KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Aug. 6, 2021) – The Kansas City Monarchs put up five multi-run innings and hit five home runs on their way to a 16-12 win over the Cleburne Railroaders on Friday night at Legends Field.

In a game that featured a combined 28 runs on 31 hits, it was the Railroaders (39-32) who struck first, grabbing a run in the top of the first on an RBI single from D.J. Peterson. The Monarchs (48-24) answered promptly in the bottom of the first, getting a leadoff solo home run from Morgan McCullough and a two-run blast from Darnell Sweeney for a 3-1 lead.

John Nester singled home a run in the top of the second to make it 3-2, and then Cleburne took their lone lead of the night in the third on an RBI double from Chase Simpson and a Colton Pogue RBI single. Pogue finished the night 4-for-5, his first four-hit performance of the season.

Gabriel Guerrero ripped a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to put the Monarchs back in front 5-4.

Osvaldo Martinez hit a towering solo homer to even the score at 5-5 in the top of the fourth, but Ryan Grotjohn slammed a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-5 Kansas City.

Pogue then singled home Simpson and raced to the plate himself on a two-out RBI double from Nester, trimming the Monarchs lead to 8-7 in the fifth. But Kansas City followed with their biggest outburst of the night, a five-run bottom of the inning highlighted by a three-run home run from Daniel Wasinger.

Martinez and Ramon Hernandez cranked back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the sixth to get Cleburne within 13-9, and then the Railroaders scored three in the top of the eighth to claw back within a run. Hernandez lined a two-run double and scored later in the inning on a passed ball to make the score 13-12.

Kansas City struck back once more in the bottom of the eighth, however, as Guerrero singled home one run and Casey Gillaspie followed with a two-run double for the final margin.

Jake Matthys (7-1) picked up the win for Kansas City, allowing seven runs over five innings. Jalen Evans took the defeat for Cleburne, surrendering eight runs in four innings of work. Dalbert Siri picked up his third save by recording the final six outs.

The Railroaders and Monarchs continue the series on Saturday night at 7:00 PM.

For information on partnerships, season tickets, group outings, and party packages, call the Railroaders main office at (817) 945-8705, or visit the Railroaders official website at www.railroaderbaseball.com.

Boxscore

by Denning Gerig, Cleburne Railroaders