Cougars bullpen collapses vs. Kernels

The Kane County Cougars (42-44, 7-10) squandered a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning in a 5-1 loss against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (45-41, 13-4) on Saturday night at Northwestern Medicine Field.

The Cougars grabbed a first inning run after Gabriel Maciel led off with a double. Maciel advanced to third on a fly out to left by Jazz Chisholm. With two outs, Maciel scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0 Cougars.

Both starting pitchers dueled from that point forward. Cougar starter Mack Lemieux tossed 6 scoreless innings, scattering 6 hits, striking out four and walking one. Jordan Balazovic (4-1) surrendered the lone run in the first inning. The Kernels' right-hander settled in to toss 6⅓ innings of 1-run ball, allowing 3 hits, striking out five and walking two.

In the top of the seventh, the Cougars turned to the bullpen. The Cougars called on Lane Ratliff. The lefty allowed the first three men to reach on hits, including Trey Cabbage's RBI single to tie the game, 1-1. Facing Ben Rodriguez with runners at first and third and one out, Ratliff committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt to first, allowing Cedar Rapids to take the lead. Jean Carlos Arias belted a two-run triple to make it 4-1 Cedar Rapids. The Kernels added a run in the ninth on Arias's RBI single.

Ratliff (0-1) took the loss, surrendering 4 runs on 5 hits over ⅔ innings. Jake Winston hurled 2⅓ innings out of relief, coughing up 1 run on 2 hits with 2 walks.

Joavani Moran (4) nailed down the save with 1⅔ frames of scoreless ball. Moran struck out 5 batters, including the final four batters that came to the plate for the Cougars.