By GABRIEL LOPEZ
Kansas City Monarchs
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A high-powered second inning from the Kansas City Monarchs (4-3) helped the team secure a 4-3 win in the series opener against the Chicago Dogs (3-4) on Friday night.
On Wyandotte County Appreciation Night at Legends Field, the Dogs were able to scrape across one run in the second inning after Charlie Tilson grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Grant Kay. That would be the only run Akeem Bostick (1-1) would give up on the night. After surrendering the lead, the right-hander settled in and delivered three scoreless innings including retiring the last 10 batters he faced.
The Monarchs offense quickly responded with four runs of their own in the home half of the second off Chicago starter Shane Barringer (1-1). Casey Gillaspie led the charge, hitting a fielder’s choice that would score Jan Hernandez for the Monarchs’ first run of the game. After Alexis Olmeda worked a walk, Joel Booker roped a double down the left field line to score Gillaspie. Darnell Sweeney got involved in the action, driving a single to right to score Olmeda. Pete Kozma brought home Booker on a fielder’s choice to short, giving the Monarchs a 4-1 lead entering the third.
Both teams were quiet for the next three innings. This changed in the sixth as K.C. Dobson scored Danny Mars on a fielder’s choice and Grant Kay belted a solo home run to pull the Dogs to within one.
It was still a one run game entering the ninth inning, but Brandon Koch struck out the side to shut the door on the Dogs and earn his first save of the season.
The Monarchs will play Game 2 against Chicago Saturday at 6 p.m. with the gates opening at 4 p.m. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.