.
After a Jan Hernandez single, a sacrifice fly from Pete Kozma brought in Jan Hernandez to make it a 2-1 ballgame. The Monarchs ended the seventh inning still trailing one run.
The Monarchs had several opportunities to score on the day, but they couldn’t get the big inning started. They were able to get the leadoff runner on in the second, third, fourth, fifth and eighth innings. The Monarchs also left two runners on base in the seventh.
The Monarchs will face the RailCats in game three of the four-game series at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, May 25. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:20 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.
Tickets to all Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.
Monarchs win, 7-0
In Monday night’s game, the Kansas City Monarchs (6-4) won their first road game of the season against the Gary SouthShore RailCats (3-7), 7-0.
The Monarchs pitching staff was lights out as they collected 18 strikeouts and allowed one hit through nine innings of play.
In the second inning, Jan Hernandez laced a two-out single to left field but was able to advance to second after an error made by left fielder M.J. Rookard. Casey Gillaspie stepped up to the plate and singled to right field to score Hernandez from second base to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead.
Nick Belzer had a dominant performance over the RailCats. He retired eight straight hitters from the second inning on until he nicked Jackson Smith with a pitch in the bottom of the fifth. He managed to pitch around this, striking out three hitters to preserve the Monarchs 1-0 lead entering the sixth.
Belzer finished his night with an impressive line of eight strikeouts, one hit and zero runs through five innings of work.
The Monarchs had a productive sixth inning, scoring five runs with RBIs from David Thompson, Pete Kozma and Willie Abreu. The team finished its half with a commanding 6-0 lead over the RailCats.
The RailCats struggled offensively, collecting a mere one hit on the night. The team couldn’t get any offense going, leaving seven runners on base in nine innings.
The Monarchs loaded the bases in the seventh. They were able to tack on one more run as Pete Kozma walked, which brought in Matt Adams to give the Monarchs a 7-0 lead.
Jacob Lindgren picked up where Belzer left off. After hitting Michael Woodworth in the sixth inning, he struck out five straight hitters and allowed no runs or hits through two innings.
In the ninth inning, Jameson McGrane struck out three batters to shut the door on the RailCats.