Kernels struggles continue in DH loss to Kane County

CEDAR RAPIDS - They're not exactly hacking and wheezing on their way to the regular-season finish line, but the Cedar Rapids Kernels aren't really breathing free and clear, either.

A double-header loss to Kane County on Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium continued an unsettling trend. KC won the opener, 6-2, and the nightcap, 4-3, in nine innings.

Cedar Rapids has lost five straight and won just once in its last eight games and four times in its last 15. The overall record is still a very nice 72-59, though the second-half mark is perilously close to .500 at 31-30.

On second thought, maybe the Kernels are hacking and wheezing.

'We've been terrible, plain and simple,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. 'We need to go out and thump somebody. Our at-bats haven't been very good overall. We're swinging early in the count again, trying to do too much. It's the stuff we've talked about earlier, the same thing. We get a guy in scoring position and can't do anything with it. Our defense has been brutal.”

The good thing (make that great thing) is the Kernels are assured of a Midwest League playoff spot. They'll play Quad Cities in a best-of-3 first-round series beginning Sept. 9 at home.

But you'd like to see them prepare for that with a good, solid final week. Cedar Rapids is at Peoria for three games and Wisconsin for three before hosting Clinton for three to end things.

'There are just a lot of negatives right now,” Mauer said.

Probably most discouraging for the Kernels in the first game was that Kane County was able to hit around starting pitcher Sam Gibbons (7-4). There has been no one more on a roll in the second half than the Australian right-hander, who faced one batter more than the minimum over eight innings in his previous start at Clinton.

In fact, Gibbons hadn't gone less than seven innings in his previous four starts. This, however, was an off night for a guy who is certainly in the playoff rotation, perhaps the first-game starter.

He allowed 11 hits and four runs (three earned) in five innings. The Cougars, the MWL's top-hitting team, peppered him for a run each in the first and fifth and for two runs in the third.

Zac Curtis closed out the win for his league-leading 30th save.

The Kernels have not been stellar all season offensively, and now they're without Tanner English the rest of the way. The speedy center fielder was becoming a major catalyst for the club before injuring his left thumb trying to make a diving catch a couple of weeks ago.

Third baseman T.J. White has picked things up significantly since returning recently from high-Class A Fort Myers and went 2-for-2 in Game 1. He came into the double-header 14-for-38 in his previous 10 games.

It actually has been pitching that has been an issue of late. The Kernels have allowed an average of over six runs in their last seven games.

Joe Munoz hit a home run in the ninth inning of Game 2 against losing pitcher Nick Anderson (0-1). That was the first run Anderson has allowed in nine innings for the Kernels and in affiliated baseball.

He was signed out of the independent leagues.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com