FARGO, N.D. – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (41-30) left themselves plenty of work to do late in Tuesday night’s matchup with the Kansas City Monarchs (45-24), trailing by run with only six outs remaining, but Alex Boxwell’s two-run home in the eighth inning lifted the RedHawks to an 8-6 win in front of 2,333 fans at Newman Outdoor Field. Boxwell’s fourth home run of the year, a towering shot that carried over the right-center field wall, allowed Alex DuBord to come on and slam the door on Kansas City in the ninth inning to seal the victory and earn his seventh save of the season.

RHP Andrew Tri (0-0) started for the RedHawks and gave up six runs on seven hits and four walks in two innings pitched. LHP Mark Finkelnburg (1-0) came into the game and pitched 3.2 innings before leaving due to an injury in the sixth inning. Finkelnburg held KC scoreless and gave up a hit and four walks. RHP Luke Lind (1-1) replaced Finkelnburg and struck out four batters over 2.1 innings pitched to get the win.

Fargo-Moorhead opened the scoring early when Dylan Kelly (2-for-2, walk, sacrifice bunt, four RBIs) hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. In the eighth inning, Jordan George started the rally and extended his franchise record on-base streak to 51 games with a leadoff double. The American Association record for an on-base streak is 56 games (Stephen Douglas, El Paso/Grand Prairie in 2011).George also had a sacrifice fly in the third inning and has an RBI in four of his last five games.

RHP Ryan Newell (1-0) pitched 4.1 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks for the Monarchs. Newell was replaced by LHP Elroy Urbina (2-0) in the fifth inning. Urbina didn’t allow a hit in 2.2 innings pitched but allowed two walks and struck out a batter. LHP Jacob Lindgren (0-2) gave up three runs on four hits in an inning pitched and got the loss.

The Monarchs almost flipped their offensive output from Monday night, scoring all six of their runs in the first two innings of the game. Kansas City only had three hits over the last seven innings and had only three players (Gariel Guerrero, Casey Gillaspie, and Alexis Olmeda) with more than one hit in the game.

The RedHawks and Monarchs will conclude their series with a 7:02 p.m. game Wednesday night at Newman Outdoor Field. Fargo-Moorhead is expected to start RHP Gage Hinsz (4-4, 6.30 ERA) while Kansas City is expected to start RHP Keyvius Sampson (0-0, 4.50 ERA).

BOX SCORE

By Chad Ekren, Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks