American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, Robert Pannier recaps the one game in the American Association on Saturday as the Kansas City Monarchs hang on for a 7-5 victory take a 2-0 series lead in the American Association Championship Series. This and much more.

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Monarchs First Inning Surge Propels Team to Victory

The Kansas City Monarchs scored six runs in the first inning against Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks starter Bret Helton on their way to a 7-5 victory on Saturday. That moved the team just one game away from winning the American Association Championship.

The Monarchs pounced on the Fargo starter, as the first seven hitters reached base. Morgan McCullough got things started when he hit a ball to left field that hit off the glove of outfielder Jordan George. Ryan Grotjohn followed with a single sending McCullough to third before Darnell Sweeney walked to load the bases. Next up was Gabriel Guerrero, who drilled the single up the middle, scoring both McCullough and Grotjohn. Casey Gillaspie then worked the count full before walking to reload the bases. That brought Ibandel Isabel to the plate, aligning a single into left, driving home both Sweeney and Guerrero to give Kansas City a 4-0 lead. Colin Willis followed with a base hit that brought home Gillaspie and Alexis Olmeda completed the scoring with a single that scored Isabel to make it a 6-0 Monarchs advantage.

In the second, Kansas City extended their lead to seven. Sweeney got things started with a single, then stole second and advanced to third on a ground out. With two down, Isabel came to the plate. He singled into left, driving home his third run of the game.

It looked like Kansas City was going to blow out the RedHawks, but Fargo responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame. John Silviano singled with one down and scored when Sam Dexter drilled his first home run of the playoffs over the left field wall. Alex Boxwell followed with a double and moved to third when Nick Novak singled. That put runners at the corners with one down for Correlle Prime, who hit a sacrifice fly, driving home Boxwell to make it a 7-3 ballgame.

Kansas City held on to the four-run lead into the sixth when the RedHawks put two more on the board. With one down, Silviano hit a 1-1 offering the opposite way for his second homerun of the postseason. Dexter and Boxwell followed with back-to-back singles and that would bring a call to the Monarchs bullpen, as Carlos Diaz came on. He was greeted by a Novak double, driving home Dexter. The tying run was 180 feet away with Fargo suddenly catching fire. Diaz was able to strike out Prime for the second out of the inning, but walked Manuel Boscan to load the bases. That brought George to the plate, who worked the count full before striking out swinging to end the threat.

Diaz retired the side in the seventh. In the eighth Jeremy Rhoades came on, allowing a leadoff single before retiring the next three batters. In the ninth, Jameson McGrane came on and retired the RedHawks in order for his first save of the postseason, closing out the 7-5 victory.

Kansas City finished with 13 hits, as five players had two in the contest. That included Ibandel, who scored a run and drove in three. Sweeney scored two runs and reached base four times. Dexter had three hits, scored two runs, and drove in two for the RedHawks.

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks Recap by Chad Ekren

Boxscore

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Three Stars of the Night

No. 3 – Carlos Diaz (Kansas City Monarchs) 1.2 IP, H, BB, 0 ER, 4 K

No. 2 – Sam Dexter (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks) 3-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI

No. 1 – Ibandel Isabel (Kansas City Monarchs) 2-5, R, 3 RBI

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American Association Daily Notes

The American Association Championship Series shifts to Kansas City for Game 3 on Monday night. Left-hander Matt Tomshaw (5-3, 2.68) will get the start for the RedHawks. Kansas City will start either Justin Donatella (5-1, 3.35) or Keyvius Sampson (5-1, 3.92)…In the Frontier League playoffs, the Schaumburg Boomers defeated the Florence Yalls, 7-5. With the victory, Schaumburg advanced to the championship series. In the other contest, the Washington Wild Things defeated Equipe Quebec 5-3 to force a Game 5. That will be played Sunday evening.

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Transactions

Cleburne: Exercised the 2022 contract option on C John Nester, Traded RHP Jheyson Manzueta to High Point (Atlantic League) for a player to be named later

Sioux Falls: Traded RHP Tyler Garkow to High Point (Atlantic League) for a player to be named later

By Robert Pannier