Category: Kansas City Monarchs

by G.M.W. Vaughan

The Kansas City Monarchs (51-31) went fishing in Canada, and came home with plenty, sending the Goldeyes (46-36) home with another loss at their own pond, 7-3 the final score.

Game two of the series with the Goldeyes started rather slowly. With Alex Hart on the bump for the Goldeyes and Brock Gilliam for the Monarchs, the first, second and third innings ended without any action from either team.

In the top of the fourth, however, an early walk for Matt Adams got the action started for the Monarchs.

Casey Gillaspie followed with a base hit, and a bunt from Kevin Santa advanced him to second on an error by the pitcher, Hart, and scored Adams, giving the Monarchs the first lead of the game, 1-0.

Gio Brusa followed with a base hit that moved Santa to third, and an Alexis Olmeda base hit brought in Santa, adding to the Monarchs lead, 3-0.

Darnell Sweeney advanced to first on an error by first baseman David Washington, scoring Brusa and ending the inning with a 4-0 lead over the Goldeyes.

After a pitching change for the Goldeyes, Adams started the fifth with a towering home run off John Vargas who came in for Hart, adding to the Monarchs lead 5-0.

In the home half of the fifth inning, a Jacob Rhinesmith walk followed by Logan Hill homerun got the Goldeyes on the board, 5-2. It was only the second hit allowed by Gilliam on the night.

The Basehor, Kansas, native went six innings with two hits and two earned runs and picked up his sixth win of the year.

Jeremy Rhoades took the bump for the Monarchs in the home half of the seventh and kept the Goldeyes’ bats silent. Rhoades struck out Deon Stafford Jr. with two on and two outs to preserve the Monarchs 5-3 lead.

Reliever Zac Ryan came in for Winnipeg in the top of the eighth and shut down the Monarchs.

Ryan Glowicki then came in for the Monarchs and walked Eric Rivera followed by a base hit for Ian Sagdal. With the big bat of Max Murphy batting the tying run, a pop fly deep to right field moved Rivera to third and Sagdal to second. David Washington came to the plate, hoping to tie up the game. Glowicki’s final strike got him out, but a wild pitch brought in a run, making the score 5-3.

Finally, Will McAffer took the mound for the Goldeyes, hoping to keep the Monarchs bats quiet in the ninth, but Mallex Smith started the inning with a base hit, followed with another base hit by Sweeney that moved Smith to third. Jacob Robson walked, loading the bases with no outs. The power bat of Adams stepped up next, and he hit a chopper to left, bringing home Smith and scoring Sweeney on a bad throw to first, and buying some insurance, 7-3 the score.

As Brandon Koch came in to close in the bottom of the ninth, the Goldeyes hoped to cut into the Monarchs’ lead, but Koch quickly struck out the first batter, Jacob Rhinesmith. Logan Hill followed with a double.

But the defensive glove of Smith got Deon Stafford Jr. out. Rivera struck out to end the hopes for the Goldeyes as the Monarchs took game two, 7-3.

The winning pitcher was Gilliam (6-2) and the loser Hart (0-1).

The Kansas City Monarchs and Winnipeg Goldeyes will play the final game of the three game series at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, in Winnipeg.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6 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.

by G.M.W. Vaughan, Monarchs

Winnipeg, Manitoba – The Monarchs (50-31) crossed the Canadian border for the first time since 2019.

While the Goldeyes (46-35) got on board first, the fourth inning proved explosive for the Monarchs on a Casey Gillaspie grand slam home run.

The Monarchs start the series with a statement win in game one with a score of 7-4.

In the first inning, the Goldeyes showed they fully intended to keep the Monarchs from another reign as the first batter got grazed by a Nick Belzer pitch, followed by an Ian Sagdal base hit and an error that moved runners up.

A Max Murphy base hit scored the first two runs, ending the first inning with an early 2-0 lead for the Goldeyes.

In the second and third innings, the Goldeyes maintained their lead, but in the fourth inning, the Monarchs stepped on their toes, answering with a Mallex Smith early home run, cutting the lead in half, 2-1.

Then after a base hit by Robson and walks for Adams and Escarra, Gillaspie crushed a grand slam to end the inning with a solid 5-2 lead for the Monarchs.

The Goldeyes fought back in the sixth with a triple by Murphy that scored Sagdal and ended the inning with a 5-3 score.

The Goldeye bats continued to work in the seventh as Jacob Rhinesmith hit a double, but the Goldeyes couldn’t bring him home. At the end of the seventh, the score remained 5-3.

Travis Seabrook took the mound for the Goldeyes in the top of the eighth and walked both Matt Adams and Jan Hernandez, but the Monarchs failed to bring them home.

In the bottom of the eighth, Brian Glowicki relieved Belzer. Sagdal advanced to first on a base hit, followed by a pop fly by Murphy that was caught, then dropped, allowing Sagdal to score. The inning ended with a nail-biting 5-4 score.

Tasker Strobel took the mound for Winnipeg in the ninth. After a base hit for Gillaspie, Ryan Grotjohn hit a no-doubter two-run home run to right field, answering the questionable call with good karma for the Monarchs, 7-4.

Brandon Koch came to the rubber for the Monarchs in the bottom of the ninth, earning the save. The Monarchs won their first game in Manitoba since 2019, 7-4. The winning pitcher was Nick Belzer, and Landon Bourassa got the loss.

The Kansas City Monarchs and Winnipeg Goldeyes will play game two of the three-game series at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, in Winnipeg. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6 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.

by Gabriel Lopez, Monarchs

Kansas City’s starting pitcher Matt Hall was lights out from the mound on Sunday.

He threw seven scoreless innings while conceding just two hits and striking out 10. His performance helped the Kansas City Monarchs (49-31) shut out the Lincoln Saltdogs (37-44) 7-0 Sunday afternoon at Legends Field.

The Monarchs scored right away. Darnell Sweeney led off the first with a single up the middle. He advanced to second base as the Saltdogs’ starting pitcher, John Bezdicek, delivered a pitch in the dirt. David Thompson drove in Sweeney to give Kansas City an early 1-0 lead.

The Monarchs extended their lead in the fourth inning. Jacob Robson notched a leadoff single. Thompson followed up the at-bat with a single of his own. Casey Gillaspie worked a walk to bring Gio Brusa to the plate who notched an RBI-single to left field. After four innings, Kansas City led 2-0.

The Monarchs continued to threaten the Saltdogs in the fifth inning. Pete Kozma led off the inning with a double to left field. Robson and Thompson worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. Gillaspie earned his second walk of the day to score Kozma and make it a 3-0 ballgame.

Kansas City’s offense kept rolling in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, Robson delivered a grand slam over the home run patio in left field. The long ball pushed the Monarchs lead to seven runs entering the top of the seventh.

Matt Hall started on the mound for the Monarchs. He was phenomenal, throwing seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. Hall allowed just two hits and kept the Saltdogs off balance the entire game.

Jameson McGrane toed the rubber for Kansas City in the top of the ninth. After walking Ryan Long, McGrane retired three straight to end the game. The Monarchs shut out the Saltdogs 7-0 to win two of the three games in the series.

The Monarchs hit the road to face the Winnipeg Goldeyes at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, for a three-game series. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.

Tickets to Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.