Cougars fall to LumberKings
Clinton, Iowa - The Kane County Cougars (30-26) were flummoxed by Clinton LumberKings (28-27) starting pitcher Alberto Guerrero's seven shutout innings in a 2-1 loss on Sunday afternoon at NelsonCorp Field. The Cougars lost the series and finished the six-game road trip with a 3-3 record.
Guerrero and Cougar starting pitcher Justin Lewis duked it out over the first 5+ innings. Guerrero worked a 1-2-3 first inning, but Lewis landed the first punch, striking out the side in order in the bottom of the first inning. Lewis also faced the minimum in the second inning, inducing a double play after a leadoff walk.
A critical point came in the third inning. Guerrero allowed a double to Daniel Wasinger, a single to Tra Holmes then a walk to Alek Thomas to load the bases with one out. The Clinton right-hander came back to strike out Eduardo Diaz and Buddy Kennedy to strand the bases full and keep the game tied, 0-0.
Lewis went untouched until the fifth inning. With two outs, Thomas Jones reached second base on an error by left fielder Eduardo Diaz. The next batter, Zach Scott, singled to center to break the scoreless tie and make it 1-0 LumberKings.
Lewis should have been out of the sixth inning with his second quality start of the season, but an error by second baseman Eddie Hernandez kept the inning alive. Lewis left on the hook for the loss, despite no earned runs, two hits, three walks and six punchouts. Meanwhile, Guerrero continued to deal. He capped his day by striking out Tra Holmes to end the seventh, exiting with seven punchouts and a 1-0 lead.
With Guerrero out and Zach Wolf on the mound for the eighth inning, the Cougars finally cracked the scoreboard. With one out, Alek Thomas doubled. He moved to third on Eduardo Diaz's single. The following batter, Buddy Kennedy, hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 1-1.
The tie score evaporated in the bottom of the inning. Chester Pimentel (2-5) walked the leadoff man, Jerar Encarnacion, then threw a wild pitch to move him to second. Encarnacion advanced to third on a fly out and scored the go-ahead run on Sean Reynolds' sacrifice fly. Pimentel suffered the loss.
The Cougars got the tying-run aboard in the ninth on Joe Gillette's one-out single, but he was left standing after Alex Vesia (2) fanned the final two batters to earn the save. Despite blowing the save, Zach Wolf (2-1) ultimately took home the win.
The Cougars head back to Northwestern Medicine Field for the start of a three-game series with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.