By GABRIEL LOPEZ
Kansas City Monarchs
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The woes continue for the Kansas City Monarchs (46-29) as they were defeated 8-4 by the Sioux City Explorers (34-40). The Monarchs have now lost five straight games and are 1-6 in the month of August.
The Explorers scored right away in the first inning. After Danny Amaral worked a walk, Blake Tiberi hit a single to left field. Amaral stole third base and was brought in on an RBI-single from Danry Vasquez. Sebastian Zawada followed up Vasquez’s at-bat with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Tiberi and give Sioux City an early 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless top half from Kansas City, Chase Harris hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second to extend Sioux City’s lead, 3-0.
The Explorers tacked on a few more runs in the third inning. After Vasquez singled to third base, Sebastian Zawada roped a double to left field to score Vasquez. Gabe Snyder brought another run home on a single to left field. After three innings of baseball, Sioux City led 5-0 over Kansas City.
The Monarchs responded in the top of the fourth when Casey Gillaspie and Gio Brusa hammered back-to-back bombs. The home run for Brusa marked his first long ball as a Monarch.
Kansas City’s offense didn’t stop there. In the top of the fifth, Darnell Sweeney brought in Jacob Robson with a ground ball to shortstop. Gillaspie followed up Sweeney’s at-bat with an RBI-single to right field to bring the Monarchs within one, as they trailed 4-5.
Sioux City continued to extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Zack Kone led off the inning with a double to left field. A few batters later, Zawada doubled to center field to score Kone. Gabe Snyder hit an RBI-single to center to score Zawada and give the Explorers a 7-4 lead.
The Explorers added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Shane Podsednik singled to right field. He quickly scored after an error made by SS Kevin Santa to make it an 8-4 ballgame for Sioux City.
Relief pitcher, Max Kuhns, was lights out for the Explorers. He was literally unhittable, as he struck eight Monarchs in three innings while allowing zero hits.
Thomas McIlraith entered in the top of the ninth to replace Kuhns. He struck out the side to end the game as Sioux City took the first game of the three-game series.
The Monarchs will face the Explorers Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:35 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.