Kernels take piggyback ride to win over QC

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's called piggybacking, and Tyler Skaggs and Tyler Kehrer have come to grips with doing it.

“It's not bad,” Kehrer said after picking up the save in the Cedar Rapids Kernels' 4-3 win over Quad Cities Wednesday night before 1,870 fans at Memorial Stadium. “It's something that (the parent Angels) told us we'd be doing. There's nothing you can do about it. Just go out there and pitch.”

You've seen piggybacking before from clubs in the Midwest League in recent seasons, but this is really the first time Cedar Rapids has done it. It entails two pitchers regularly following each other in a game.

One guy starts, the other relieves him. The next time around the rotation, their roles reverse.

“Basically you've still got to think like you're going nine innings,” said Skaggs, who got the victory by throwing the first five innings. “We're built for starting all of the games, so for me, it's warming up a lot in the bullpen and hopefully coming in and throwing strikes ... I've gotten used to it now, but it still sucks that I'm only allowed to go five innings, only allowed to throw about 60 pitches. Still, it's not too bad.”

The reason for piggybacking in this case is mainly Skaggs. Like Kehrer, a first-round sandwich pick last year, he's an 18-year-old lefty in his first full season of pro ball.

“Better to do it now than at the very end of the season, where he might not be able to pitch at all because he's thrown too many innings,” said Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello.

“I'm young, 18 years old, so they don't want to run my innings up, my pitch counts up,” Skaggs said. “It's basically to keep my arm healthy. I understand that.”

The Kernels (22-17) tied Quad Cities for third place in the Midwest League's Western Division by scoring a go-ahead run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Kehrer allowed two runs in the ninth but stranded the tying run at second base by striking out Ryan Jackson and Ryde Rodriguez to end the game.

Shelby Miller (1-3) took the loss for Quad Cities. The parent St. Louis Cardinals' first-round draft pick last year, the 19-year-old righty flashed a fastball that hit as high as 98 miles per hour on the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.

The teams conclude their three-game series Thursday at noon.