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.