By Dan Vaughan, Jr., Kansas City Monarchs

SIOUX FALLS, SD— The Kansas City Monarchs (59-34) rode the arm of Jalen Miller (1-0) who tossed six innings and recorded a quality start and a barrage at the plate to complete the three-game sweep over the Sioux Falls Canaries (32-61) 13-8 Sunday afternoon at Sioux Falls Stadium.

Miller, who was signed last week for the Monarchs made his first start for the club and was in a solid groove all day. He tossed five scoreless innings, holding the Canaries to two hits until Sioux Falls would scratch out a pair of runs in the sixth.

The Monarchs jumped on Sioux Falls starter Stevie Ledesma (4-5) early, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Before the beverages were warm on the 80-degree day, Mallex Smith doubled then came home on an RBI single from Kevin Santa to make it 1-0. With two outs and two aboard, Gio Brusa roped a single to right center to score a pair and make it 3-0.

Ledesma would then retire 10 in a row until the fifth and the Monarchs got hot again. Dylan Harris walked to get the inning started then would be followed by a Mallex Smith single to put runners at the corners. Kevin Santa then drove in his second of the day on an RBI single to make it 4-0 Kansas City. Ryan Grotjohn would single, but Smith would be thrown out at home to put runners at first and second. The Monarchs pulled off a double steal to move the runners up for Jacob Robson. Robson cranked a ball to right center to score both runners with a double to make it 6-0. A wild pitch would move Robson to third for Jan Hernandez who hit a sac fly to left to score Robson and it was 7-0 in favor of KC.

In the sixth, the Monarch would strike again facing reliever Christian Johnson. Pete Kozma would single and move to third on Mallex Smith’s second double. Kevin Santa would walk to load the bases for Ryan Grotjohn who smacked a double and scored two runs to extend the lead to 9-0. After a wild pitch, Jacob Robson would hit a roller to short to score Grotjohn and it was 10-0 Monarchs.

The Canaries got two off Miller in the bottom of the sixth for two runs, but he would punch out Kona Quiggle to record his ninth strikeout and end his outing with the score 10-2. His line for the afternoon was 6.0, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB and 9SO.

The Monarchs picked up three more runs in the seventh on a two-RBI double from Pete Kozma and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Malllex Smith to extend the lead to 13-2. The Canaries would come back with five runs in the bottom of the seventh off Frank Rubio to make it 13-7. Aaron Takacs drove in one run, Kona Quiggle had a two RBI double, and Angelo Altavilla added another RBI to cut into the Monarchs lead. The Canaries got a solo home run with two outs in bottom of the ninth from Altavilla who finished 5-for-5 in the loss.

The Monarchs won for the fifth game in a row and finished the season 13-2 against Sioux Falls. The Monarchs with the 12 strikeouts tied a franchise high as a pitching staff of 897 set in 2017.

The Monarchs continue their six-game road trip with the first game of a three-game series across the border against  Winnipeg Goldeyes tomorrow night (8/29) at 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:00 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.

Tickets to all Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com. For additional information or interview requests, members of the media may contact the Monarchs Media Relations Department at (817) 739-3693. Stay tuned to monarchsbaseball.com. and the Monarchs Facebook and Twitter pages for updates throughout the season.

WP: Miller (1-0)
LP: Ledesma (5-4)
 Boxscore

LISTEN TO ALL MONARCHS GAMES LIVE ON THE MONARCHS BROADCASTNETWORK