Cougars fall 7-2 at South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — An early lead for the Kane County Cougars quickly dissipated and evolved into a 7-2 defeat to the South Bend Silver Hawks on Wednesday night at Coveleski Stadium.

Albert Almora reached in the top of the first on a one-out single against starter Brandon Sinnery (6-4). Two batters later, Jeimer Candelario smacked a 2-run homer to put the Cougars (34-50, 4-14) on top.

Felix Pena (2-3) couldn’t hang on to the lead as the Silver Hawks (56-33, 12-8) evened the score in the bottom half. Socrates Brito singled with two outs and scored on a single by Brandon Drury. Drury came home with the tying run on a single from Rudy Flores.

In the fourth, the Silver Hawks grabbed their first advantage as Breland Almadova walked and advanced to third on a Brito double before another Drury single made it 3-2.

Pena lasted 6 innings and surrendered just the 3 runs. Sinnery was better as the game went on. He blanked the Cougars through the seventh and retired the last nine batters he faced after an Almora double began the fifth.

Dillon Maples replaced Pena in the seventh as the Silver Hawks pulled away. Consecutive singles and a passed ball contributed to put runners on the corners.

Fidel Pena’s sacrifice fly scored Mike Lang, and Brito added a run-scoring single to draw Andrew Velasquez to the plate. Flores cracked a 2-run single to center, knocking in Almadova and Brito.

Enrique Garcia and Kyle Schepel combined for the final six outs out of the South Bend bullpen.

The Cougars and Silver Hawks play the second of their three-game set Thursday from Coveleski Stadium with a 6:05 p.m. start. Lefty Brian Smith (2-3) pitches for the Cougars against right-hander Jesse Darrah (8-5).

The Cougars return to Fifth Third Bank Ballpark on July 17 when they host the Great Lakes Loons at 6:30 p.m.