Cougars win streak ends
Out-hit significantly by the visiting Quad Cities River Bandits, the Kane County Cougars dropped the series finale to the visitors 15-8. The Cougars still claim three of the four games in the series, maintaining a spot atop the Western Division standings.
After failing to score for the prior three games (27 innings) of the series, Quad Cities went up 5-0 after the first three innings. Right-hander Sam McWilliams (4-2), who suffered the loss, failed to secure a stable outing for the Cougars as Rodrigo Ayarza got the party started with a 3-run blast in the first. The River bandits followed up with a run scored on an error in the second, and an RBI from Wander Franco in the third.
Battling back, the Cougars made it a 5-2 deficit on a tape measure shot from Ramon Hernandez. Belting his first home run of the season, Hernandez crushed a towering fly ball past the video board in left field, reaching the Northwestern Medicine Field sign at the tops of the trees.
But that was the only damage done against the winning righty Carson LaRue (5-1). LaRue totaled 4 hits on 2 runs (all earned) with 4 strikeouts and no walks. It was LaRue's third consecutive win on the slab.
Already with a 3-run lead, the River Bandits poured it on with 8 runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The noteworthy offense came from Wander Franco on a 2-run homer, Ronnie Dawson with an RBI hit, and the Bandits' third home run of the day from Osvaldo Duarte.
Despite a large deficit, the Cougars posted 3 runs in the sixth inning, and 2 more in the eighth. With the bases load in the sixth frame, Illinois native Adam Walton socked a base-clearing double for his first runs driven in of his Midwest League career. And in the eighth with two down, Ben Deluzio's two-bagger down the left-field line plated a pair.
The fireworks kept going as both teams scored in the final inning. With the fourth homer of the day, his second, Ayarza lifted a 2-run shot to deep right field, as the Cougars Marcus Wilson responded with a solo shot of his own.