Cougars Fall into Wild Card Tie with Loss
August 26, 2018 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Kane County Cougars News Release
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - For the second straight night, the Kane County Cougars (33-28, 68-62) failed to find a lead against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (39-23, 71-60) in their 6-2 loss from Veterans Memorial Stadium. Over in Peoria, the Beloit Snappers came back to beat the Chiefs, pushing the Snappers into a tie for the wild card lead with the Cougars.
Cedar Rapids pounced on Cougar starter Jayson McKinley (8-4) in the first two innings. With three straight hits to begin the bottom of the first, Trevor Larnach singled home a pair for a 2-0 Kernels lead. Cedar Rapids never looked back from there.
RBI hits by Michael Davis and Ben Rodriguez gave the Kernels a 4-0 lead by the second inning.
Despite trailing, McKinley settled in a bit and the Cougar offense slightly chipped away at Carlos Suniaga (3-4). Yoel Yanqui scored the Cougars' first run, coming home on the double play ball off the bat of Tim Susnara.
Ryan Grotjohn laced a solo shot over the right field fence one inning later, to bring the Cougars within two runs.
The last batter McKinley faced was Jacob Pearson who singled with two-outs in the ninth to knock out the right-hander. Abraham Almonte took over and surrendered a two-run homer to Michael Davis for a 6-2 Cedar Rapids lead.
Almonte only issued two walks after the home run with four strikeouts, but the Cougar offense couldn't figure out the Kernels bullpen of Zach Neff and Ricky Rmairez.
The Cougars hope to keep their chances of salvaging a series split with a quick turnaround Sunday afternoon. Two left-handers will face off as Mack Lemieux (4-9, 4.00) takes the mound against Cedar Rapids Tyler Watson (4-6, 4.99). First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Coverage on AM 1280 WBIG and kccougars.com begins at 1:45 p.m.
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