Cougars fall to Bees, remain in last place
Unable to wrap up their first series win of the second half, the Kane County Cougars (2-6, 35-43) stay at the bottom of the division with an 8-2 loss Thursday at the hands of the Burlington Bees (4-4, 36-42).
It was Junior Garcia's (3-6) third straight loss in June as he pitched into the fifth inning but had limited answers for the top of the Bees' lineup. The Cougars scored two in a ninth inning rally in the final stanza after the Bees plated eight unanswered in the middle of the game.
On the board first this time, the Cougars ran to an early lead. In the first an RBI base hit from Trevor Mitsui drove in fellow Midwest League All-Star, Zach Nehrir. In the second, the Cougars scored another tally on the base-running prowess of Fernery Ozuna. After drawing a walk to reach base, Ozuna got in a rundown between third and home on purpose. Drawing a throw behind him, Ozuna darted home well-ahead of the exchange to the plate and scored on a headfirst slide.
With the Cougars leading 2-0, the Bees swarmed to seven unanswered runs the rest of the game. Plating three runs in the third, the Bees picked up RBI doubles from Michael Hermosillo and Jake Yacinich. Two innings later, the Bees placed another three spot on the board with more RBI hits from Hermosillo and Yacinich.
Unable to control the top of the bees order, the Cougars' Garcia was removed after just four and two-thirds innings pitched. He allowed six total hits and runs with just a single strikeout. Burlington added two more runs swelling their lead to six runs as the Cougars failed to score from innings three through eight.
In the ninth, a one out triple by Frank Christy started a Cougars offensive surge. Gerard Hernandez then matched his stellar defense with great offense, doubling home Christy. And the next batter Raymel Flores singled home a run. But the offense ended there at four runs.
The Cougars split the four-game series losing the last two. Suffering the loss was Garcia, his third straight. Jose Rodriguez (4-4) picked up the victory and Aaron Cox (2) the save.
Friday a new series begins against the Quad Cities River Bandits. The pitching bill features Quad Cities left-hander Matt Bower (2-0, 2.55 ERA) against the Cougars' righty Emilio Vargas (0-2, 9.72 ERA).