by Dan Vaughan Jr., Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs (63-35) dialed up a pair of home runs and rode a solid outing from starter Jalen Miller (2-0) to take a 3-2 win Saturday in game two of the four-game series over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (64-34).
The Monarchs used the long ball right off the bat in the first inning.
Mallex Smith singled to start the game off left-handed hurler Peyton Wigginton (9-3).
Then, with two outs, Jacob Robson hit his eighth homer of the season to center to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead. The home run tied the franchise mark for home runs in a season at 162.
In the home half of the fifth, Alexis Olmeda hit a solo home run to right, his seventh, to give the Monarchs a 3-0 lead and to set a new franchise single-season record. The Monarchs’ old record came in 2010 when the club played in the Northern League.
Miller surrendered just two hits in 5.1, but the RedHawks worked six walks on the evening. Miller added six strikeouts and exited in the sixth with one out. The right hander got stronger as the game went on, and in the fourth and fifth inning he walked the lead-off batter, then retired the next three batters to keep Fargo at bay.
In the sixth Joran Martinson came into the game with one on and one out. Rymer Liriano singled but was retired trying to stretch the single to a double on an outfield assist from Smith. Martinson got the final out on a fly out off the bat of Alec Olund to keep the Monarchs in the lead at 3-0.
Fargo-Moorhead cut into the Kansas City lead in the top of the seventh. Martinson struck out Nick Novak but hit Christian Correa with a pitch.
Peter Maris followed with an infield single to put two on for the RedHawks. Martinson struck out Manuel Boscan but hit Drew Ward to load the bases. Leo Pena hit a single to drive in two runs, but Martinson got John Silviano to fly out to center to end the stanza.
Brandon Koch worked a 1-2-3 eighth including two strikeouts to take the game to the top of the ninth. Alex Valdez struck out pinch hitter Ben Livorsi but issued a free pass to Maris. Boscan hit into a fielder’s choice, forcing out Maris at second for the second out of the inning. Valdez struck out Drew Ward looking to earn the save (2) in a 3-2 Monarchs win.
The win pulled the Monarchs to one game behind the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks for the West Division lead in the American Association with two games to play. The RedHawks magic number to win the West is two. The RedHawks will clinch the division crown with one more win while the Monarchs will need to win the last two games to claim their third regular season division title in a row.
Both teams are playoff bound and will face off in game three of the four-game series at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Sept. 4, at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas.
The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 2:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.
Tickets to Monarchs regular season and playoff games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.