Kernels blow late lead, lose in extras again

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Cedar Rapids Kernels bullpen has been mostly unflappable this Midwest League season, but they've done some flapping, if you will, at the start of the second half.

The Kernels lost in 10 innings Saturday night to Quad Cities, 6-4, before 4,315 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium. It was the second extra-inning loss in a row for Cedar Rapids, and the third straight game in which it has coughed up a lead in either the eighth or ninth.

Kernels Manager Jake Mauer wasn't pleased with a couple of defensive plays in the ninth inning that he felt could have been made. But he also was quick to credit the opponent, which has the MWL's best record of 47-24 overall for a reason.

'Offensively, they are where we want to be, where we are trying to get to,” Mauer said. 'They battle. Balls in the zone, they battle. You've got to throw it over, they don't get themselves out a whole lot. They do it every night. That's why they are where they are at, and that's kind of why we are where we are at.”

Cedar Rapids isn't bad at 42-31, but, the bats continue to struggle, which has been a very common theme in June. The Kernels got five of their seven hits in a four-run fifth inning.

Edgar Corcino had a game-tying, two-run double off the right-field wall, scoring on Alex Real's ensuing single to center.

'Corcino's a catalyst. He gets on base, drives in runs, does just about everything you could ask of him,” Mauer said. 'Obviously, he gives us a threat at the plate that we haven't had in awhile. He's done a nice job. I just hope that some of these other guys pick up the slack a little bit (so) that we can put more than just one at-bat together for a whole night.

'It's nice that we've had a chance to win these last two games, but we haven't had very many opportunities to score runs. That's in the past three weeks, really.”

The Kernels miss Tanner Vavra, their leading hitter, who has been out since late May with a heel injury that just won't heal. He's going to head out to the Minnesota Twins minor-league complex in Fort Myers, Fla., to see if medical personnel there can get him back onto the field.

But his absence can't be used as a full excuse, Mauer said.

'We're trying to get there,” he said. 'It's just frustrating, because here we are at the end of June, and we're talking about the same things offensively. We're hoping that some of these guys take a step, but there are going to have to be some decisions made, whether that's at the end of the year or the middle here. We're going to have to reload somehow.”

Quad Cities tied it in the ninth against losing relief pitcher Cam Booser (1-2) on a one-out walk, a two-out seeing-eye single up the middle and a line-drive RBI single by Nick Tanielu. Mauer felt a play could have been made by shortstop Nick Gordon on the seeing-eye single, and he wasn't pleased with center fielder Tanner English airmailing a throw home on Tanielu's single.

Booser walked three guys in the 10th, which led to two River Bandits runs.

'We didn't help our guy out much tonight,” Mauer said. 'That was a play our shortstop should have made, and a play our center fielder should have made, I thought. Granted they weren't routine, by any stretch of the matter. But you've got to make those plays if you're going to beat those guys.

'It's disappointing, really, because if we make those two plays in the ninth, we don't have to worry about the 10th.”

The teams conclude their four-game series Sunday afternoon at 2:05. Zack Tillery will pitch for Cedar Rapids, with former Kernel Christian Powell slated to go for Quad Cities.

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