Mahle, Kane County Cougars bullpen shut out Kansas City

Thanks to a great pitching effort by starter Greg Mahle and the bullpen, the Kane County Cougars claimed a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Monarchs on Thursday night at Northwestern Medicine Field. More than 7,000 fans were in attendance to see the Cougars clinch a series victory and celebrate the Fourth of July.

Both starting pitchers delivered quality starts. For the Cougars (28-21), Mahle (3-0) tossed 6⅓ scoreless innings while allowing five hits. The veteran left-hander racked up six strikeouts against three walks to earn his third win of the season.

For Kansas City (21-25), Michael Watson (0-1) provided quality work in his professional debut. The southpaw tossed six innings of 1-run ball while limiting the Cougars to two hits with seven strikeouts.

After both teams were held scoreless through the first two innings, the Cougars struck in the bottom of the third. Galli Cribbs Jr. led off the inning and was hit by a pitch from Watson.

Hayden Dunhurst then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Cribbs up to second. Two batters later, Josh Allen poked an opposite field single to score Cribbs and give the Cougars a 1-0 edge.