Category: Kansas City Monarchs

Monarchs win one, lose one on the road in Indiana

Alexis Olmeda of the Kansas City Monarchs tagged out Donivan Willians of the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Tuesday, May 24, at the Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana. (Photo by John Ellis, Kansas City Monarchs)

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.

Monarchs fall to Dogs, 4-1

by Gabriel Lopez, Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (5-4) ended their ninth straight home game with a loss to the Chicago Dogs (4-5) on Sunday afternoon, 4-1.

With wins Friday and Saturday night, the Monarchs took two of three games, winning the series against the Dogs.

On Buck O’ Neil Day at Legends Field, the Dogs wasted no time as they scored quickly in the first inning when Michael Crouse hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Charlie Tilson.

Both teams had several opportunities to score throughout the next five innings.

In the sixth inning Cosimo Cannella lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Ryan Lidge. Harrison Smith followed this up by hitting a ball to the wall. Joel Booker had a great jump on the hit but was unable to make the tough play as Anfernee Grier scored.

The Dogs finished the inning with Smith crossing the plate for an unearned run, giving them a 4-0 lead.

After no prior run production on the day, the Monarchs finally got on the board in the eighth inning as Jan Hernandez reached base due to an error made by Canella at third. Casey Gillaspie followed this at-bat with a single into the outfield. A hard line drive single by Pete Kozma drove in Hernandez to bring in the first run for the Monarchs as they trailed 4-1.

In the ninth inning, Jeff Kinley retired Joel Booker, Darnell Sweeney and Matt Adams to lead the Dogs to victory over the Monarchs.

The Dogs finished the game with 11 runners left on base while the Monarchs stranded 12.

The Monarchs will be back in action for game one against Gary SouthShore at 6:45 p.m. Monday, May 23. 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 Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.

Monarchs overwhelm Dogs, 11-2

Lewis Thorpe of the Kansas City Monarchs delivered a pitch against the Chicago Dogs on May 21 at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by John Ellis, Kansas City Monarchs)
Willie Abreu of the Kansas City Monarchs drove in one of his three RBI against the Chicago Dogs at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas, on May 21. (Photo by John Ellis, Kansas City Monarchs)

by Jaxson Webb, Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (5-3) had the luck of the Irish on Saturday evening as those at the ballpark celebrated Irish Daze. The Monarchs pitching was staggering, and the offense struck gold, defeating the Dogs 11-2

In back-to-back nights the Monarchs have surrendered the lead in the early innings but have stayed resilient.

The Dogs were able to force Monarchs starter Lewis Thorpe (1-1) into pitching 24 pitches in the opening inning and scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Grant Kay (1-0).

The shuffled and strong lineup for Kansas City responded right away after Willie Abreu’s leadoff double, and a pair of fielder’s choices. Jan Hernandez also drove in a run with a single through the left side (3-1).

Lewis Thorpe came back in the second inning with a completely different demeanor. The Melbourne, Australia, native went on to retire nine batters in a row, six of them strikeouts.

Thorpe was dialed in and stayed on top of the Dogs lineup. He finished the evening with five innings pitched, two hits, one earned run, two bases on balls and nine strikeouts.

That momentum carried over to the offensive side of things as six different Monarchs recorded a multi-hit game. Atop of that list was center fielder Willie Abreu, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI, and was just a triple shy of the cycle.

The fourth inning was the four-leaf clover inning for the Monarchs, scoring six runs on eight hits. David Thompson recorded two hits in the inning as Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate.

Abreu capped off the night with a towering two-run homer to stretch the lead to 11-1 in the home half of the eighth. The Dogs scratched out one run in the ninth as Kansas City closed the “green” night out with an 11-2 win.

The Monarchs will play game three against Chicago at 3 p.m. Sunday. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network and a video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.

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