BIRDS FALL TO MONARCHS IN BATTLE OF BULLPENS
Kansas City, KS – Sioux Falls led Kansas City 3-2 after two innings before the Monarchs tied the game in the third and took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth. Kansas City’s bullpen did not allow a baserunner as they topped the Birds 5-3 on Saturday.
The Monarchs scored twice in the first inning but Sioux Falls responded with three runs in the second. Mike Hart, Hunter Clanin and Jordan all singled to load the bases with nobody out before Trevor Achenbach was hit by a pitch. Marshall Rich tied the game with a sacrifice fly and Ozzie Martinez delivered an RBI single before Kansas City could escape the jam.
The Monarchs tied the game with a sacrifice fly in their half of the third inning and scored twice in the fourth. That was more than enough support for the Kansas City bullpen, which retired all 12 batters it faced.
Seven different Canaries recorded a hit, paced by two from Hart, as Sioux Falls drops to 3-6 overall. Bret Barnett did not allow a hit over two scoreless inning of relief and Jose Cruz faced the minimum in his Canaries debut. The Birds will look to avoid the series sweep Sunday at 6:00pm.
Sweeney and Wyatt Ulrich each finished with two hits to lead Sioux Falls (3-5) offensively. The two teams are set to meet again Saturday at 6:05pm.
