by Adam Cook, Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs (9-6) blew out the Sioux Falls Canaries (5-10) in the second game of the three-game weekend series Saturday night, 22-1.
After Monarchs starting pitcher Matt Hall kept the Canaries in the cage for the top of the first, Willie Abreu led the Monarchs’ offense with a bang as he sent the first pitch the Monarchs offense saw to the right field “Home Run Hill.”
Three batters later, Matt Adams sent a towering shot to the clubhouse past right field to bring in Gabby Guerrero and make the score 3-0. Little did anyone know, this was only the beginning to the Monarchs’ explosive night on offense.
The Canaries fired right back in the second, as Nick Gotta sliced an RBI double down the left field line to score Trey Michalczewski for what would become the Canaries’ only run of the game.
Hall then stranded the runners on the loaded bases and limited the damage, escaping the inning with only the one run allowed.
The Monarchs came back in the third with a flurry of base hits. Adams added to his night with a double to left-center and then moved station-to-station as David Thompson followed it up with a single that got Adams to third.
Jan Hernandez kept the line moving with a single to shallow right that scored Adams and moved Thompson across the infield to third base to bring the score to 4-1 Monarchs.
Casey Gillaspie capped the scoring in the big third inning with a double down the right field line that scored both Thompson and Hernandez, making the score 6-1 before giving the Canaries bats their next chance to bridge the gap.
Hall stayed on top of the Sioux Falls hitters in the top of the fourth, shutting them down in order for the second straight inning.
After the turn of the inning, the Monarchs continued putting up runs as they loaded the bases in the first three batters. Thompson led off the scoring with an RBI walk, only to be followed by a bases-clearing triple from Hernandez.
Gillaspie capped the scoring once again as he delivered an RBI single to right field to bring the score to 11-1 before the end of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, the Canaries put two runners on in Hall’s last inning of work, but Hall worked out of it, keeping the score 11-1 heading to the home half of the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, the Monarchs’ bats continued to deliver. Thompson crushed a no-doubt solo home run to left field for the only run in the inning, as the teams headed to the seventh with the score a lopsided 12-1 Monarchs.
The Monarchs only continued to pile on the runs in the seventh, as they loaded the bases in three batters for Guerrero, who made the Canaries pay with the Monarchs’ first grand slam of the year.
Thompson followed with a two-run bomb for his second two-home run game in his last four. A couple of base hits from Gillaspie and Pete Kozma netted one more run before the end of the inning, and the Monarchs left the inning with a massive 19-1 lead.
The Canaries were held at bay again in the top of the 8th, and just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse, the Monarchs piled three more on in the bottom half, including a homer from Hernandez to complete the cycle.
The top of the ninth ended just like most of the other top halves in this one, as the Canaries were retired for the final time in four batters to make the final score 22-1.
The Monarchs will face the Sioux Falls Canaries in the final game of the series at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 29. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 2:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.
Tickets to Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.
- Story from Monarchs