La Tempa provides just enough for Kernels' win

Two days after tossing 2 2/3 innings of relief at Kane County on Thursday, Cedar Rapids pitcher Justin La Tempa learned his next appearance would be as a starter.

That appearance would be in 24 hours.

"Well, immediately I start just thinking about my body, think about how that's going to hold up," said La Tempa, after his Kernels defeated Beloit, 6-1, Sunday before 2,358 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium. "I kind of realized that I'd be all right, the soreness would go away, I'd be good to go."

La Tempa, starting in place of an injured Heath Nichols, pitched into the fourth inning, yielding three hits and one run, striking out two. According to his manager, Brent Del Chiaro, it was exactly what the team needed.

"Big start from him," Del Chiaro said. "He came up huge for us. He picked us up, he gave us four strong innings. He battled his tail off all game long, gave us a quality start. We jumped on them early and he held them in check which is exactly what we were looking for."

The Kernels (15-20 in the second half) made sure La Tempa had early run support with three first-inning runs. Travis Witherspoon led off the game with a single, scoring easily on a triple into the right-field corner by Rolando Gomez. Ricky Alvarez singled up the middle to drive in Gomez, and Brandon Decker doubled over the head of Beloit center fielder Daniel Santana for the 3-0 lead.

It was all the scoring La Tempa and his bullpen mates would need.

With two on and one out in the fourth inning and 59 pitches under his belt, a weary La Tempa turned the game over to the bullpen.

"I got tired a little earlier than I expected," La Tempa said. "But other than that, you know, I came out throwing strikes like I wanted to. They had some good at-bats and they battled a lot. They had a lot of three-ball counts. They did a good job of making me throw a lot more pitches than I wanted to."

The bullpen trio of Donn Roach, Dakota Robinson and Daniel Tillman combined for 5 2/3 innings of scoreless three-hit relief, striking out seven. Robinson was credited with his eighth win.

"For us to have that, those are our go-to guys in a winning situation," Del Chiaro said. "It was a confidence builder, and that they could just sit there and build the confidence of the team."

Witherspoon had three hits, scored two runs, and stole his 35th base, good for third in the Midwest League.

The teams play the rubber game of the three-game series today at noon.