Cougars win 6-2

Jazz Chisholm's 2-run homer in the bottom of the third inning sparked the Kane County Cougars (32-33) to a 6-2 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Wednesday afternoon at Northwestern Medicine Field.

The Kernels (30-35) capitalized on Royce Lewis' one-out double. Lewis advanced to third on an error and scored on an RBI single by Jose Miranda. After eight of the first nine Cougar batters were retired, Jancarlos Cintron was hit by a pitch with two strikes, two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the third. The next batter, Jazz Chisholm cracked his ninth homer of the year to put the Cougars in front, 2-1.

The Cougars added on in the fourth inning when Luis Lara wrapped an RBI single in the hole between first and second. Cedar Rapids cut the Cougar lead to one run in the fifth on Andrew Bechtold's bases-loaded walk. The Cougars got that run right back in the bottom of the fifth after Jazz Chisholm tripled and scored on Renae Martinez's sacrifice fly. In the sixth, the Cougars scored twice more on Cintron's RBI single and a bases-loaded walk for Martinez.

Mack Lemieux (2-5) earned the win for the Cougars, tossing five innings of two run (one earned) ball. Erbert Gonzalez notched a hold with 1.2 innings of shutout ball. Carlos Bustamante (3) took the save with 2.1 innings over scoreless ball.

Brusdar Graterol (2-2) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits over four innings. Carlos Suniaga came out of the pen and allowed three runs over an inning. Jovani Moran tallied three shutout frames.