KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas City’s starting pitcher Matt Hall was lights out from the mound. He threw seven scoreless innings while conceding just two hits and striking out ten. His performance helped the Kansas City Monarchs (49-31) shut out the Lincoln Saltdogs (37-44) 7-0 Sunday afternoon at Legends Field.
The Monarchs scored right away. Darnell Sweeney led off the first with a single up the middle. He advanced to second base as Saltdogs starting pitcher, John Bezdicek, delivered a pitch in the dirt. David Thompson drove in Sweeney to give Kansas City an early 1-0 lead.
The Monarchs extended their lead in the fourth inning. Jacob Robson notched a leadoff single. Thompson followed up the at-bat with a single of his own. Casey Gillaspie worked a walk to bring Gio Brusa to the plate who notched an RBI-single to left field. After four innings, Kansas City led 2-0.
The Monarchs continued to threaten the Saltdogs in the fifth inning. Pete Kozma led off the inning with a double to left field. Robson and Thompson worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. Casey Gillaspie earned his second walk of the day to score Kozma and make it a 3-0 ballgame.
Kansas City’s offense kept rolling in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, Jacob Robson delivered a grand slam over the home run patio in left field. The long ball pushed the Monarchs lead to seven runs entering the top of the seventh.
Matt Hall started on the mound for the Monarchs. He was phenomenal, throwing seven scoreless innings with ten strikeouts. Hall allowed just two hits and kept the Saltdogs off balance the entire game.
Jameson McGrane toed the rubber for Kansas City in the top of the ninth. After walking Ryan Long, McGrane retired three straight to end the game. The Monarchs shutout the Saltdogs 7-0 to win two of the three games in the series.
The Monarchs hit the road to face the Winnipeg Goldeyes Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for a three-game series. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.