Cougars slam Bees 5-4

BURLINGTON, Iowa — Trailing by 2 in the eighth inning, the Kane County Cougars battled back as Chris Elder’s grand slam provided a 5-4 victory over the Burlington Bees on Monday night at Community Field.

Tanner Peters started for the Bees and yielded just 1 unearned run in 6 innings against the Cougars (63-63, 29-27), but he was lifted for Chas Mye in the seventh.

Mye got the final out with two men on base as Alex Llanos bounced into a fielder’s choice. But he walked Jack Lopez and Danny Mateo to begin the eighth to bring Raul Alcantara (6-11) into the game.

Alcantara struck out Julio Aparicio before walking Michael Antonio to load the bases. That brought up Elder, and he walloped his grand slam on the first pitch to put the Cougars on top.

Burlington scored an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth against Kellen Moen, but Andrew Triggs worked a perfect ninth inning for his second save.

Angel Baez started for the Cougars and worked 4 innings without allowing an earned run. Baez fanned six and was replaced by Mike Giovenco (4-2), who surrendered 2 runs in his 2 innings.

Kane County had the initial lead as Llanos bunted a single to third while Wade Kirkland fired the ball down the right-field line, bringing home Kevin David.