Cougars beaten by River Bandits

DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Kane County Cougars fell to the Quad Cities River Bandits 7-5 in a game shortened by rain to 5½ innings Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park.

Teoscar Hernandez led off the bottom of the first by walking against Cougars starter Dillon Maples (0-1). Hernandez advanced to second on wild pitch, stole third and scored on an error by catcher Willson Contreras. Two batters later, Jonathan Singleton crushed a home run to left-center, putting the River Bandits (28-23) ahead 2-0.

Starter Daniel Minor lost the lead in the top of the third when David Bote walked and Oliver Zapata reached on a bunt single for the Cougars (24-26). Pin-Chieh Chen evened the score when he tripled down the right-field line to drive across both Bote and Zapata.

The River Bandits reclaimed the advantage in the bottom of the third with RBI singles from Carlos Correa and Singleton. They scored 3 more runs in the fourth when Maples walked the bases loaded before leaving for reliever Lendy Castillo. He allowed a 2-run double to Correa and a sacrifice fly to Miles Hamblin.

Dan Vogelbach cracked a 3-run homer in the fifth off Richard Rodriguez (1-0) to pull the Cougars within 2.

But Lance McCullers earned a save before the rain started to pour down.

The Cougars and River Bandits will resume their three-game series today at 7 p.m. Right-hander Pierce Johnson (3-3) will start for the Cougars against righty Mike Hauschild (3-0).