Cougars fall 4-2

Seven scoreless innings from starter Victor Sanchez on Sunday carried the visiting Clinton LumberKings at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark in a 4-2 victory over the Kane County Cougars, evening the series at a game apiece.

Sanchez (6-5) limited the Cougars (50-70, 20-34) to just 5 hits (all singles) during his 7 innings of work. At no point did the Cougars put a runner on third base against Sanchez. Oliver Zapata was the only member of the club to even get to second base.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth when the Cougars finally got on the board with two outs. Carlos Escobar walked to begin the inning against Jochi Ogando and advanced to third base when Willson Contreras reached on a D.J. Peterson error. Jose Dore drove in both runners with a double into the left-center.

Clinton (61-63, 28-27) grabbed the lead in the top of the third. Alfredo Morales and Gaby Guerrero reached on consecutive singles against Tayler Scott (5-8). Guerrero came home on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Brock Hebert.

Three more runs scored for the LumberKings in the sixth with Sheldon McDonald in relief of Scott. Dario Pizzano cracked a leadoff double and came home on a Peterson single.

Peterson scored along with Tyler Marlette when Guerrero hit a 2-run single with the bases loaded.

The Cougars and LumberKings play the third of their four-game set Monday at 6:30 p.m. Right-hander Starling Peralta (2-0) will start for the Cougars against lefty Tyler Pike (7-4).