Fish fried in finale against Cougars

They may have lost their charter bus to an arsonist, but the Kane County Cougars are leaving Winnipeg with a series victory.

An 11-5 triumph over the Goldeyes on Thursday afternoon in front of 5,885 fans at Blue Cross Park gives the visitors two out of three this week, improving their record to 4-2.

Winnipeg, meanwhile, was unable to build on Wednesday’s 3-2 win and now find themselves with a 1-5 record as the 100-game campaign is off to a sluggish start.

The Goldeyes had scored only 11 runs in their first five games (2-2-2-2-3), so putting a season-high five on the board Thursday at least represents some progress in that department.

Centrefielder Noah Marcelo belted a two-run homer while shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder slugged a solo shot — Winnipeg’s first two deep flies of the season. Designated hitter Max Murphy had two hits, stole a base and drove in his first run of the year while third baseman Ramon Bramasco also had a multi-hit game.

Unfortunately, pitching continues to be an early-season issue. The Goldeyes have now surrendered 49 runs in six games, which isn’t exactly a winning formula.

Starter Landen Bourassa had issues finding the strike zone in this one, giving up eight hits and four walks along with five earned runs over six innings of work in extremely windy conditions for the school-day matinee.

Kane County really feasted on relievers Weston Lombard (four runs, three earned) and James Colyer (three earned runs) to put this one to bed. Quinn Waterhouse was the only Winnipeg pitcher to escape unscathed, throwing a scoreless ninth.

Cougars third baseman Claudio Finol had himself a monster series, adding three more RBIs on Thursday to give him 10 over the three games.

Kane County has won two straight American Association championships and, with 13 returning players, look like the club will be a force to be reckoned with once again. Unfortunately, their time in the city was marred by an overnight incident in which their bus — parked outside the stadium — was torched.

The Goldeyes pitched in to help their rivals, finding a replacement bus and driver from their company (Beaver) to take the Cougars down Highway 75 and I-29 to the next series stop against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

Winnipeg remains at home, but it doesn’t get any easier as the Milwaukee Milkmen (5-1) come to town for three games starting Friday night — fresh off sweeping the Fish last weekend down in Wisconsin.

Fish wrap

The Goldeyes roster, which began with 26 players in spring training, is now down to 22 healthy bodies.

Pitchers James Bradwell and Willian Suarez are both currently on the inactive list as they deal with injuries while infielder Adam Hall has missed the past three games with an ailment suffered during batting practice on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, rookie hurler Noah Millikan’s time with the Fish is over before it really began. His contract has been purchased by the Washington Nationals, who clearly see potential in the 22-year-old.

Millikan played college ball at the University of Pennsylvania and made his pro debut last year with the Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League, going 7-1 in 14 games with a 2.12 earned run average that ranked third-best in the league. He was also seventh in strikeouts with 96.

Given the depleted lineup and the rough start to the season, it’s possible manager Logan Watkins is already burning up the phone lines looking to find some help for his troops.

winnipegfreepress.com/mikemcintyre