Kansas City Inches Past Fargo to Earn Shutout Win

Kansas City, KS — It was a quiet night at Legends Field, but the Monarchs grabbed a 1-0 win behind an exceptional defense performance with timely strikeouts on the hill.

Ryan Garcia earned his third start of the season and produced a two-strikeout performance while giving up no runs in seven innings of work. Fargo-Moorhead was the best hitting team in the American Association and Garcia shut them down the entire night. He says, “I think the game plan going into it (was) we knew they were an aggressive team. I thrive off that, I think that makes me even more competitive (and) just going after them. Right off the bat, it’s me versus them. Like I said, it just makes me better knowing that a team is coming out swinging so I have to give it my best.”

The Monarchs lone run of the night came in the third frame when Marcus Smith led off with a single followed by a Sahid Valenzuela walk. Austin Callahan returned to the lineup and made an impact once again. He ripped a ball towards the opposite field into left center and Smith raced around third to score. Callahan recorded his fifth RBI this season and it proved to be a crucial one. He says, “I was just trying to make adjustments off of my first at bat (and) recognize the pitch shapes. My second at bat, I got something over the plate that I could handle and was able to put in the infield.”

It was a night where the Monarchs show why they have the best ERA in the league at 2.73. The Monarchs threw three pitchers and amassed five strikeouts. It was the first time that Fargo was shutout the entire season and the Kansas City closer, Durbin Feltman, tallied his third save this year when he struck out two of the final three batters.

Both these teams will be on short rest when the first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 on Wednesday afternoon. Dakota Chalmers will get the start on the mound for Kansas City while Wyatt Cheney will be on the bump for Fargo.