Railroaders Bats Silenced by Hall and Monarchs

CLEBURNE, Texas (Sep. 3, 2021) – Kansas City starter Matt Hall struck out ten over six innings and three relievers added five more strikeouts as the Monarchs downed the Cleburne Railroaders 8-1 on Friday night at The Depot at Cleburne Station.

Making just his second start with the Monarchs, the former major leaguer Hall (2-0) was in command from the get-go, allowing just three hits without walking a batter to pick up the win. He struck out two Railroaders in five of his six innings on the night.

Relievers Jeremy Rhoades, Carlos Diaz and Dalbert Siri took it the rest of the way, allowing just one hit while striking out five as the Railroaders (54-43) fanned 15 times in total.

Cleburne got their lone run on a solo home run from D.J. Peterson in the bottom of the fourth, his 13th long ball of the season and tenth in the last ten games.

Kansas City (66-31) surged to a quick lead courtesy of Gabby Guerrero’s solo home run in the top of the first inning, and then added four more runs in the second on five consecutive one-out singles against Cleburne starter Kevin Hilton (0-2). Hilton settled down nicely after the rocky second, keeping the Monarchs off the board until the seventh when Morgan McCullough lashed a two-out RBI single to end his night.

A Casey Gillaspie solo shot in the eighth and Ryan Grotjohn sacrifice fly in the ninth completed the scoring for Kansas City.

The Railroaders and Monarchs continue the series on Saturday night at 7:06 PM. Right-hander Garrett Alexander (8-6, 6.70) gets the ball for Cleburne, while Kansas City counters with fellow righty Justin Shafer (7-3, 4.70).

For information on partnerships, season tickets, group outings, and party packages, call the Railroaders main office at (817) 945-8705, or visit the Railroaders official website at www.railroaderbaseball.com.