Welcome to town, Andy Workman

CEDAR RAPIDS - Off the airplane, into the game late, hero. What a day for Andy Workman.

“I left my house this morning at 4:45,” the weary but happy outfielder said after his bloop single lifted the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 4-3 walk-off win over Peoria last night at Memorial Stadium. “It's definitely cool. I walked in here, and everybody was super friendly, super cool. Walked out onto the field, got introduced to everyone. The coaches were cracking jokes. A great atmosphere to come into.”

Workman was promoted from the Arizona Rookie League Angels last night to replace Randal Grichuk, who was promoted to high-Class A. He arrived in town at 1:30 Tuesday afternoon, thinking there was no way he was going to get any at-bats.

That changed when he was called upon to pinch hit for Drew Martinez with two on and one out in the seventh inning of a game Peoria led, 3-0.

“Why not?” said Kernels Manager Brent Del Chiaro. “Let's see what you've got.”

What Workman had was plenty. He smoked an inside fastball from reliever Yohan Gonzalez (5-6) onto the porch in left to tie the game.

“Right when the seventh inning started, I got told to go stretch,” said Workman, a 34th-round draft pick this June out of Arizona State. “The next thing I know, I'm hitting.”

Brandon Decker singled leading off the Kernels ninth and moved to third when Gonzalez misfired past first base on Marcus Nidiffer's sacrifice bunt. Jarrod Parks was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Workman won it with an ugly jam shot perfectly placed over a drawn-in infield.

That made reliever Dakota Robinson a winner for an amazing team-leading 10th time this season. The lefty threw two perfect innings to move his record to 10-2.

The Midwest League leader has 12.

“It is what it is,” Robinson said. “I try to put up a zero and then turn into a cheerleader.”

The Kernels (58-70, 25-32 second half) have won five straight and host Clinton tonight at 6:35. They trail the LumberKings and Kane County by seven games for the two available second-half playoff spots in the Western Division.