Correa flirts with no-hitter

APPLETON, Wis. - Manaurys Correa pitched 8 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball before giving up a single to Mike Brownstein in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Cedar Rapids Kernels rolled to an 11-2 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last night in Midwest League action at Fox Cities Stadium.

Correa (7-9), who also gave up a two-out RBI single to Erik Komatsu in the ninth, struck out four, walked three and hit a batter before being lifted with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Christian Scholl relieved Correa and retired the final batter.

The last Kernel to throw a no-hitter was Ramon Ortiz in 1997 against Quad Cities.

The Kernel offense rapped out 14 hits to support Correa. Jon Townsend had a huge night for Cedar Rapids, going 4-for-4 with two home runs, driving home seven runs. Darwin Perez added three hits and two RBI for Cedar Rapids (30-25, second half). The Kernels are 4 1/2 games behind Peoria in the Western Division.

Cedar Rapids and Wisconsin close the four-game series today at 1:05 p.m.