by Jaxson Webb, Monarchs
Franklin, Wisconsin — The Kansas City Monarchs (37-19) had the lead for five and a half innings before the Milwaukee Milkmen (28-28) went on a tear in the seventh inning to complete the comeback win at home on Monday night.
After a scoreless first inning on both sides, the Monarchs broke the ice by manufacturing two runs in the second inning off Milkmen starter, A.J. Jones.
David Thompson got the ball rolling in the inning by working a walk. Following Thompson was a single by Casey Gillaspie that had the runners set at the corners with no one out.
Willie Abreu did the RBI honors by singling to right field to score his former college teammate, Thompson (1-0).
Moments later, J.C. Escarra roped a double on the first pitch he saw. The hit scored Gillaspie and stretched the lead to 2-0.
Keon Barnum, a Milwaukee star who did not play when the Milkmen played Kansas City in June, made up for lost time by sending his 15th homer of the season way over the outfield fence to close the gap (2-1).
The offenses kept producing with Kansas City adding two runs in the third inning. Thompson, the American Association home run derby champion, hammered a two-run home run to bump the Monarchs’ lead to three (4-1).
Jon Harris did a great job of retiring the Milkmen in order for the second time in the home half of the third inning to keep momentum on Kansas City’s side.
Both teams struck again in the fourth inning, with Milwaukee notching three runs after Kansas City scored one. It was none other than Keon Barnum who did the damage by homering for the second time of the night, this time a three-run homer to bring his team within one (5-4).
The Milkmen made a pitching change after the first out in the fifth inning. The new pitcher, D.J. Sharabi, was faced with a tough task as Thompson stepped up to the plate.
Thompson continued his success at the plate after collecting another RBI off a single through the left side against Sharabi (6-4).
Harris finally exited the game in the sixth inning after a line of five innings pitched, three hits, four runs, and one base on balls.
Harris handed the ball off to Jacob Lindgren who got his second appearance since returning to the active roster. Lindgren retired the Milwaukee offense without surrendering a run in the sixth.
In the seventh inning, the Milkmen did some major damage by compiling eight runs off seven hits, burning through three Monarchs pitchers in the inning (12-6). The most impressive parts of the inning were that the Milkmen scored all eight runs without a home run and sent 12 batters up to the plate.
Kansas City answered but with just one run of Escarra’s second hit of the evening (12-7). The single from Escarra allowed Gillaspie to cross home plate for the second time as well.
Frank Rubio finished the night on the mound for Kansas City after entering the game at the end of the seventh.
Only one Monarch reached base in their final chance at a comeback, but Rodrigo Benoit finished strong and clinched the series-opening victory for Milwaukee.
The Monarchs will look to rebound in game two in their series with the Milwaukee Milkmen at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday, July 19.evening at Franklin Field.
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.