The Kansas City Monarchs had their own Texas two-step Friday night.
Jan Hernandez went four-for-five with an RBI single leading the Kansas City offense, while Eric Stout (2-1) earned a quality start and a win over the Cleburne Railroaders in Cleburne, Texas.
Stout started where he left off in his last start by dominating on the hill in Texas for the first game of this three-game road series against Cleburne. The left hander struck out seven batters while only giving up three hits and one run in the contest.
Stout’s performance gave the Kansas City offense time to figure things out after struggling early. Through the first five innings, the Monarchs only recorded one hit with Hernandez doubling in the first inning.
In the sixth inning the offense found their stride, and the bats got hot quickly. After a lead-off walk by Darnell Sweeny, Johnny Field hit an RBI double to drive in Sweeney for the first run of the game, giving the Monarchs a 1-0 lead. Kansas City immediately scored again with the next batter Hernandez hitting an RBI single to allow the Monarchs to go up 2-0.
Stout gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth as the Railroaders made it a 2-1 game. That same inning, he recorded his seventh strikeout of the game to end his Friday night performance. Right hander Cody Mincey came in to replace Stout to begin the seventh inning where he struck out one.
The Monarchs continued the offensive success in the eighth inning.
After Field got on base off an error by Cleburne, Hernandez singled, putting two batters on base for Casey Gillaspie. Gillaspie then hit a triple to drive in both runners and advance the Monarchs lead, making it a 4-1 game.
Immediately after Gillaspie’s big triple, Colin Willis hit a sacrifice fly RBI for Kansas City to take a 5-1 lead heading to the bottom half.
In the top of the ninth, the Railroaders pitching struggled, putting Monarchs batters on the bases with two straight walks with one out in the inning.
With runners at second and third, there were back-to-back wild pitches by Cleburne pitcher Bryan Saucedo, making it a 7-1 lead for Kansas City.
The hitting machine of the night, Hernandez doubled in the top of the ninth, giving him a four-for-five batting effort.
Robinson Martinez replaced Mincey on the mound in the bottom of the ninth. Mincey finished his outing by pitching two innings, giving up one hit and striking out one batter.
Martinez went three up, three down in his pitching performance, sealing the win for the Monarchs.
The Monarchs will face the Cleburne Railroaders in game two of the three game series at 7:06 p.m. Saturday in Texas. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:40 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.
- Story from Dan Vaughan, Kansas City Monarchs