Bees handcuff Cougars

Burlington Bees starter A.J. Cole tossed 6 scoreless innings while striking out nine as he boosted his ballclub to a 5-0 victory over the Kane County Cougars in front of 8,901 fans on Saturday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Cole (4-0) allowed just 3 hits with the Cougars (39-40, 5-4) picking up individual singles in each of the first three innings. The Cougars managed just 1 hit after the third as Jorge Bonifacio singled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Jose Macias.

Jack Lopez had 2 hits for the Cougars and stole a pair of bases.

Aaron Brooks (4-9) coughed up 10 hits in 6 innings in the loss.

Burlington (38-40, 6-3) took the lead against Brooks (4-9) in the top of the second as Bobby Crocker singled and scored on a two-bagger from Wade Kirkland. Two more tallies came home for the Bees in the fourth with Crocker starting the rally again with a single in front of a double by Royce Consigli. Nick Rickles grounded to first, scoring Crocker. Kirkland doubled again to allow Consigli to score, giving the Bees a 3-0 cushion.

Brooks allowed another run in the fifth as Max Muncy drove home Eliezer Mesa with a single.

Rudy Brown replaced Brooks in the seventh and let an unearned run cross the dish. Rashun Dixon reached on an error and scored on a single by Crocker to finish the scoring. Drew Tyson worked two innings out of the Burlington bullpen before Macias closed it out.