Cougars popped by Kernels

The Kane County Cougars engineered a ninth-inning rally, but it wasn’t enough in a 6-3 loss to the Cedar Rapids Kernels before 7,131 at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva.

The Cougars (8-17) have dropped the first two games of the series and their six-game homestand and have lost eight of their last nine overall.

Starter Robert Penny (0-1) suffered a loss in his Cougars debut. He allowed 1 run on a fourth-inning sacrifice fly in 5 innings with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk.

Cougars starting pitchers have allowed just 3 earned runs in 27 innings over the last four games but are 1-1 in the contests.

Trailing 6-0 in the ninth, the Cougars’ Yowill Espinal singled home Ryan Stovall with two outs. Travis Jones, Lane Adams and Gerard Hall followed with singles to make it 6-3 before the Kernels closed the door.