The Kansas City Monarchs swept the Houston Apollos in three games this past weekend.
The Monarchs, now 12-10, won Sunday’s home game, 11-5, after winning Saturday’s games, 7-2 and 8-4.
The Monarchs exploded for 11 runs in Sunday’s game. The home team scored two runs in the first inning with Darnell Sweeney’s double, followed by Ryan Grotjohn hitting a ball up the middle that deflected off a glove and rolled into center field. Sweeney then scored on a wild throw home, with Grotjohn moving to third. Gabby Guerrero then grounded out, driving in the second run.
The Apollos hit two homers in the top of the second, scoring four runs.
The Monarchs answered in the third with an RBI double from Grotjohn and single from Guerrero to tie the game. Colin Willis’s double off the left-field wall scored Gerrero, with Charcer Burks hitting the fourth double of the inning to give the Monarchs a 6-4 lead. Burks scored on a wild pitch.
In the fifth, Kevin Santa drove in the eighth run on a double to center field, with Sweeney scoring two more on his third double of the game. Guerrero singled for the 11th run.
Jake Matthys got the win for the Monarchs Sunday.
In Saturday’s first game, the Monarchs saw a double by Morgan McCullough, followed by a walk by Darnell Sweeney in the third inning. After McCullough stole third and Sweeney advanced to second, Jan Hernandez was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Guerrero hit a sacrifice fly to third, allowing McCullough to score, with Sweeney moving to third base.
It was a big fifth inning for the Monarchs. Alexis Olmeda singled to right field, then Sweeney walked. Grotjohn then singled to center to load the bases. Hernandez walked, with Olmeda scoring.
Guerrero then hit a grand slam to the bullpen for the Monarchs lead, 6-2.
The next inning, Willis doubled to right field, and a single to center by Olmeda allowed Willis to score from second.
Nick Travieso got the win for the Monarchs in the first game Saturday.
In the second game Saturday, the Monarchs scored in the second inning with an RBI double and two more RBIs from catcher Alexis Olmeda and shortstop Kevin Santa to put Kansas City up 4-0.
Santa had another RBI in the fourth inning and the Monarchs led 5-0.
Houston scored two runs in the sixth inning.
A wild pitch in the sixth inning allowed Charcer Burks to score and the lead was now 6-2. Olmeda and Sweeney each got an RBI, with an 8-2 Monarchs lead.
The Apollos scored again in the seventh to make the score 8-4.
Cody Mincey won the game for the Monarchs. Grotjohn was two for three with three RBIs.
With the win Saturday, the Monarchs went above .500 for the first time this season.
Kansas City will have an off-day on Monday before continuing its nine-game homestand on Tuesday night against Gary SouthShore.
First pitch is slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:40 p.m. and the video stream will air on aabaseball.tv. The game will also air on 1510 ESPN Kansas City.
Tickets to Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.