Cougars win fifth straight 4-2
In dramatic fashion once again, the Kane County Cougars (5-1, 41-33) picked up their fifth straight victory and their 10th win in 11 contests beating the Burlington Bees (3-3, 38-37) 4-2 on Tuesday evening at Community Field in Burlington.
The Cougars bullpen came in through the clutch for the second straight night as Nick Baker, Cody Geyer and Zac Curtis hung on to a 4-2 lead in the final three innings of the ballgame.
Burlington's best chance came in the bottom of the seventh as they scratched a run off of Jose Martinez and loaded the bases with nobody out.
Baker was sent to the mound and struck out Michael Hermosillo before inducing a fly out to Nick Flair. Geyer tossed a perfect eighth inning,
Curtis took the bump for his second save in as many days. Burlington quickly threatened with a leadoff double by Trever Allen.
Curtis struck out pinch hitter Sam Koenig, but walked Tim Arakawa allowing the potential tying run at the plate. Jake Yacinich swung at the first pitch a rolled a ground ball to Ildemaro Vargas to start a game-ending 6-3 double play. Curtis picked up his league leading 16th save of the season.
The bullpen's efforts helped Markus Solbach (7-2) hang on for his seventh win of the season and ninth quality start of the year. The German right-hander threw six innings of 1-run baseball and picked up his sixth consecutive win.
The Cougars found timely offense in the sixth inning thanks to Henry Castillo. Already ahead 2-1, The Cougars knocked out starter Jake Jewell (4-3) after the right-hander hit Marty Herum and walked Michael Perez. Castillo drove in both base runners with a single into right field. Ryan Hutchison also added some big insurance as he lifted his first home run of the season over the left field wall. Hutchison homered two pitches into the top of the fifth right after the Bees tied the game in the previous frame. Vargas drove in the game's first run with an RBI groundout to plate Victor Reyes.
The Cougars can sweep the Bees and finish 6-1 on the road trip at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Wei-Chieh Huang (3-1, 1.72) will take the mound for the Cougars against Burlington's Austin Robichaux (7-2, 3.31).