by Kaitlyn Sanders, Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs (13-6) extended their winning streak to six straight games while sweeping the Lincoln Saltdogs (11-6) in a 9-3 win Wednesday night.
Matt Adams hit another home run, producing five in the last six home games as the Monarchs’ offense pounded out 14 hits.
The Monarchs got the scoring started in the first inning off Lincoln’s starter, Garrett Delano (0-1). Darnell Sweeney drove a base hit to right field before Kevin Santa aimed to deep left field with a double. Gaby Guerrero brought them both in with a two-RBI single to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead going into the second.
In the third inning, Santa bounced a high chopper behind the mound to advance to first base before Guerrero singled again, this time to right field. Matt Adams came to the plate and launched one out to the home run hill in right field adding onto the Monarchs 5-0 lead.
Lincoln’s Randy Norris hit a single to left field, and Josh Altmann aimed for deep left-center with a double. Eddy Martinez also hit a base hit double to bring in Norris and Altmann, cutting into Kansas City’s lead at 5-2 in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, J.C. Escarra led off the inning with solo home run that was rocketed to right field, bringing the score to 6-2.
While the offense was in high gear, the pitching was once again stellar for the Monarchs. Jon Harris (1-1) got the starting nod for KC and tossed a quality start. The former Missouri State University product worked six innings, surrendering three runs on five hits, to pick up his first win as a Monarch.
In the home half of the fifth, Matt Adams was walked before David Thompson hit an RBI triple down the right field line to score Adams. Pete Kozma followed with an RBI double to left center extending the lead to 8-2.
In the top of the sixth inning, Altmann homered to left field as the ball landed in the Lincoln bullpen, shortening the lead to 8-3.
Monarchs relivers Matt Blackam and Brandon Koch each struck out the side in the seventh and eighth innings to keep the Saltdogs off the bases.
In the bottom of the eighth, Sweeney and Santa both hit singles before Guerrero was walked to first. With the bases loaded, Hernandez was hit by a pitch by Brandon Cunniff to bring in Sweeney, making the score 9-3. Jameson McGrane would punch out two in a scoreless ninth inning to close out the win for Kansas City.
The Monarchs will have an off day Thursday before playing at Lake Country on Friday, June 3, with game time at 6:35 p.m. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:05 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.