Category: Kansas City Monarchs

by Dan Vaughan Jr., Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (62-35) and Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (64-33) came into the pivotal Friday night match up on different waves of momentum. The Monarchs had won eight in a row and had pulled to within one game of the front-running RedHawks, who had dropped two of three on their end of season road trip.

Yet, it was the RedHawks, behind lefty ace Kevin McGovern (10-3) and three long balls that took the series opener 6-2.

Kansas City had chances in the game, drawing 10 walks and stranding 15 runners, six off McGovern. The all-time American Association strikeout leader was able to fight off the Monarchs in the first, second and third with two on and two outs.

McGovern finished the game going 5.2 innings getting the win. His final line was 5.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 4 bases on balls and 9 strikeouts.

Fargo-Moorhead took the lead in the top of the first on a solo home run for Manuel Boscan off Monarchs’ starter Brock Gilliam (6-4). With the RedHawks leading 1-0 in the top of the third, Leo Pena had a two-RBI single to make it 3-0 in favor of the “Fargos.”

The Monarchs answered in the fourth inning on a solo home run for Pete Kozma, his second of the season and the team’s 161st. Kansas City is just one home run away from tying its franchise mark of 162 set in 2010 in the old Northern League.

The RedHawks tacked on another run in the top of the fifth. Peter Maris singled and moved to second on a passed ball on a strikeout. Drew Ward then walked, but a wild pitch moved Maris to third. Leo Pena picked up his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 4-1 game.

Gilliam was done after five, giving up four earned runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Fargo-Moorhead picked up another run in the top of the sixth when Nick Novak hit a solo home run to right off Monarchs’ reliever Brian Glowicki to up the lead to 5-1.

The Monarchs picked up their final run of the night in the home half of the sixth. McGovern walked Casey Gillaspie with one out and surrendered a single to Gio Brusa to put runners at the corners.

Tanner Riley came into the game and gave up an RBI single off the bat of Kozma back up the box to make it 5-2 RedHawks. Riley walked Mallex Smith to load the bases but retired Kevin Santa on a ground ball to second to leave the sacks full for KC.

In the top of the seventh, the RedHawks struck again with a long ball off the bat of Maris. His solo shot to right make it 6-2 in favor of Fargo-Moorhead.

The Monarchs worked two walks to start the seventh off Riley but did not get any traction off reliever Joe Jones to end the threat.

In the eighth inning the Monarchs got two on via back-to-back walks with two outs but once again came up short.

In the bottom of the ninth the Monarchs got a double by Gillaspie and a walk by Brusa with two outs, but Alex DuBord got the final out to preserve a 6-2 win.

The win dropped the Monarchs two games behind the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks for the West Division lead in the American Association with three games to play and lowered the RedHawks magic number to two.

The RedHawks will clinch the division crown with one more win while the Monarchs will need to win the last three games to claim their third regular season division title in a row.

Both teams are playoff bound and will face off in game two of the four-game series at 6 p.m. Saturday night, Sept. 3, at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.

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

Matt Hall, a left-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs, has been named the Rawlings pitcher of the month for August for the American Association.

The Monarchs are a contender for the American Association West Division, at 1.5 games behind Fargo-Moorhead. Fargo-Moorhead will visit Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas, at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2. Kansas City returns home tonight after winning six in a row on the road.

It is Hall’s third league award this season, having won two pitcher-of-the-week awards earlier in the season.

The Lee’s Summit, Missouri, native went 5-0 for the month in five starts, tossing five of six quality starts and going at least five innings in all his starting nods. Hall threw 31 innings, giving up three earned runs with 48 strikeouts.

He had three games with at least 10 strikeouts and one on Aug. 20 in Lincoln where he struck out 12.

“We are so excited as an organization to announce Matt as the pitcher of the month and it is a deserved honor. He means so much to the organization on and off the field,” Monarchs manager Joe Calfapietra said.

Hall, who also serves as the pitching coach for the club, has gone 10-2 this season for the Monarchs in 14 starts, yielding 10 earned runs in 82 innings of work with a team high 113 strikeouts. The left-hander currently has the lowest ERA (1.10) for a single season in franchise history as well as the lowest opponents average against at .197.

Hall was named the Poinstreak Pitcher of the Week the first time this season for the week ending May 22nd after making two starts and surrendering just one earned run in 11 innings with 12 strikeouts. Hall followed that week up with three consecutive starts and with three consecutive wins, and he had his contract transferred to the San Francisco Giants on June 12.

Hall returned to the Monarchs on July 14 and allowed just three earned runs in 37 innings with 48 strikeouts while notching six quality starts in seven outings through August 14. He was named the Pitcher of the Week for second time this season for the week ending Aug. 14. Hall went 2-0 for the week and tossed 14 scoreless innings, scattering five hits with 18 strikeouts.

Hailing from Lee’s Summit, Hall attended Lee’s Summit West High School and played collegiately at Missouri State University where he was a sixth-round draft pick in the 2015 draft by the Detroit Tigers. Hall had his contract purchased on Sept. 11, 2018, and made his Major League debut on Sept. 15, 2018. He was traded after the 2018 season to Boston and appeared in four games for the Red Sox.

This season under Hall’s watch as pitching coach, the Monarchs have the second lowest team ERA (4.43) in the league and have set a franchise record for strikeouts (928) in a season, and the Monarchs will need to average four punch outs a game over the next four games to break the American Association mark for strikeouts (943) as a staff in a single season, a record set by Chicago last season.

Kansas City is guaranteed its fourth straight playoff appearance but still does not know its final seeding. The club currently sits 1.5 games behind division-leading Fargo-Moorhead who Kansas City will host this weekend at Legends Field for the last four games of the regular season.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.

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

• Story from Monarchs

by Dan Vaughan Jr., Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (62-34) erased a 4-2 deficit in a five run sixth inning Wednesday night at Shaw Park to overtake the Winnipeg Goldeyes (50-46) 8-5 completing a three-game sweep.

The win extended the Monarchs’ winning streak to a season-long eight games and was the sixth win this season in Winnipeg in six tries.

The Monarchs got the game started with a leadoff single for Mallex Smith off Goldeyes starter Landen Bourassa followed by another single by Darnell Sweeny.

Ryan Grotjohn singled to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead. The Goldeyes answered with a solo home run by Max Murphy in the bottom of the first to tie the game off Nick Belzer (6-2), who got the starting nod for the Monarchs.

The Goldeyes took the lead on an Ian Sagdal single in the third inning and added two more off Belzer in the fourth. Jacob Rhinesmith hit a solo home run to left and Winnipeg grabbed two more hits in the inning a make it 4-1 on a sacrifice fly from Reggie Pruitt Jr. to lead it 4-1.

Kansas City cut the lead to two in the top of the fifth off Bourassa. Kevin Santa singled to start the inning, but the right-hander quickly retired the next two batters. Grotjohn walked to put runners at first and second. Jacob Robson delivered an RBI double to make it 4-2 Goldeyes.

The big inning for Kansas City came in the top of the sixth. Winnipeg brought in Paul Schwendel out of the pen, and he gave up three straight hits to the Monarchs.

J.C. Escarra and Casey Gillaspie both reached with Escarra scoring on an RBI single from Gio Brusa to cut the lead to 4-3. Santa then hit into a fielder’s choice to force Brusa at second for the first out. Smith walked to load the bases for Darnell Sweeney bringing a pitching change for Winnipeg.

Left-hander Travis Seabrook got the Monarchs’ third baseman to hit a roller to the right side of the mound that Seabrook fielded and elected to throw home instead of on to first. The throw was late as Gillaspie scored to tie the game at four.

Grotjohn then drove in a pair with an RBI single to give the Monarchs the lead at 6-4. Robson drove in the seventh run on an infield single to make it a 7-4 Monarchs advantage. Erasmo Pinales came into the game and got the final two outs to slow Kansas City.

Belzer was done after five innings, tossing a final line of 5 innings pitched, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 2 bases on balls and 3 strikeouts, getting his sixth win this season.

The Monarchs then went to the pen in the home half of the sixth with Jeremey Rhoades coming into the game. The Goldeyes got a leadoff double from Michael Crouse, but Rhoades retired the next three batters to preserve the lead of 7-4 after six.

Left-hander Jordan Martinson came into the game in the bottom of the seventh after the Monarchs failed to score in the top of the frame. Winnipeg picked up an unearned run on a leadoff walk by Pruitt followed by a fielder’s choice that moved the runner to second. Pruitt then moved to third on a stolen base with two outs.

Sagdal walked to put runners at the corners. Sadgal got caught in a run-down allowing Pruitt to score with the Monarchs throw home wide of the plate to cut the lead to 7-5.

The Monarchs bought an insurance policy in the top of the ninth. Gillaspie and Brusa drew walks off reliever Tasker Strobel to put two aboard for Santa. The Monarchs shortstop delivered an RBI double to make it 8-5 Kansas City.

In the bottom of the ninth Alex Valdez was summoned into the game for the Monarchs and allowed a single to Raul Navarro but picked up the first out when Sagdal forced Navarro out at second on a fielder’s choice. Murphy singled but Valdez got David Washington to fly to shallow center and struck out Crouse to end the game.

The win kept the Monarchs 1.5 games behind the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks for the West Division lead in the American Association with four games to play. The Monarchs are off Thursday, Sept. 1, but will open the four-game series with the first place RedHawks Friday night, Sept. 2, at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:30 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.