Monarchs Rally Falls Short In Cleburne

CLEBURNE, Texas — A ninth-inning rally fell just short for the Kansas City Monarchs Friday night in a 7-6 loss to the Cleburne Railroaders at La Moderna Field.

Kansas City scored two runs in the top of the ninth but left the bases loaded in the final inning, dropping their first game after the All-Star break to begin a three-game series.

The Monarchs (36-23) remain in first place in the American Association West by 4.5 games. They’ll look to level the series with Cleburne Saturday night at 7:06 p.m.

Kansas City took an early edge behind three home runs. Chris Herrmann hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning. His 16th blast of the season gave him 61 RBIs on the year, the most in the league.

Odubel Herrera and Justin Wylie hit back-to-back solo shots in the fifth to give Kansas City a 4-1 edge.

Monarchs starter Brandon Finnegan was ejected in the fourth inning of the game arguing a hit-by-pitch call. He allowed one run on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts, throwing 70 pitches.

Alex Valdez got the last out of the fourth inning, but ran into trouble in the fifth. The Railroaders scored six runs in the inning on six hits to take a 7-4 edge.

That score held until the ninth inning, when Kansas City made it a one-run game on back-to-back singles from Gavin Collins and Brian O’Grady.

Aaron Whitefield drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but Jacob Robson grounded out to first base to end the game.

UP NEXT

Jalen Miller will get the ball for Kansas City in Saturday’s game
against Cleburne’s Travis Perry. Monarchs fans can catch the game on MonarchsBaseball.com/LIVE.