Kernels come up shy in Game 5

CEDAR RAPIDS - They packed their bats and gloves and other gear quietly and waited patiently in line for trainer Curtis Simondet to give them their travel orders home.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels had a hell of a playoff run, one this city should remember fondly. It just came up a win short.

'It's weird thinking I'm going to be on a plane tomorrow heading home. I don't want to leave these guys,” said Kernels outfielder Austin Diemer, after West Michigan claimed the Midwest League title with a 3-2 Game 5 win Monday night before 2,363 disappointed fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

While West Michigan celebrated its sixth league championship since 1996, the Kernels will have to wait to end what is now a 21-year title drought.

This was oh, so close. Cedar Rapids held a 2-1 series edge after a walk-off win Saturday afternoon but dropped a pair of one-runners in Games 4 and 5.

The Kernels even had a 2-0 lead Monday, but three fifth-inning runs put West Michigan over the top. Tough way to see a great series end.

'It's heartbreaking, heartbreaking,” said Kernels third baseman T.J. White. 'We were in the driver's seat, had two games to clinch it. That was tough. We played good baseball. The whole series was great baseball, such close games. Tough one to lose.”

A solo home run to left by Diemer put the Kernels on top in the third inning, 1-0. Edgar Corcino tripled leading off the fourth and scored on a White single to make it a multi-run lead.

Starting pitcher Randy LeBlanc sailed through the first four innings but couldn't make it through the fifth, walking Christin Stewart with one out, giving up a Joey Pankake single and walking Will Kengor to load the bases. Francisco Contreras then hit a potential double-play chopper to shortstop that Nick Gordon waited back on, which helped allow Contreras to beat the relay and scoring a Whitecaps run.

David Gonzalez lined a single to right to tie it, ending LeBlanc's night. A reliever most of the season, he got the Game 5 call instead of Game 1 starter Felix Jorge, who was shutdown by the parent Minnesota Twins with 155 innings pitched.

'I was good for four innings, then the fifth inning, I kind of hit a wall,” said LeBlanc. 'Being the fifth game, having a fresh bullpen, I knew I was on a short leash. It just sucks that I couldn't make a pitch when I had to. It ended up costing us the game.”

Luke Bard relieved him and threw a wild pitch that moved runners to second and third. He hit Ross Kivett to load the bases and threw an outside pitch that catcher Brian Navarreto couldn't corral, scoring what turned out to be the winning run.

'Felt pretty good going into the game tonight,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. 'That's what baseball is. You don't get a hit here, you don't get a hit there. They take advantage of a passed ball, and that's our season.”

The Kernels stranded two guys each in the seventh and eighth. Max Murphy had a great at-bat that produced a one-out walk against closer Joe Jimenez in the ninth, but pinch hitter Brett Doe struck out swinging at a 3-2 high fastball and Diemer struck out on three pitches, starting a massive West Michigan on-field celebration.

'One hit breaks it open for us,” said White, who flew to the 407-foot sign in left center in the sixth inning. 'That's what we were missing. I thought we were going to get it done. I even told Nick earlier that it was the eighth inning, that's when we were going to do it. It was close.”

Mauer heads to the Twin Cities on Tuesday morning to join the big-league Twins. He'll be in the dugout and traveling with a team that still has playoff aspirations and includes his brother Joe.

Hitting coach Tommy Watkins and pitching coach Henry Bonilla will prepare for fall instructional league in Fort Myers, Fla., next week. Some of these Kernels will be joining them, while others will head home to relax and rest and get ready for next season.

'These last three days with these crowds have been a lot of fun here,” Mauer said. 'They were just waiting for something to happen. A bloop, a broken-bat single or something. We just couldn't do it.”

'To make it this far, it was fun,” White said. 'I love these guys.”

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