Category: Kansas City Monarchs

by G.M.W. Vaughan, Monarchs

On Francophile night in Canada, the Kansas City Monarchs (61-34) declared “victoire” against the Winnipeg Goldeyes (50-45) by a score of 3-2 Tuesday night at Shaw Park.

With Matt Hall on the “monticule” for the Monarchs and Freisis Adames for the Goldeyes, the Monarchs continued their winning streak — now seven in a row — as they marched closer the postseason.

While the first two innings remained scoreless, the Monarchs were first to get on board in the third inning. After a Kevin Santa base hit and a stolen a base, Santa then moved to third on a throwing error on catcher Deon Stafford Jr. After a wild pitch, Santa gifted the Monarchs with an early lead, 1-0.

The Goldeyes’ bats could not gain any traction off pitcher Hall or the Monarchs’ defense, but Mallex Smith’s solo home run off of Adames (the teams’ 160th) in the fifth inning kept the Monarchs’ power numbers inching higher. The Monarchs are now three shy of tying a franchise record of 162 home runs set in 2010 as members of the old Northern League.

In the seventh inning, Dylan Harris led off the inning with a single. With two outs, left fielder Logan Hill, who made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Ryan Grotjohn of a homer an inning before, dropped a fly ball off the bat of Smith. Dylan Harris raced around to score on the play, adding to the Monarchs’ lead, 3-0.

In the ninth inning, Jameson McGrane came in for the save, and the Goldeyes’ bats awakened, making the final half inning a bit of a nail biter for KC. A single by Kevin LaChance and a solo home run by Reggie Pruitt Jr. brought the Goldeyes within striking distance, 3-2, but McGrane and the Monarchs’ defense kept the Goldeyes from the steal, winning again in Canada, 3-2.

The Monarchs will play the final game of this three-game series against Winnipeg at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 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 aa baseball.tv.

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

by Dan Vaughan Jr., Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (60-34) crossed into Canada Monday and did not miss a beat as the team clubbed 15 hits and scored 12 runs in a 12-5 win over the Winnipeg Goldeyes (50-43) at Shaw Park.

The win extended the Monarchs winning streak to six games.

Ryan Grotjohn got the Monarchs on the board in the top of the first with a two out solo home run to left field to make it 1-0 off Winnipeg starter Luis Ramirez (10-6).

The Goldeyes tied it in the second on an RBI double from Logan Hill off Monarchs’ starter Matt Hartman (ND).

Kansas City took the lead for good in the top of the fourth with a three-run home run for Casey Gillaspie with two outs to make it 4-1. It was his 17th of the season and his 52nd in franchise history.

The Monarchs plated two more runs in the top of the fifth with a two-out single from Kevin Santa followed by a double from Grotjohn. With runners at second and third Jacob Robson drove both runners home with a double to extend the lead to 6-1. It was Robson’s 19th RBI in his last 10 games.

Winnipeg loaded the bases off Hartman in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out. Brian Glowicki came into the game and gave up a sacrifice fly to Jacob Rhinesmith to cut the lead to 6-2.

Hill was hit by a pitch to load the bases once again. Kevin Lachance drove a pair home with an RBI single, but Glowicki struck out Hidekel Gonzalez to end the inning with the Monarchs leading 6-4.

The Monarchs answered once again with four more runs in the top of the sixth. Ramirez got the first two outs of the inning but left the game after a single by Pete Kozma.

Travis Seabrooke came in from the pen for the Goldeyes and gave up a single to Dylan Harris followed by back-to-back doubles from Mallex Smith and Santa to make it 9-4 Kansas City.

Grotjohn picked up his third hit of the night on an infield single, but a Goldeyes error allowed another run to score to increase the lead to 10-4.

Kansas City added two more runs in the seventh on a fielder’s choice from Kozma and an RBI single for Smith, his second of the night, to make it a 12- 4 Monarchs lead.

Glowicki worked 3.2 innings with five strikeouts to pick up the relief win for Kansas City. Alex Valdez worked the ninth inning and gave up a solo home run to Max Murphy, for a final 12-5 for Kansas City.

The Monarchs’ winning streak sits at six. The Monarchs are 2.5 games behind the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks for first place in the West Division, with six games to play.

The Monarchs continue their six-game road trip with the second game of a three-game series across the border against the Winnipeg Goldeyes at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30. 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.

by Dan Vaughan Jr., Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (59-34) rode the arm of Jalen Miller (1-0), who tossed six innings and recorded a quality start and a barrage at the plate to complete the three-game sweep over the Sioux Falls Canaries (32-61) 13-8 Sunday afternoon at Sioux Falls Stadium.

Miller, who was signed last week for the Monarchs, made his first start for the club and was in a solid groove all day. He tossed five scoreless innings, holding the Canaries to two hits until Sioux Falls scratched out a pair of runs in the sixth.

The Monarchs jumped on Sioux Falls starter Stevie Ledesma (4-5) early, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Before the beverages were warm on the 80-degree day, Mallex Smith doubled, then came home on an RBI single from Kevin Santa to make it 1-0. With two outs and two aboard, Gio Brusa roped a single to right center to score a pair and make it 3-0.

Ledesma then retired 10 in a row until the fifth and the Monarchs got hot again. Dylan Harris walked to start the inning, then was followed by a Smith single to put runners at the corners. Santa then drove in his second of the day on an RBI single to make it 4-0 Kansas City.

Ryan Grotjohn singled, but Smith was thrown out at home to put runners at first and second. The Monarchs pulled off a double steal to move the runners up for Jacob Robson. Robson cranked a ball to right center to score both runners with a double, 6-0.

A wild pitch moved Robson to third for Jan Hernandez, who hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Robson. It was 7-0 in favor of KC.

In the sixth, the Monarchs struck again facing reliever Christian Johnson. Pete Kozma singled and moved to third on Smith’s second double. Santa walked to load the bases for Grotjohn, who smacked a double and scored two runs to extend the lead to 9-0. After a wild pitch, Robson hit a roller to short to score Grotjohn and it was 10-0 Monarchs.

The Canaries got two off Miller in the bottom of the sixth for two runs, but he punched out Kona Quiggle to record his ninth strikeout and ended his outing with the score 10-2. His line for the afternoon was 6.0, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 errors, 1 base on balls and 9 strikeouts.

The Monarchs picked up three more runs in the seventh on a two-RBI double from Kozma and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Smith to extend the lead to 13-2.

The Canaries came back with five runs in the bottom of the seventh off Frank Rubio to make it 13-7. Aaron Takacs drove in one run, Quiggle had a two-RBI double, and Angelo Altavilla added another RBI to cut into the Monarchs’ lead.

The Canaries got a solo home run with two outs in bottom of the ninth from Altavilla, who finished 5-for-5 in the loss.

The Monarchs won for the fifth game in a row and finished the season 13-2 against Sioux Falls. The Monarchs, with 12 strikeouts, tied a franchise high as a pitching staff of 897 set in 2017.

The Monarchs continue their six-game road trip with the first game of a three-game series across the border against Winnipeg Goldeyes at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29, 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 aa baseball.tv.

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