Category: Kansas City Monarchs

by Caleb Grizzle

Franklin, Wisconsin — The Kansas City Monarchs (38-21) bid for a series split with the Milwaukee Milkmen (30-29) was soured early on Thursday, as Kansas City surrendered seven runs in the first inning.

Milwaukee took the Monarchs’ milk money and never looked back, taking a commanding series win in 14-7 fashion.

In the first inning, the Monarchs struck first, for only the second time this series, to take an early 1-0 lead against the Milkmen.

The Monarchs relied upon a two-out David Thompson double to set up Matt Adams for his hard hit, error-inducing ground ball to score early.

Jake Matthys, the starting Milkman on the mound, finished the inning with two hits allowed and one earned run.

The Milkmen provided an emphatic answer in the home half of the first. Matt Hartman received the start for the Monarchs and gave up a leadoff double to Bryan Torres.

Following a fly out and Torres tagging to third base, Hartman walked Will Kengor. With runners at first and third base, Milkman Keon Barnum drove a towering blast to left field for Milwaukee’s first of two, three-run home runs in the inning.

After an RBI single from Christ Conley, runners were once again on first and third, and Logan Trowbridge capitalized with a three-run blast over the left field wall. The Monarchs trailed 7-1 heading into the second inning.

Both pitchers settled in on the mound in the second inning as Matthys retired three out of four Monarchs in the second inning to hold them scoreless. Hartman followed suit with a one, two, three inning and recorded two strikeouts along the way.

Each offense stayed quiet in the third frame, as Matthys allowed one base runner, no hits and no runs on the way to a swift inning of work. Hartman mirrored Matthys’ swift inning of work, allowing one base runner, no hits and no runs.

The Monarchs struggled once again to generate momentum in the fourth inning, as Matthys secured a one, two, three inning with two strikeouts.

The Milkmen controlled the fourth inning on the mound and at the plate, posting two more runs on the board. Following two walks to begin the inning, Correlle Prime singled to center field to bring home Trowbridge.

Following a fielder’s choice for Kengor, the Milkmen had runners at first and third with one out. Barnum grounded into a 4-3-6 double play, as the Milkmen picked up one more run in the inning as the Monarchs ended the inning due to heads up baserunning from Kengor.

In the fifth, Willie Abreu led off the inning with a solo home run to right field to start the Monarchs potential comeback trail. The Monarchs went quietly in the inning with Matthys only facing three more Monarchs in the inning, allowing only one more hit in the inning and picking off Darnell Sweeney following Sweeney reaching first upon a fielder’s choice.

Hartman’s last inning of work came in the fifth as he allowed only one hit, no runs and recorded his fifth strikeout of the night holding the score at 9-2.

The base paths were busy in the sixth inning, in the top half of the sixth the Monarchs put three runs on the board behind a key double from Casey Gillaspie, and an RBI single from Abreu.

The Monarchs’ three runs cut the deficit to only four runs but the Milkmen kept their distance with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Frank Rubio entered for Hartman on the mound and recorded one out before surrendering a walk and a single from Torres and Prime. Torres stole third base, placing the Monarchs in a dangerous spot. The Monarchs nearly turned two to end the inning but only got the lead runner, allowing Torres to score.

Barnum brought home the runner from first with a single to center field before Rubio could escape the inning. Rubio struck out Dylan Kelly to end the inning, leaving the Monarchs trailing 11-5.

In the seventh inning, Jack Mahoney, who entered to record the final out in the sixth on the mound, slowed the Monarchs’ offense to a halt. Only allowing one hit and no runs to hold Milwaukee’s commanding lead. Brandon Koch replaced Rubio for the Monarchs, retiring three out of four Milkmen, allowing only one hit and no runs.

The Monarchs threatened to make a late push against a new Milkman on the mound, Juan Echevarria, by loading the bases with two outs.

With the bases loaded, Kevin Santa brought home two runs with an RBI single but that was all the Monarchs could muster in the inning, as Kansas City trailed 11-7 heading into the home half of the eighth.

Jameson McGrane entered in the eighth, surrendering four hits and three runs, including a two-run home run, Milwaukee’s third of the night. The Milkmen led 14-7 heading into the ninth. Milkman Rodrigo Benoit entered in the ninth on the mound, holding the Monarchs scoreless and retiring three of four batters.

The Monarchs will play the first game of their three-game series with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks on the road at 7:05 p.m. Friday, July 22, The game 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.

by Kaitlyn Sanders, Monarchs

Franklin, Wisconsin — In one of the shortest games of the season, the Kansas City Monarchs (38-20) and the Milwaukee Milkmen (29-29) moseyed along to a 2-1 final score in two hours and 39 minutes.

Matt Hall held the Milkmen in the second and third innings, retiring the batters in 1,2,3 fashion with multiple Monarchs left stranded on base before the fourth inning.

After zero home runs in Tuesday night’s game, Will Kengor sent one to right field for the first run of the game, the Milkmen leading 1-0 going into the fifth.

In the sixth inning, three back-to-back singles from Corelle Prime, Kengor and Keon Barnum brought in Prime, extending the Milwaukee lead to 2-0.

Pete Kozma finally put the Monarchs on the board in the top of the seventh.

Matt Adams doubled to left field before David Thompson was hit by a pitch to reach first. A fielder’s choice from Kevin Santa got Thompson out at second while Adams reached third.

Kozma hit a single to center field and brought in Adams, cutting into the Milkmen lead, 2-1.

The last two innings were quiet ones as the Kansas City offense could not string together any offense.

Monarchs starting pitcher Hall went 6 innings pitched with six hits, two runs and eight strikeouts in a hard luck loss. A.J. Schugel notched the win going five innings and holding KC to no runs on four hits.

The Monarchs will play the last game of this four-game series with the Milwaukee Milkmen at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, July 21, at Franklin Field in Franklin, Wisconsin.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:05 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 Caleb Grizzle, Monarchs

Franklin, Wisconsin — The Milwaukee Milkmen (28-29) delivered the first scoring punch on Tuesday night with a six-run first inning, milking every last run they could muster off Kansas City Monarchs (38-19) starting pitcher Justin Donatella.

Milwaukee’s first inning set the tone early, but the Monarchs responded late, scoring nine unanswered runs, propelling them to a close 9-8 victory, after surrendering two in the home half of the ninth.

In the first frame, the Monarchs were retired in order by Milkmen starting pitcher, Christian Young.

In the home half of the inning, leadoff Milkman, Bryan Torres singled to center to start an inning that would unravel quickly.

Following Torres’ single, Correlle Prime doubled down the left field line to push Milwaukee’s lead to 1-0. The Milkmen continued on their first inning flurry with an RBI single from Will Kengor and a Dylan Kelly RBI double. Before the Monarchs could escape the inning, the Milkmen added three more runs via an RBI groundout and a two-run RBI single from Torres.

Brock Gilliam replaced starter Justin Donatella for the Monarchs to end the inning for the Monarchs, leaving them trailing 6-0 after one inning of play.

In the second inning, both offenses went quietly in one, two, three fashion. As Christian Young picked up two strikeouts on his way to a seven-strikeout outing, Gilliam picked up one strikeout on his way to retiring Milwaukee in order in the second.

The Monarchs offense finally responded to the early offense from Milwaukee with a torrid tear of RBI doubles. Kevin Santa reached second after an error from second baseman Aaron Hill, to set the stage for a stretch of two-out, back-to-back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles.

Darnell Sweeney drove a deep ground rule double to left center to bring home Santa after he advanced to third base on a Pete Kozma ground out.

With two outs in the frame, the offensive push continued with a Chad De La Guerra RBI double to right field that snuck under the diving glove of Prime.

Jan Hernandez continued the RBI double streak with a double of his own to center field to score De La Guerra.

Matt Adams closed out the scoring in the four-run inning with an RBI double to score Hernandez. The Monarchs trailed the Milkmen 6-4 heading into the bottom of the third.

Gilliam settled in well on the mound, retiring Milwaukee in order again, seven batters in a row in total, to hold the Milkmen scoreless in the third inning.

In the fourth inning, the Monarchs were retired in swift fashion following a fly out from Casey Gillaspie, and a 6-4-3 double play turned by the Milkmen on Santa and Kozma.

Kansas City mirrored the Milkmen with a swift three-batter inning. Logan Trowbridge singled to center field, but following a pop out to left field, he was retired in a 6-4-3 inning ending double play with Prime.

Kansas City threatened to cut into the Milwaukee lead in the fifth inning with Sweeney slapping a one-out single to right field and stealing two bags. Young had other plans and snuffed out any hope, striking out the next two batters in the inning, bringing his total to three for the inning.

Jordan Martinson replaced Gilliam on the mound and retired three out of four Milkmen in the inning, allowing no hits or runs.

The Monarchs closed the gap on the Milkmen with a new Milkman on the mound in the sixth inning. Jack Mahoney replaced Young, striking out the first two batters he faced before surrendering a double to Gillaspie.

With Gillaspie on second base, Santa singled to bring Gillaspie home, cutting the deficit to just one run, leaving the score 6-5 Milkmen. Martinson again held Milwaukee scoreless, retiring three-out-of-four batters in the inning, allowing one hit, no runs and striking out one.

In the seventh inning, Kansas City moved past the Milkmen with offense early in the frame. The Milkmen replaced Mahoney with Frankie Bartow on the mound.

J.C. Escarra’s patience at the plate provided the Monarchs with a walk and a much-needed base runner. Sweeney followed up Escarra’s walk with a single, setting up De La Guerra at the plate for an RBI single to left field to tie the game, 6-6.

After a wild pitch that advanced both runners to second and third and an Adams strikeout, David Thompson singled to score two runs. The Monarchs weren’t able to bring home Thompson, who had advanced to second during his RBI single but ended the inning leading 8-6.

In the bottom of the seventh, Martinson allowed back-to-back singles before retiring the next three batters he faced to hold Milwaukee scoreless.

The Monarchs added an insurance run in the eighth off another new Milkman on the mound, Kyle Huckaby, via a sacrifice fly from De La Guerra. Huckaby escaped the inning with one hit, one strikeout and one run allowed. Brandon Koch relieved Martinson on the mound and wasted no time settling in, striking out three in a row to hold the Milkmen scoreless.

In the final frame, Bret Helton entered to pitch for Milwaukee, retiring the first two batters he faced before allowing a double to pinch hitter Willie Abreu. Helton escaped with a scoreless inning following a flyout from Kozma.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jameson McGrane entered for the Monarchs on the mound with a save opportunity. The Milkmen rallied early in the ninth with a leadoff double and stolen base from Torres.

Prime singled to bring home Torres to cut the deficit to two runs.
With a wild pitch and a single from Will Kengor, the Monarchs led by two with runners at the corners and no outs. The Monarchs secured a much needed 4-6-3 double play, surrendering one run along the way, setting up McGrane to face Dylan Kelly with two outs.

Leading 9-8, McGrane struck him out, securing his ninth save on the season and the Monarchs’ victory.

The Monarchs will play game three of their four-game series with the Milwaukee Milkmen on Wednesday, July 20, evening at Franklin Field in Wisconsin with first pitch slated for 6:35 p.m.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:05 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.