By KAITLYN SANDERS
Kansas City Monarchs
CHICAGO — The Kansas City Monarchs and the Chicago Dogs both came in first place in their respective divisions in the American Association Friday night, but it was the Monarchs who would relish the win over the Dogs.
With the 6-4 win, Kansas City (54-25) is now 4-0 against Chicago Dogs (47-31) this season.
A two-run home run from Morgan McCullough in the ninth gave the Monarchs the boost they needed to secure the win over the second-place team in the north division.
The Monarchs were quiet to start off the night as Chicago’s RHP Jordan Kipper delivered four strikeouts in half as many innings, ending his night with eight. Monarch’s RHP Justin Donatella tossed another quality start with six strikeouts in as many innings.
Kansas City got on the board in the third, courtesy of a McCullough RBI after his base hit single brought in Daniel Wasinger from second base, making the the score 1-0.
Chicago responded with a run of their own during their next at bat with an unearned run, tying up the game, 1-1.
Casey Gillaspie took back the lead for the Monarchs with a solo home run in the fifth inning.
The first multi-run home run came from Ryan Lidge with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, and the Dogs took the lead, 3-2.
Will Kengor extended his hitting streak to game number 19 with a single in the seventh inning, going 1-4 in the game.
More home runs were delivered as Ryan Grotjohn sent his own two-run home run to right field in the seventh, taking back the lead for the Monarchs, and making the score 4-3.
McCullough’s own two-run homer in the top of the ninth was necessary as Chicago’s Anfernee Grier blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as Monarchs hold on to win the first game of the series 6-4.
The Monarchs will continue their series with the Chicago Dogs on Saturday with the first pitch at 7:05 p.m.. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.