Monarchs String Together two in a row, shutdown the Dockhounds

Kansas City, KS — It was a complete game on both sides of the ball from Kansas City as they took down the Lake Country Dockhounds in the opening game of the series, 6-1.

The first three innings decided this game, as the hometown kid, Marcus Smith, drove a two-strike pitch over the left field wall to give Kansas City a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Smith mentioned, “Just trying to put something in play, limit the strikeouts…and battle, while putting a good swing on it”.

The Monarchs muscled another run in the second inning, this time off the bat of Hudson Head on an RBI single. Head, who has been seeing the ball well the last two nights, having three hits, talked about his approach, Head mentioned, “I was just trying to keep having fun, keep it simple, and keep it through the middle”.

And to round out the scoring for Kansas City, it was the Oklahoma native in Trevor Boone who came through with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third. The Monarchs jumped quickly to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.

The timely hitting in the first three innings was complemented by the former Rangers prospect Ryan Garcia, who made his first start of the season. Garcia, who went six innings, only giving up one hit on zero runs, and an impressive seven strikeout performance, earned his first win on the year. Garcia says, ” Early on, I just wanted to establish the fastball, and get the pitches to move off that. Ryan (Leitch) called a great game, allowed us to keep them on their toes”.

The Dockhounds were able to plate a run at the top of the seventh, on an RBI groundout from Brett Roberts.

Five pitchers made appearances for Kansas City, and kept the Dockhounds to only the one run on three hits.

Game two of this three-game series is set for tomorrow on Star Wars Night, first pitch at 6:35.