by Caleb Grizzle, Monarchs
On a hot Tuesday night in Texas, the Kansas City Monarchs (27-16) offense erupted early and derailed any comeback hopes of the Cleburne Railroaders (14-29).
Kansas City picked up its fifth win in as many nights with a strong showing from Darnell Sweeney at the plate and a team effort on the mound en route to a 16-8 victory.
The top of the first started off fast with a single from speedy Sweeney.
Following Sweeney’s single, Chad De La Guerra drove an RBI double to right field and Sweeney scored from first to put the Monarchs up 1-0.
Jan Hernandez set up more scoring for the Monarchs by moving De La Guerra to third base with a fly out to right field. Matt Adams singled to bring home De La Guerra, and it was followed by a two-out walk from Gaby Guerrero.
With two runners on Willie Abreu blasted a deep shot over the left field wall to push the Monarchs’ lead to 5-0.
The Railroaders responded with a two-out, solo shot, after a 10-plus pitch at-bat from Zach Nehrir to cut into the early deficit.
The Monarchs’ offense did not slow in the second inning with a leadoff double from J.C. Escarra followed by a two-run home run from Sweeney over the left-center field fence.
De La Guerra stayed hot at the plate and doubled again in the second frame, reaching third base following a wild pitch on the fourth ball during Hernandez’s at-bat. With runners on the corners, and following a Monarchs’ strikeout, David Thompson drew a walk to load the bases.
Guerrero singled to center to bring in one more run and the Monarchs picked up one last run in the inning via a hit by pitch at-bat for Pete Kozma. After two trips to the plate the Monarchs led 9-1.
The Monarchs began rolling on the mound with Lewis Thorpe, the starter for the Monarchs, picking up three strikeouts in the second inning to strike out the side.
Sweeney added to his consistent night at the plate with a line shot to right field for a double to start the third inning. The Monarchs appeared to be slowing down picking up two quick outs and potentially stranding Sweeney.
Following an Adams walk, the Monarchs strung together four consecutive singles. Thompson hit a sharp ground ball down the line to left field to bring home Sweeney. Then Guerrero and Abreu each picked up an RBI single. Kozma concluded the scoring with a looping hit to right field that skipped off the right fielder to bring home two runs. The Monarchs led 14-1 heading into the home half of the third inning.
In the bottom of the third Lewis Thorpe picked up two more strikeouts while the Railroaders picked up two runs via three singles and a sacrifice fly RBI from Chuck Taylor to cut the score to 14-3.
In the fourth inning, both offenses went quiet as Kevin Hilton, the Railroaders’ starter, was replaced by Josh Lucas. Lucas retired the Monarchs in order to hold the deficit at 11 runs. Thorpe followed suit with his own one, two, three inning on the mound, retiring Cleburne in order. Thorpe secured two more strikeouts on the night to bring his final total to seven.
Lucas replicated his work on the mound in the fourth inning by retiring the Monarchs in order in the fifth, striking out one along the way.
In the home half of the fifth, Thorpe’s night came to a close following a balk and an ejection with two outs in the inning. Before Thorpe’s abrupt exit, Edwin Arroyo and Chuck Taylor set up the Railroaders with runners on second and third base with no outs. Nehrir continued his quality performance at the plate on the night with an RBI double, scoring two runs and cutting the deficit to nine. Nehrir advanced to third via a fly out and scored on Thorpe’s balk. Brock Gilliam entered the game to replace Thorpe and recorded the final out to preserve the 14-6 Monarch lead.
In the sixth, Lucas retired three out of the four batters he faced picking up two more strikeouts on his way to a one hit, one run inning. The one hit came from a towering solo shot off of the right field foul pole from Escarra. This solo shot pushed the Monarchs’ total to 15 runs on the night. In the bottom of the frame, Gilliam flirted with danger putting runners on the corners with no outs.
Gilliam escaped the inning without allowing Cleburne to produce a run behind strong fielding and two fly outs.
In the seventh, Kevin McCarthy replaced Lucas and allowed two hits but settled down and prevented the Monarchs from pouring on any extra insurance runs.
In the home half of the seventh, the Railroaders’ Chase Simpson drove a deep solo home run with one out to cut into the lead. Kacy Clemens singled as well before Gilliam shut off the building momentum, retiring the side leaving the score at 15-8.
Michael Wong replaced McCarthy on the mound for Cleburne in the eighth, and much like Lucas’ outing in the fourth and fifth frames, retired the Monarchs in order.
Justin Donatella replaced Gilliam in the eighth. Donatella surrendered one run on three hits before ending the inning by striking out Eddie Hernandez swinging.
In the top of the ninth the Monarchs added one more run from an Adams sacrifice fly and led 16-8 heading into the final half inning of play. Brandon Koch entered on the mound to close the door on a decisive win for the Monarchs. Koch retired the Railroaders in order in the ninth, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
The Monarchs take on the Railroaders for the series finale at 7:06 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, for game three of the series. The away game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:36 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.