SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2023
By Austin Thomas
MONARCHS RALLY LATE
LATE INNINGS DOOM SIOUX CITY ONCE AGAIN
KANSAS CITY, Kan.— The Sioux City Explorers (16-20) couldn’t capitalize on Mitchell Verburg’s solid start against the Kansas City Monarchs (23-13), losing 6-3 after allowing three runs in the eighth. It was Verburg’s first game back from the inactive list after sitting out since June 4, and he allowed just one run in 5.1 innings to lower his ERA to 1.74 on the season.
X’s Verburg started out strong, allowing just two baserunners over five shutout innings to begin the game. Monarchs Dalton Moats also pitched well early on, blanking Sioux City over the first four innings.
The X’s finally broke the deadlock in the fifth inning when, after a Wilfredo Gimenez double and Jack Kelly single, Delvin Zinn ripped a pitch from Kansas City’s Moats over the left field wall to take the 3-0 lead. It was his first home run of the season.
Kansas City ended the shutout in the sixth inning when LJ Hatch scored on a wild pitch from X’s Brandon Brosher to make it 3-1. The Monarchs followed with a two-run seventh inning when a Dylan Rosa walk and Olivier Basabe double off X’s Brosher was followed by a Hatch RBI single off Sioux City’s Nate Gercken (1-3) to make it 3-2 before Kansas City’s Keon Broxton sent home Basabe on a fielder’s choice to tie it 3-3.
The Monarchs overthrew the X’s in the eighth inning when Gavin Collins hit a single before Micker Adolfo sent him home on an RBI double off X’s Gercken to make it 4-3 Monarchs. Basabe added an insurance run for Kansas City with a two-out RBI single, sending home Adolfo to extend the Monarchs’ lead to 5-3. KC’s Hatch hit a single, and Broxton walked, loading the bases before Justin Wylie added one more run for the Monarchs after another walk from X’s Gercken to make it 6-3. Patrick Weigel finished the game strong for the Monarchs, earning the save with a perfect ninth frame.
The Explorers continue their nine-game trip with the final game of the three-game series against the Kansas City Monarchs Thursday night with a first pitch at 7:05 pm. Sioux City returns home Tuesday, June 27 for the first game of a three-game series with the Sioux Falls Canaries. Tickets for the season can be purchased online at XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. You can catch all the X’s action on aabaseball.tv and on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM.