CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – As the sun set and the air cooled over Veterans Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, Kane County Cougar pitcher Sugar Ray Marimon (Low A-Royals) kept getting hotter. His fastball popped, his splitter vanished and the hometown Kernels, slogging under the weight of an eight-game losing streak, couldn’t connect. The 22-year-old Columbia native had held them hittless through seven innings, and it seemed to the few hundred fans still remaining that Marimon was on pace to notch a feat that’s sweeter than his first name: a no-hitter.

But after a Kernel reached on an overthrow by the third baseman with two out in the eighth, Kane County pitching coach Jim Brower abruptly pulled Marimon. The pitcher wasn’t hurt or tired – he had walked just two batters. But with only  four outs to go, he had barely eclipsed the 100-pitch limit that the Royals set for all minor league pitchers in the franchise.

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