Watts powers Cougars to 6-3 victory

Murray Watts socked a 3-run homer and drove in 5 runs to lift the Kane County Cougars to a 6-3 victory over the Peoria Chiefs on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Watts went deep off P.J. Francescon with one out in the bottom of the second with the Cougars trailing 1-0. Lane Adams and Orlando Calixte were aboard as Watts drove a pitch over the wall in right-center.

Peoria came back to even the score. In the fifth inning, Zeke DeVoss doubled home Pin-Chieh Chen to make it 3-2 against Jason Mitchell, who exited with the lead after five innings.

Scott Alexander (2-1) replaced Mitchell and let up an unearned run in the seventh to tie the game.

Yao-Lin Wang (2-1) took over for Francescon and walked two before balking home Danny Mateo with the go-ahead run. Later in the inning, Watts hit a 2-run double to left-center, padding the Cougars’ lead to 3.

Nick Graffeo (Save No. 5) secured the final two outs in the ninth, getting Taiwan Easterling to ground into a double play.