By Carter Woodiel, Kansas City Monarchs

OCONOMOWOC, Wisc. — With every passing pitch of the Kansas City Monarchs season, the team seems to get more and more comfortable.

Three home runs, a solid start from Cody Deason and another great bullpen performance kept Kansas City’s momentum going in a 7-3 win over the Lake Country DockHounds in the middle game of a three-game series.

Kansas City (8-6) has won seven of its last eight games and will go for a road sweep of the DockHounds Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m.

Jacob Robson, Chris Herrmann and Justin Wylie all went yard for the Monarchs in the victory. Robson opened the scoring with a solo shot in the first inning, his second longball in as many nights.

“For me it’s all about my swing. It took me a little bit to find it, but the last few games or so I’ve been trying different things, trying to get it back, and some stuff clicked,” Robson said. “My plan now is to bottle it up and try to repeat it each game.”

Robson drove in Kansas City’s second run with an RBI single in the third, making it 2-0.

Monarchs starter Cody Deason retired the first seven batters he faced, but allowed a walk and a two-run homer from Nick Banks that tied the game after three.

Kansas City pushed across the go-ahead run in the fifth after Jan Hernandez hit an infield single and Olivier Basabe scored on a throwing error from third baseman Brian Rey.

The Monarchs widened the gap in the sixth. Herrmann led off the inning with his sixth home run of the year, which ranks second in the league. The solo shot made it 4-2.

The Monarchs loaded the bases later in the inning, and Johneshwy Fargas cashed in with a two-run double to put Kansas City up by four.

“It reminds me a lot of last year’s lineup; we were just banging one through nine,” Robson said. “If one guy had a bad game, other guys would step up and have a great game.”

Deason allowed a solo homer to Banks in the sixth, but threw 5.2 solid innings to earn the win. He allowed three runs on three hits, walking one and striking out nine, a season high for a Monarchs pitcher.

Wylie’s first home run of the season put the Monarchs in front 7-3. Wylie was 2-for-3 on the game; he’s 8-for-14 over his last four contests with two doubles and the home run.

“He can really hit, that guy,” Robson said of Wylie. “He can hit in the top or the middle of the lineup for a lot of other teams in this league.”

The Monarchs’ bullpen continued to impress Saturday. Grant Gavin worked out of trouble to get the last out of the sixth. Trey Jeans threw scoreless seventh and eighth innings, allowing two hits and nothing more.

Matt Hartman made his season debut for Kansas City in the ninth, working a 1-2-3 frame to shut the door.

UP NEXT

The Monarchs will go for a sweep of Lake Country on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. Dalton Moats will start for Kansas City; Lake Country’s starter has yet to be announced.