Monarchs Allow Eight Runs in Final Two Innings, Suffer Loss to Lincoln

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Kansas City, KS – The Monarchs had the lead for seven innings, but the Saltdogs came storming back to win 12-9 and stole the first game of the series.

This Monarch team got the bats rolling right from the get-go in the first inning. After Sahid Valenzuela singled, Luken Baker smoked a two-run shot to take an early lead. The inning kept rolling with a  Hudson Head walk, a JD Davis base hit, and that allowed Grant Richardson to belt his third homer in his past five outings. It was 5-0 in the blink of an eye.

 

The momentum carried into the second frame after Valenzuela got on base and Baker doubled. Later in the inning, Richardson was right on cue with a two-run RBI single to jump into a seven-run advantage. It was all Monarchs to open up the game.

 

Lincoln found some life in the fourth inning as as they collected three-straight base hits capped off by a Cary Arbolida RBI. Two batters later, Calvyn Halvorson lined a single to bring in Arbolida and the lead was cut to 7-3.

In the bottom half of the frame, Baker wasted no time when he drilled his second homer of the night. The first baseman says, “I feel like I am in a good spot swinging the ball and getting good pitches to hit. I am hitting them well.”

 

After Kansas City scored another run in the seventh on a Wilfred Veras RBI, this was a 9-4 game going into the eighth and thats when it all changed. The Saltdogs made something out of nothing when Jake Hjelle singled and then two walks later had the bases loaded with Halvorson up. The shortstop sent a line drive into right field to score three runners and cut the lead down to two. After Tanner O’Tremba drew a walk, Cam Phelts grabbed a knock to bring home two runners and tie the game. The momentum continued as Nick Shumpert drove in Phelts while collecting a triple which gave Lincoln the lead for the first time in the contest.

 

In the final inning, Connor Bagnieski rocketed a two-run blast into center field and the Monarchs couldn’t rally back in the ninth. Baker talked about the night as a whole and said, “Outside of that one big blow up inning, we felt we played our brand of baseball. Just clean up a couple things, we will come back tomorrow and we are a good team, we trust we’re good. We will play better tomorrow.”

KC still stands 2.5 games ahead of Winnipeg for first place. They will have an opportunity to tie up this series tomorrow night at Legends Field with a scheduled 6:35 first pitch.

Callahan’s Big Day Propels Monarchs to Series Sweep

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Chicago, IL — After trailing in both games, the Monarchs jumped in front early and went on to win 11-4 to complete the sweep over the Dogs on Sunday afternoon.

It was as quick of a start as you could ask for as the Monarchs took the lead on the second pitch of the game and never looked back. Facing a 0-1 count, Austin Callahan cranked a ball into deep right field to put Kansas City in front. The leadoff hitter set the tone for the day and would go on to have quite the afternoon.

The Monarchs continued the momentum in the second frame when Saul Garza was hit by a pitch and then Grant Richardson belted his second homer in back-to-back games. It’s a welcome sight to see that Richardson is returning to his early season form as KC is getting some much needed production out of their left fielder.

 

This was a 3-0 game going into the fourth inning and the Monarchs quickly put the contest out of reach. Richardson and JD Davis walked and with two outs, Kansas City needed to make something happen. In the top of the order, Callahan lined one into right field to bring home both runners, but the inning did not stop there. Sahid Valenzuela walked and with Callahan on second, that brought up Luken Baker. He read the 0-1 pitch to perfection and nuked a three-run bomb to finish off a five-run frame. It was 8-0 and the Monarchs had total control.

 

Chicago finally broke through in the sixth inning when they had two runners on and then Aaron Altherr grounded a ball on the right side to bring in Jacob Maiben and Ethan Wilder. Shortly after, Giovanni DiGiacomo put a ball down the third base line and scored Altherr, but it was too little too late.

After his last outing on the bump, Austin Krob responded in a big way with a five strikeout performance while giving up three runs in three hits. He held the Dogs scoreless for five-straight innings and other than the sixth frame, he was perfect on the mound. Jeff Hakanson relieved him and tallied two K’s as the bullpen threw five total pitchers this afternoon.

Kansas City tacked on three more runs in the third after Richardson walked, Davis was hit by a pitch, and Brady Lindsly collected a hit. Trevor Boone was hit by a pitch that brought in Richardson and then Callahan reached base via fielder’s choice and Davis crossed home plate. It was yet another RBI for Callahan as he finished the day 2-6 with two runs and four RBI’s. Valenzuela would go on to register his first knock of the afternoon on an RBI single.

The Dogs scored a run in the ninth, but the Monarchs already had a commanding lead. With this series sweep, KC now has a three game lead on Fargo in the West Division. They will have an opportunity to add to that lead when they return back to Legends Field for a six-game home stand starting Tuesday night. The Monarchs will welcome the Lincoln Saltdogs to Kansas City for the first time this season and then face Fargo to finish out the stand. First pitch with Lincoln will be at 6:35.

Kansas City Scores Eight Unanswered, Takes Series From the Dogs

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Chicago, IL — After surrendering an early 6-1 deficit, the Monarchs came storming back with eight runs in the middle three frames to win 9-6 on Saturday night at Impact Field.

Despite giving up six-straight runs, Kansas City got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first as Austin Callahan opened up the game with a double. Luken Baker brought him home on a ground ball into center field. The Houston, TX native has shown no signs of slowing down and has registered an RBI in four of the past five outings.

 

The Dogs wasted no time cultivating a response as they put up three tallies in the bottom of the first. The leadoff batter, Jacob Maiben, tripled on a ball into center field while Ethan Wilder walked. This brought in Chance Sisco who smacked a three-run homer to give Chicago the lead.

KC really struggled to slow down the Dogs in the opening three innings as they continued to stack up runs. The second innings opened up with three consecutive hits and in the blink of an eye, the bases were loaded with one out. Sisco grounded out into an RBI to bring home Cooper Weiss. In the third inning, Tyrique Reed smoked a two-run jack and just like that, the Monarchs were down five runs and needed to act quickly.

That is exactly what they did as just an inning later, they put up a four-run fourth frame. Baker started off with a walk and then Saul Garza followed it up with a knock into left field. On the first pitch he saw, Hudson Head belted a three-run bomb to cut the lead to two. It was a momentum shifting moment for the Monarchs and they did not stop there. JD Davis grabbed a base hit and then was later brought home by newly acquired, Wilfred Veras, when he grounded out to grab his first RBI as a Monarch and cut the lead to 6-4. The former White Sox product will certainly be a big help to Kansas City on both sides of the ball and has a bright future at Legends Field.

 

Former Twin, Darren McCaughan got the start on the mound and gave up nine hits and six runs. It was not his best outing, but he is a talented pitching who will certainly respond in his next game. The bright spot out of the bullpen was the Lee’s Summit native, Nate Webb. The right-hander had a terrific command on the bump and was locating the zone left and right. He only allowed two hits and finished his day with a season-high six strikeouts. Webb shut down this Dogs attack to make room for the Monarchs offense to flourish.

In the fifth frame, Baker singled and then Saul Garza gave Kansas City the first lead of the night with his 15th homer to tie Trevor Boone in that category. The sixth inning came around and the Monarchs kept on swinging. This team showed why its second in the league in home runs as just two pitches later, Davis and Grant Richardson connected on back-to-back home runs to put Kansas City in front by three.

 

Wyatt Wendell earned his first save in a Kansas City uniform and the Monarchs completed the comeback for the second-straight night. With a series win, this team will look to complete a sweep over Chicago with a 3 o’clock first pitch tomorrow afternoon.