Cougars garner fifth straight win
The Kane County Cougars (61-58, 26-24) were backed by Franklyn Soriano's seven shutout innings to beat the Burlington Bees (44-73, 14-34), 5-0, on Tuesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field.
The Cougars jumped on the board in the first inning. Ryan Grotjohn floated a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 1-0 Cougars. In the third, Yoel Yanqui stroked a grounder to second base with a runner at third. Second baseman Alvaro Rubalcaba misplayed the ball, allowing Ryan Dobson to score from third. Yanqui crossed the plate later in the inning on Yan Sanchez's RBI single.
The Cougars added insurance in the fifth. Yanqui's second knock of the night drove in two more runs and the Cougars moved in front, 5-0.
Cougar starter Soriano (1-2) earned his first Midwest League win with seven innings of shutout ball. The lefty scattered just six hits, didn't walk anyone and struck out six batters. Cougar reliever Bryan Valdez tossed two scoreless innings.
Denny Brady (0-4) suffered the loss for the Bees. He surrendered five runs (three earned) on seven hits with a strikeout and two walks. Austin Warren provided 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Mayky Perez shutdown the Cougars over the final two frames.
The Cougars head to Modern Woodmen Park to take on the Quad Cities River Bandits in the first game of a three-game series on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.