Monarchs Come Up Empty Despite Late-Inning Surge

Sioux Falls, SD — After three record breaking games, the Monarchs looked human and fell to the Canaries 8-6 on Sunday afternoon.

Kansas City continued to produce a fast start when Marcus Smith walked and Nick Martini eventually was forced out at first. This allowed Smith to advance to third with Saul Garza up at the plate. Garza lifted a sac fly to center and Smith raced home to open the scoring.

Half of the runs in this game appeared in the first four frames. Sioux Falls posted a three run inning after TJ Rachenbaumer singled while Trevor Achenbach and Mason Minzey both walked. Rachenbaumer scored on a wild pitch and Anthony Hall laced a triple into center field to bring in the next two runners.

The Canaries carried the momentum in the next two frames with RBI singles from Achenbach and Joe Vos to jump up to a 5-1 advantage. In the fourth frame, Micheal Curialle homered with a solo shot to right field.

It was Dylan Heid who made his first start on the bump for KC. He threw four strikeouts, but gave up five hits and four runs. The most impressive pitcher out of the pen was newly signed Wyatt Wendell. The Denver native threw in three frames, surrendering only one hit, but dealt an impressive five punch outs.

This was a Monarchs team that was held scoreless for six consecutive innings before making their push in the final two frames. They started the eighth inning with three straight hits from Grant Richardson, Austin Callahan, and Sahid Valanzuela. The bases were juiced with no one out and Hudson Head appeared at the plate. The former Pirates product did his job with a sac fly to center and brought in Richardson. Shortly after, Alvaro Gonzalez drove a hard chopper up the middle to bring in a pair of runners. KC cut this to a 6-4 game headed into the bottom of the frame.

The Canaries cultivated a response by dropping a pair of runs in the inning and built a four run cushion headed into the ninth. Kansas City made one final push with back-to-back homers from Nick Martini and Saul Garza to bring it back to a two-run contest. Unfortunately the Sioux Falls closer, Spencer Bauer, recorded the final strikeout to seal a Canarie victory.

Despite the loss, the Monarchs (17-9) stay four games clear of Sioux Falls (14-14) and hold first place in the West division. They have the second best record in the league and will head south for the remainder of the road-trip. Kansas City will take the 12 hour bus ride to Cleburne, TX to collide with the Railroaders for a three-game set.