Kansas City Monarchs sweep Lincoln Saltdogs, advance in American Association playoffs

The defending league champions are headed to their 13th division championship series.

The Kansas City Monarchs minor-league baseball team advanced in the American Association playoffs Friday night at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kan., beating the Lincoln Saltdogs 8-3 to take the best-of-three opening-round series two games to none.

The Monarchs beat the Saltdogs 5-2 in Game 1 on Wednesday at Lincoln, Neb.

KC’s Darnell Sweeney homered twice and pitcher Jordan Martinson got the win for the Monarchs Friday night. The Monarchs led 4-0 after three innings; Lincoln scored three atop the fourth, but the Monarchs added four more runs in the bottom half to complete the scoring.

The Monarchs’ schedule and opponent for the division championship series was yet to be determined late Friday evening. The next round of the playoffs starts Monday.