by Adam Cook, Monarchs
Rosemont, Ill. — The Kansas City Monarchs (20-7) indisputably planted their flag atop the American Association this past week.
The Monarchs grilled the East division’s first place Chicago Dogs (17-10) in a Sunday contest, 9-2, to secure a sweep, their second in as many series.
The teams entered the series each atop their divisions, but Kansas City dominated the Dogs in this showdown of American Association juggernauts, earning the win and the sweep behind a strong outing from starting pitcher Akeem Bostick (4-1) and some late-game mistakes from the Dogs.
The game began quietly, as the only scoring action in the first two innings came on a leadoff home run from Chicago’s Charlie Tilson to put the Dogs up early. The next few innings were uneventful, as three of the four half-innings in the second and third ended as 1-2-3 innings.
It wasn’t until the top of the fourth inning that the scoreboard began to light up. Behind a pair of Monarchs singles by Darnell Sweeney and Gaby Guerrero, Matt Adams stepped to the plate with one out in an RBI opportunity. He took advantage by sending a sacrifice fly to right field to score Sweeney from third and help the Monarchs even the score at one before the end of the inning.
The Dogs soon returned the favor, however. In the bottom half of the inning, Monarchs starter Akeem Bostick allowed a leadoff walk to K.C. Hobson, who then got moved to third by way of a Danny Mars triple. The Dogs then struck just as the Monarchs did a half inning earlier, as Anfernee Grier scored Hobson with a sacrifice fly to regain the Chicago lead, 2-1.
The top of the fifth yielded some fireworks as well. The inning began with a single from Jan Hernandez, who then stole second base. J.C. Escarra came through with a single of his own to move Hernandez to third, leaving runners on first and third for the very hot hitting Kevin Santa.
Santa continued his hot streak with an RBI double to left field that moved Escarra to third base. Escarra was then driven in by an RBI groundout from Willie Abreu, giving the Monarchs the lead once again with the score 3-2 Kansas City.
The next few innings were relatively quiet, as the Dogs were retired in order in the bottom half as one of many 1-2-3 innings that occurred from the bottom of the fifth to the eighth inning.
Monarchs reliever Jordan Martinson gave Kansas City some momentum moving into the bottom of the eighth after he struck out the side in order in the top half.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Darnell Sweeney capitalized on this momentum by reaching base on a one-out infield single, but ended on second base after a throwing error, then on third after a wild pitch.
Back-to-back walks set up David Thompson with a bases loaded one-out opportunity, with which he drew an RBI walk and chased Dogs reliever Kevin Marmon from the game.
Jan Hernandez became relief pitcher Paul Schwendel’s first batter of the game, which he promptly walked to make it back-to-back bases loaded walks for the Monarchs. Casey Gillaspie finally had the big hit that made the Dogs pay for the walks, as he delivered with a big two-RBI double to break it open, giving the Monarchs a very comfortable 7-2 lead.
Jan Hernandez then scored from third to cap off the big eighth inning for the Monarchs offense to make the score 8-2 Kansas City heading to the bottom half.
A 1-2-3 inning from Brandon Koch shut the Dogs down in the bottom half of the eighth inning, turning the inning over to the Monarchs offense one last time.
Matt Adams stepped up to the plate in the top half of the ninth to make sure the Monarchs didn’t finally have a game with no home runs and sent a solo shot to right field to pad the lead even further, 9-2.
The Monarchs’ Matt Blackham came out to toe the rubber in the top of the ninth and secured the sweep, which he did in five batters, giving the Monarchs the 9-2 win.
After a day off on Monday, the Monarchs are back in action at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday against the Sioux City Explorers in an away game.
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 can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.
The Monarchs announced on Monday that Eric Stout, a former left-handed pitcher for the Monarchs, has been called up to the MLB by the Chicago Cubs.
Stout pitched for the Monarchs in 2021 before his contract was purchased by the Miami Marlins organization, and he was assigned to AAA Jacksonville. Stout re-signed with the Monarchs in the off season after winter league play. The Chicago Cubs organization purchased the contract from Kansas City on March 16 and assigned him to the Iowa Cubs. During Stout’s time with Kansas City in 2021, he finished with a record of 2-1 in four starts for the Monarchs. Stout struck out 30 batters over his four pitching appearances and garnered a 1.95 ERA in his 23 innings pitched.
Stout was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft. He appeared in three Royals’ games before being assigned to the Royals’ AAA Omaha affiliate.