Morgan McCullough turned on a second-inning inside fastball and pulled it down the right field line Friday, for the Kansas City Monarchs’ (59-28) American Association record-setting 129th home run of the season.
The Monarchs beat the Milwaukee Milkmen (51-33) 9-5 in a rain-shortened game at Legends Field. The game was called at the beginning of the eighth.
McCullough’s home run gave the Monarchs an early 4-3 lead.
The Milkmen scored two more in the third on a sacrifice fly and an RBI-single to briefly regain the lead before an Ibandel Isabel single tied it.
The Monarchs went to the bullpen in the fourth, parading three more arms to shut down Milwaukee after Nick Travieso’s three-inning, five-run outing and give their offense a chance to pull ahead. The bullpen only allowed one hit in four innings.
In the home half of the fourth, Will Kengor sent McCullough home on a fielder’s choice to take the lead. The Monarchs added three more in the sixth inning to insure the win before the rain started pouring.
Kansas City and Milwaukee will meet for two more games this weekend.
The first will be at 7 p.m. Saturday and the series will conclude at 1 p.m. Sunday. The gates will open at 6 p.m. Saturday at Legends Field in KCK.
The games can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:35 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 by Nathan Enserro, Monarchs