The outbursts were briefly noisy.

That’s not enough for the Burlington Bees, who have started the second half of the Class A Midwest League season without a lot of offense, and without a win.

The Bees were swept in Saturday’s doubleheader against the Kane County Cougars at Community Field, losing 3-2 in the first game and 4-2 in the second game.

Burlington, which missed out on a first-half playoff spot in the Western Division because of a tiebreaker, fell to 0-3 in the second half.

“I think the story is more they’re trying to get rolling offensively,” said Los Angeles Angels field coordinator Chad Tracy, who is managing the Bees this weekend in place of Jack Howell. “We’ve scored (five) runs or something in three games. I think we’ve pitched extremely effectively for all three of these games — really well, actually.

“It’s a case of trying to establish a little more pressure throughout the game. Let’s get more traffic out there to give us a few more chances to score. We’re not giving ourselves many chances to score. I think all three of those are very winnable games if we put more traffic out there and score some more runs early in the game. It’s that simple.”

The Bees scored two runs in the second inning of the first game and two runs in the third inning of the second game, and that was it.

Both of the minor eruptions gave the Bees the lead, but Kane County had the biggest hits.

Buddy Kennedy hit a two-run home run in the third inning of the first game, then Zac Almond’s two-run home run in the seventh inning of the second game was the difference.

That has been another story of this series. Zack Shannon’s two-run home run in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game gave the Cougars a 2-1 win.

“Those games can go another way if you get a two-run or three-run lead early,” Tracy said. “When you kind of hang there tied for a while, it’s who’s going to have the big blow. And they’ve had that.”

Francisco Del Valle had a run-scoring double, and then he scored on Tim Millard’s single to account for the Bees’ runs in the first game.

Kevin Maitan hit a two-run home run in the second game, then Nonie Williams followed with a double into left-center field. But Kane County starter Matt Tabor struck out Spencer Griffin and Del Valle to end the inning.

“It looked like we had a little life going there for a second,” Tracy said. “And then it got quiet after that again. You’ve got to create more opportunities than that in order to put some pressure on.”

The Bees struck out 20 times in the doubleheader.

“I think we’re missing pitches, honestly,” Tracy said. “For the most part, we’ve done a good job of managing at-bats, staying in the zone. But the pitches we have gotten to hit, the ones that are center-cut, we’ve swung through them or fouled them off. You can’t do that. If you manage the at-bat well and you get a pitch to hit, you’ve got to square it up. Right now we’re missing that, and that’s where you get the low-scoring outputs.”

Almond’s home run in the seventh off Ed Del Rosario (0-1) came after Shannon doubled to center field. Kane County reliever Chester Pimentel (3-5) struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to finish the win.

The Bees had a chance to take the lead in the sixth inning of the second game. D.C. Arendas singled with two outs and moved to second on Pimentel’s wild pickoff throw. Justin Jones dropped a single into right field, but Arendas was thrown out on a close play at the plate.

Jose Soriano (5-6) took the loss in the first game. Soriano walked six and allowed four hits in five innings.

“Sori wasn’t as sharp or as crisp as he can be,” Tracy said. “But his stuff was still good — he landed some breaking balls, he threw some sharp ones. He wasn’t as sharp as he could be, but he battled and competed and kept us in the game.”

Bees starter Robinson Pina allowed three hits and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings in the second game.

“I thought Pina was excellent,” Tracy said. “He lost a couple of counts, too, but his breaking ball was really good. Got a lot of swing-and-miss with it.”

ON DECK: The two teams close the series with a 2 p.m. game on Sunday. Burlington’s Cole Duensing (5-3, 4.21 ERA) will face Kane County’s Ryan Weiss (2-4, 3.84).

NOTES: Burlington’s Jordyn Adams now has an 8-game on-base streak. Adams walked twice in the first game and went 2-for-4 in the second game. … Maitan has driven in a run in six of his last seven games. … Attendance was 1,874.

Photo: Burlington’s Kevin Maitan gets ready to hit in the fifth inning of the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Two outs from history, one strike from victory.

Zack Shannon’s home run that just got over the left-field fence at Community Field ruined the night.

Shannon’s two-run homer in the ninth inning off Luke Lind gave the Kane County Cougars a 2-1 win over the Burlington Bees to open the second half of the Class A Midwest League season on Thursday night.

It was a night when Bees starting pitcher Hector Yan turned in another brilliant performance, but it ended with disappointment.

Yan pitched five no-hit innings in Saturday’s 7-1 win at Peoria, and the no-hitter was broken up with two outs in the ninth inning by Chiefs catcher Ivan Herrera.

In this game, Yan pitched 6 ⅓ no-hit innings, and the no-hitter was broken up by another catcher named Herrera — Jose Herrera, who dropped a single into right field off Lind with one out.

Yan walked four and struck out seven. He has a streak of 15 innings without giving up a run and 11 innings without a hit.

Yan, a left-hander who is ranked the No. 29 prospect in the Los Angeles Angels’ organization, threw 89 pitches, 50 for strikes.

“At first, the splitter was working, and the slider,” Yan said through a translator. “I felt I had to get adjusted in the first inning, so I was relying on my fastball. I kind of felt the pressure with the first game back (from the All-Star break). Once I was able to make the adjustment and feel my way through it, I felt a lot better.

“I didn’t really worry about Saturday’s game. I felt like that was in the past, left it behind me. I just came in, attacked the zone, do what I do.”

“I thought he was outstanding,” said Angels field coordinator Chad Tracy, who is filling in as manager for Jack Howell for this weekend’s series. “He used his stuff. His fastball was electric, especially at the top of the (strike) zone, he got a lot of swings and misses. He threw some really good sliders down and in to righties — he got some swings and misses with that.”

Yan is 2-0 with an 0.44 earned run average in four starts in June after going 0-1 with a 4.41 ERA in May. He has 29 strikeouts in 20 ⅔ innings.

“He was excellent, and he’s been excellent for an extended period now,” Tracy said.

“I’m getting used to my pitches,” Yan said. “I’m finally feeling confident in them. I do feel like I’m getting comfortable now and making adjustments.”

Tracy was comfortable in getting Yan out on the mound in the seventh inning. Yan was at 81 pitches to start the inning, and Tracy wanted to get him to 90.

Yan walked Joey Rose to open the inning, but struck out Shannon for the first out. He was at 89 pitches at that point, and his night was over.

“We’ve got pitch counts we want to get them to,” Tracy said. “I view every out as an opportunity to develop, and we had about eight or nine pitches of breathing room. So I was like, ‘Let’s send him out to get a couple of hitters.’ And sure enough, he pitched to a couple of hitters, he only got one of them. But we wanted to get him to 90, 90-plus (pitches). And he rewarded us with the way he got that second hitter.”

Bees reliever Parker Joe Robinson kept the no-hitter going, striking out three in 1 ⅓ innings.

Lind (2-1) started the ninth by getting KeShawn Lynch on a popup. Herrera followed with his single, then Rose popped out to first baseman D.C. Arendas.

Lind got to 1-2 on Shannon, but the Cougars’ first baseman hit a high fly ball that left fielder Nonie Williams tracked until it got over the wall.

Kevin Maitan’s single in the eighth scored Alvaro Rubalcaba with the Bees’ lone run.

Burlington had just three hits — Williams and Spencer Griffin had singles in the fourth inning.

Ryan Miller (2-4) was the winning pitcher. Kai-Wei Lin struck out three in the ninth for his first save.

ON DECK: The two teams continue the four-game series with a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday.

NOTES: The last Bees no-hitter was on August 7, 2008, when Danny Duffy and Juan Abreu combined for the win against Peoria. … Maitan was 1-for-3 and reached base twice. He is batting .333 against Kane County this season. … Attendance was 785.

Photo of Hector Yan courtesy of Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees

The Burlington Bees open the second half of the Class A Midwest League schedule with a four-game home series against the Kane County Cougars. A look at the series:

SERIES FACTS

Game times: 6:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Community Field

First-half records: Bees 39-31, Cougars 35-34

Season series: Bees lead, 5-4

TEAM COMPARISONS

Last 10: Bees 5-5, Cougars 4-6

Home vs. road: Bees 23-13 at home, Cougars 18-17 on road

Night games: Bees 24-25, Cougars 27-20

Day games: Bees 15-6, Cougars 8-14

Run differential: Bees +4, Cougars +43

Extra innings: Bees 6-2, Cougars 2-5

HEAD TO HEAD

Batting average: Bees .218, Cougars .220

ERA: Bees 2.41, Cougars 3.54

WHAT TO WATCH

Both teams were battling for the second first-half playoff spot in the Western Division before Cedar Rapids roared past them to claim the spot on the final day of the regular season.

The Bees, who are 9-7 in June, nearly had a no-hitter in the final weekend — Hector Yan and Cole Duensing shut down Peoria’s offense until two outs in the ninth inning in Saturday’s game. Both pitchers should see action in this series.

Kane County is struggling in June. The Cougars are 6-9 in the month, even though they have outscored their opponents 69-53.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Bees infielder Kevin Maitan is batting just .210 this season, but he’s batting .333 against the Cougars with an .844 OPS. Outfielder Spencer Griffin is batting .300 with a .916 OPS against the Cougars.

Pitchers Luis Alvarado and Jose Soriano have combined to go 4-0 against the Cougars with a 1.85 ERA.

Kane County outfielder Eduardo Diaz and infielders Joey Rose and Eddie Hernandez have worn out the Bees this season. Hernandez is hitting .400 with seven runs batted in with an OPS of 1.100. Rose is batting .385 with a 1.121 OPS and Diaz is batting .304 with a .904 OPS.

Pitcher Ryan Weiss is 1-0 with an 0.90 ERA in two starts against the Bees.

Photo of Bees pitcher Cole Duensing courtesy of Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees

The records should have been good enough to get the Burlington Bees into the Midwest League playoffs as a first-half qualifier.

The Bees, 39-31 overall, were 19-9 in one-run games, the most wins of any team in the league and second-most among all teams in Minor League Baseball.

They were 6-2 in extra-inning games, also the most wins of any team in the league.

They were 23-13 at home, 16-18 on the road.

The one record that hurt was the one that kept them out of the playoffs. They were 4-6 against the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the first half, and that’s why the Kernels got the second playoff spot on a tiebreaker after sweeping Sunday’s home doubleheader with Clinton, while the Bees lost, 7-2, at Peoria.

The Bees went into the final weekend of the season needing any combinations of wins and Kernels’ losses totaling two. Instead, the Bees lost two out of three to Peoria, while Cedar Rapids swept the LumberKings.

There is still a second half, and the Bees seem to be in good position to be playoff contenders.

The second half of the season always brings changes. Some of the top players will be promoted. Some of the Los Angeles Angels draft class will be coming in.

A look at some of the second-half story lines:

• Hot hitters. Catcher Harrison Wenson has just a .200 batting average, but he’s been hitting the ball well in June. He has a .323 average for the month after hitting just .170 in May.

Justin Jones drove in a team-high eight runs in the month. Wenson and outfielder Nonie Williams have each driven in seven runs.

Outfielder Jordyn Adams, the Angels’ first-round draft pick last season, kept up his hitting from May. Adams is hitting .274 in June after hitting .296 in May, bringing his overall batting average up to .253.

• The pitchers. The Bees’ first-half success had a lot to do with pitching, particularly among the starters.

The Bees’ ERA for June is 3.57, but they’re still getting good starts.

Luis Alvarado has an 0.56 ERA in June with a 1-1 record. He has struck out 18 in 16 innings.

Jose Soriano is 2-0 with an 0.59 ERA in June. He has struck out 15 in 15 ⅓ innings.

• Power. Now that the weather is warmer, the Bees are showing a little more power.

Wenson, outfielder Spencer Griffin and first baseman/designated hitter D.C. Arendas each have six home runs to lead the team.

• Flying under the radar. The Bees has several players who have interesting seasons even if some of their statistics don’t show it.

Pitcher Kyle Tyler is 2-0 with a 4.31 ERA. But Tyler has struck out 53 in 54 ⅓ innings, and opposing hitters are batting .217 against him.

Pitcher Hector Yan is 2-2 with a 3.47 ERA. Yan has struck out 71 in 49 ⅓ innings, and has allowed only one home run.

• Help on the way? The draft usually means roster moves, especially in the lower levels of an organization.

The Angels went deep with college pitching again this season, but several of those pitchers were starters, meaning their innings probably will be limited for the rest of the season.

Last season, the Bees got relievers Austin Warren and Andrew Wantz in the second half. Expect some similar moves this season.

Infielder Will Wilson, the Angels’ first-round pick out of North Carolina State, is at the Angels’ Rookie League team in Orem, but suffered a thumb injury in Friday’s season opener.

Wilson is one of five 2019 picks to start in Orem.

Among the other prospects to watch in Orem is infielder Jeremiah Jackson, a second-round pick last season who is ranked No. 8 among the Angels’ prospects by MLB.com, and outfielder D’Shawn Knowles, the No. 9 prospect.

FALLING SHORT

Yan and Cole Duensing were one out from a no-hitter on Saturday night at Peoria before Chiefs catcher Ivan Herrera singled to break up the gem, and the shutout, in what turned into a 7-1 win for the Bees.

Herrera’s single on a 1-0 pitch kept the two pitchers from recording the Bees’ first no-hitter since Danny Duffy and Juan Abreu combined for one against Peoria in 2008.

There have been 10 no-hitters in the Bees’ Midwest League history. The Bees were on the opposite side of one of three no-hitters in the league this season, when Cedar Rapids’ Austin Schulfer and Jose Martinez combined for their no-hitter in the second inning of a May 21 doubleheader at Cedar Rapids.

Yan, the starter, allowed just one walk and struck out five in five innings. Duensing didn’t walk anyone, although he hit Wadye Infante with a pitch in the ninth, and struck out four.

THE HALF THAT WAS

Record: 39-31

Position: T-2nd

Batting average: .215

Opponents’ average: .223

ERA: 3.50

Opponents’ ERA: 3.55

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Record: 3-4

Batting average: .270

Opponents’ average: .242

ERA: 5.10

Opponents’ ERA: 4.14

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Kane County (6:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday) — After Tuesday’s All-Star Game in South Bend, the Bees open the second half with four games against the Cougars, an affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Bees went 5-4 against Kane County in the first half, including winning two games in last week’s three-game series.

ALUMNI REPORT

• Andrew Wantz (2018) had a strong start after being promoted to Double-A Mobile this week. Wantz allowed two hits and struck out six in six innings in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Mississippi. Wantz is 5-3 with a 3.33 ERA this season, with 64 strikeouts in 54 innings.

• Wantz was one of five players at High-A Inland Empire to be selected for the California League All-Star Game. Among the others picked from Inland Empire were former Bees Oliver Ortega (2018), Jorge Tavarez (2018) and Torii Hunter Jr. (2018).

• Jo Adell (2018) has started well in his move to Double-A Mobile after missing most of the early part of the season recovering from ankle and hamstring injuries suffered in spring training. Adell is batting .361 in 10 games at Mobile.

• Brandon Marsh (2018) was named the Angels’ midseason minor-league player of the year by Baseball America. Marsh, currently on the 7-day injured list, is batting .292 at Mobile. Marsh and catcher Jack Kruger (2017) were selected to the Southern League All-Star Game.

Photo of Jordyn Adams courtesy of Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees

NEWTON — Brett Moffitt was ‘“about five” beers into his post-race disappointment, on his way to the airport to leave Iowa Speedway and a second-place finish behind.

Then he got the call to come back to the track.

And it wasn’t long until Moffitt found out that he had gone from runner-up to winner.

There was a disappointment, Moffitt said, that he didn’t take the checkered flag first in Sunday’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway.

Ross Chastain did that, and for about 90 minutes or so after the race, after Chastain had smashed a watermelon to celebrate in Victory Lane and realized he was on the cusp of getting into the series playoffs, he was the winner.

But Chastain’s Niece Motorsports Chevrolet was low in post-race inspection — “extremely low,” said Truck Series director Brad Moran — and Chastain was disqualified.

It was a cranky day at the .875-mile oval, and Moffitt was steamed for those same 90 minutes that Chastain was embracing.

The driver from nearby Grimes was mad, expressing in early post-race interviews that a.) he finished second and b.) finished second to Chastain because c.) he really wasn’t a big fan of Chastain.

“Obviously I was very disappointed,” Moffitt said. “Anyone down in the (media) bullpen heard that and probably put it out already.”

But when he walked into the track’s media center with one beer in his hand and another in his pocket, Moffitt couldn’t fight the smile.

“It’s a big change in emotions,” Moffitt said. “And obviously, this isn’t the way I want to win. As a race car driver, I still know I got beat on track, which is frustrating. I still would rather take the checkered and be the first one to it.

“But I’ll take the win any way I can get it.”

Moffitt, who won this race last season, gets the $50,000 prize for winning in the Triple Truck Challenge, the series-within-the-series that could get him $100,000 more if he wins next week at Gateway Motorsports Park.

But it also will get him into the Truck Series playoffs, which gives him a chance to defend his title from last season.

“It’s all good,” Moffitt said.

Chastain, who just declared for Truck Series points earlier this month, needed a win and a top-20 points finish at the end of the regular season to get into the playoffs. He had completed, he thought, a maximum-points day — three stage wins, the race victory, and most laps led. He thought he was only 14 points out of 20th.

Instead, he left with just five points with a 32nd-place finish, and needing something big to happen in the next few weeks to have a chance.

Moffitt was the winner, despite not leading a lap the entire day.

“I was halfway to the airport,” Moffitt said. “I was already changed in the motor home, drinking some beers. Headed to the airport, mad as hell.

“Then the team called me, and said, ‘Head back this way.’”

Trucks are restricted on their ride heights at the front and rear of their vehicles.

“Unfortunately, the 44 was low on the front,” Moran said. “Extremely low.”

Moran said Chastain’s truck failed the first inspection, and a second try.

“They do get an opportunity to roll around,” Moran said. “They put fuel in the vehicle, they air the tires. Give them at least 5-10 minutes, check them a second time. And unfortunately, the 44 did not rise on the front, at all.”

“For the integrity of the sport, it’s the right thing to do,” Moffitt said. “Obviously I came out on the good end of it. If I was in Ross’ shoes, I wouldn’t be too thrilled about it. It is what it is, and we finally got a win we needed.

“And we’ll move on.”

Chastain’s team owner, Al Niece, said in a statement that the team would appeal the decision.

“We believe the No. 44 Truck sustained minor damage during the event, which left the truck too low following the race,” Niece said.

It was a day when everybody seemed angry, and Moffitt’s post-race steam was only a small part of it.

Johnny Sauter and Austin Hill lit the fuse to the day with their tangles midway through the race.

Sauter, with a bump, knocked Hill out of the way in a pass for position so Hill responded with a similar bump. That sent Sauter into the wall, and into a rage.

Sauter chased Hill during the caution period, spinning him and then trying to push him into the wall. Sauter’s truck came out the worst in terms of damage, but his day was declared done by NASCAR.

Sauter refused comment after leaving the infield care center. Hill, who finished 13th, knew what he had to say.

“That’s how that guy races,” Hill said. “He thinks he doesn’t do wrong, and everybody’s out to get him, but that’s not the case. I try to race everybody as clean as I can. These restarts are crazy, and you’re trying to get position because clean air is key.

“I think it’s pretty classless under caution to take someone out like that. He could have tried to do it under green-flag conditions, or something like that. He tore up a pretty good truck. There were no scratches on it to that point.”

Chastain’s apparent win, then, was quite feel-goody. He was going to give the $50,000 back to his team, cash for an effort desperate for funding.

“We’ve got more trucks to build and more stuff to buy,” Chastain said. “I’m living my dream, and I want to reward them for it.”

Soon, the win was gone, the money was gone, and Chastain’s playoff hopes had gone from within-the-grasp to needing-a-whole-lot-of-help.

Moffitt’s day had done a complete change.

“I went from drinking my sorrows away to being happy,” he said. “It’s frustrating losing when you know you have a truck capable of a win. That’s the most frustrating thing out there. “Second is, just like, you’re so close. If you’re in the top three, you know you have a truck capable of winning. It’s how the race plays out.”

This one played out long after the day had seemingly ended.

“Everything was just smooth and calm,” Moffitt said of his race. “We were just having a good day.”

It only got better.

Moffitt remembered a time in his younger racing days, when he finished second in a similar situation.

“I had an incident in karts, when I finished second and the (winner) was over engine tolerance by, like, a thousandth of an inch, and they let it go,” Moffitt said. “So I’ve lost this way. But I’ve never won this way. It’s definitely different.

“A part of me, a very small part of me, feels bad. But a very large part of me is very excited.”

The boys, taking a break from Iowa’s youth basketball camp at the UI Field House on Tuesday, stared at the cameras and the lights and the recorders and the assembled media and wondered just who was in the middle of that.

They watched for a few moments before one walked over, tapped one of the media members on the back, and asked, “Who is being interviewed?”

“Joe Wieskamp,” was the answer.

“Oh,” the boy said, and walked away.

Which is probably the way Wieskamp, the soon-to-be-sophomore wing for the Hawkeyes, would like it. The less attention, the better, but no, that’s not going to happen.

This is the Summer of Joe — leading into what is probably the Winter of Joe, actually — so the attention is going to be there.

Tyler Cook is gone, off to a pro career. Isaiah Moss is gone, off to play his final season at Kansas. Jordan Bohannon has a surgically-repaired hip, and the Hawkeyes are planning as if he’s gone for this season, although he still could be back.

That leaves Wieskamp, who sampled the NBA draft process after a strong freshman season and decided it was best to come back, as one of the leaders for a team looking to get back to the NCAA tournament after a second-round loss to Tennessee in March.

This appears to be a good team, provided all of the pieces snap into place. Wieskamp, who averaged 11.1 points (fourth-best on the Hawkeyes) and was second on the team with 59 3-pointers in a solid freshman season, is one of the centerpieces to build the picture.

His spring of NBA tests took him to Boston and Oklahoma City to workouts with the Celtics and Thunder. Different voices are always good to hear for a player, and what they told him was what he probably knew, but still needed reinforcing.

You’re good, but you could be a lot better.

So that means getting stronger, moving with and without the ball — those little things that can make for a big step between freshman and sophomore.

“I learned a lot,” Wieskamp said. “It was a great experience to be out there, see a couple of places, see the environment, the type of personnel. Different guys from different teams who I was able to work with.

“You’ll kind of see, as the year progresses, the way that my game is going to adapt and change. It’s going to change, just with the different personnel (on Iowa’s roster).”

Echoes of bouncing basketballs and scoreboard horns and the voices of young players made it hard to hear Wieskamp at times, but he’s going to have to be loud when November comes, and then December and the crucible of the Big Ten season arrives.

If Bohannon isn’t ready to play and decides to take a medical redshirt season, Wieskamp will have to be one to grab the leadership role, and that’s what Iowa coach Fran McCaffery is hoping.

He saw it when Peter Jok tested the NBA process, saw it last season after Tyler Cook came back from a similar trip.

“Pete and Tyler, they were a lot better in terms of leadership,” McCaffery said. “I expect the same from Joe.”

“I think Coach is going to put a lot of trust in me,” Wieskamp said.

McCaffery knows he doesn’t need to worry about the Bohannon-what-if scenario now. There’s a lot of time between now and the season opener. Bohannon isn’t practicing with the Hawkeyes right now.

“You proceed,” McCaffery said, “without him.”

“We have to focus on ourselves,” Wieskamp said.

There is nothing that seems to rattle Wieskamp. Not the idea that this might have to be his team this season — “I’m going to have to step up,” Wieskamp said — and certainly not what the future holds.

And certainly not the chaos of Tuesday, with kids and horns and basketballs and the questions.

“You’ve got to block out the distractions,” Wieskamp said when asked what he learned last season. “Stay focused.”

Asked if he thought about just staying in the NBA draft process, Wieskamp said, “Um, not really. For the most part, I was pretty set on coming back.”

Wieskamp is glad he took the trips.

“A lot of networking. That way you’re on their radar,” he said. “They know who you are.”

So, there is a question that will hang with Wieskamp.

Will this be the last season?

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Obviously it’s every kid’s dream to play in the NBA. If it happens, then it happens. If not, I’ll just continue to work hard.”

A summer, and then a season, awaits.