Cougars can’t cap rally in loss to Milwaukee

A matchup between two of the American Association's premier pitchers lived up to its billing Tuesday night as the Milwaukee Milkmen came away with a 6-4 victory over the Kane County Cougars at Northwestern Medicine Field.

Despite rallying from a three-run deficit, the Cougars (43-36) were undone by missed opportunities, leaving six runners in scoring position as Milwaukee (48-33) extended its winning streak against Kane County to 10 games.

The Milkmen struck first in the opening inning by taking a 2-0 lead. Milwaukee added solo home runs in the third and fourth to build a 4-1 advantage, but Cougars starter Konnor Ash settled in after the rocky start, retiring the final nine batters he faced before finishing six innings with four earned runs and four strikeouts.

The Cougars answered throughout the middle innings. Matt Bottcher's RBI bunt single plated Armond Upshaw in the third before Upshaw launched a two-run homer in the fourth to trim the deficit to 4-3. Kane County threatened repeatedly against Milwaukee ace Jhordany Mezquita, but the left-hander escaped jam after jam, stranding six Cougars in scoring position over six innings.

The breakthrough finally came in the seventh after Mezquita departed. Jairus Richards blasted his first home run in a Cougars uniform, a game-tying solo shot to right field off Brady Puckett, to even the score at 4-4.

Milwaukee answered in the ninth with two runs to make it 6-4. The Cougars brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but Milwaukee closer Ryan Boyer escaped the threat to earn his 11th save. Art Warren took the loss.