By Nolan Brooks, Kansas City Monarchs

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An eighth-inning homer from Monarchs right fielder Micker Adolfo proved to be key insurance in the Monarchs’ 4-3 win over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks Friday night at Legends Field.

Monarchs starting pitcher Ashton Goudeau shined in his Kansas City debut on the mound. The former major leaguer threw six innings allowing only one run on six hits and struck out four.

Adolfo was hot at the plate going 3-for-4 with three RBI’s including the two-run homer in the eighth.

Cam Cannon also had a productive Monarchs debut. Cannon finished 2-for-3 with a run scored including a triple in the bottom of the third in his first at-bat as a Monarch.

RedHawks starting pitcher Kevin McGovern threw seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out seven.

The Monarchs got on the board first in the bottom of the third. Cannon tripled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from LJ Hatch to make it 1-0 Monarchs.

The Monarchs added onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Chris Herrmann singled and moved to second on a single from Jan Hernandez. The two singles set up an RBI double from Adolfo that made it 2-0 KC.

Fargo-Moorhead answered in the top of the fifth on a solo shot from Sam Dexter that made it 2-1 after five innings.

Both teams would go quiet until the bottom of the eighth. Another Hernandez single set up the two-run shot from Adolfo to make it 4-1 Monarchs.

The RedHawks showed life in the top of the ninth off Monarchs reliever Grant Gavin. Correlle Prime and Alec Olund singled to put two runners on. Nick Novak hit an RBI double one batter later to make it 4-3.

Gavin retired the next two hitters to strand Novak and finish the Monarchs’ win.

Goudeau (1-0) got the win and McGovern (8-8) got the loss. The Monarchs improve to 48-35 and hold a 4.5-game lead over the Sioux City Explorers in the West Division standings.

UP NEXT: The Monarchs continue a four-game series versus the RedHawks. Game two is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday night. Jalen Miller will be on the mound for the Monarchs.