Kernels, Twins off to great start on field, too

CEDAR RAPIDS - One game in, and this affiliation change is already paying off for the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Off the field, you had the largest opening-night crowd in five years, with several of the 1,943 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium sporting assorted Minnesota Twins hats and other apparel.

On the field, you had a home team with 12 hits, two home runs in the first inning and pitchers that struck out 16 in a nifty little 9-7 win over Beloit. In many ways, you could hit rewind and watch this kind of performance another 139 times this Midwest League season.

“This is what we expect out of ourselves,” said Kernels first baseman D.J. Hicks. “We have a lot of guys from (Rookie-level Elizabethton), had a great group of guys there last year. Putting up nine runs, that's going to be hard to do every night. But as long as the pitchers keep us in the game, I think we'll hit all right.”

Hicks obliterated a Raul Alcantara pitch well over the signs in right field to punctuate a three-run first inning. After Byron Buxton singled leading off, Jorge Polanco turned on an inside pitch and hit a two-run homer to right.

Polanco had three hits and three RBIs. Alcantara, for your information, was part of the trade a couple years back that sent Cedar Rapids' Ryan Sweeney from Oakland to the Boston Red Sox.

“Two home runs in the first inning. Talk about getting the excitement going,” Kernels manager Jake Mauer said.

Cedar Rapids built a 9-4 lead after five innings, but Beloit hung around and actually had the tying run at the plate in the ninth. Reliever Chris Mazza settled down to strike out the final two Snappers to bring his team's game total to a dozen plus four.

Starter Taylor Rogers had seven Ks, winning reliever Tyler Jones six in 3 1/3 hitless innings. Jones was, by far, the most impressive Kernels pitcher. Manuel Soliman gave up two runs in the eighth, his first inning since undergoing labrum surgery last April.

“Anytime you strike out 16, that's obviously a positive,” Mauer said. “A little drama at the end, maybe used one more guy (pitcher) than I'd have liked to, but that's kind of the nature of the beast. We got that lead and the boys competed to go on and get that win. Always good to get that first one.”

Mega-prospect Buxton showed flashes of the ability that got him selected second overall in last year's MLB draft, going 2-for-5 with a stolen base from the leadoff spot. While his first hit was of the blooper variety, his second single in the fifth was a solid knock into center field.

“There was no pressure,” he said. “I just went out and played. Played my game, played like I know how to play.”

If you're looking for negatives, there were a couple of errors on C.R.'s middle infielders Polanco and shortstop Niko Goodrum. Goodrum's error came when he took too much time fielding a grounder toward the hole off the bat of speedy Beloit leadoff hitter Aaron Shipman and airmailed a rushed throw over first.

That led to four unearned runs in the Snappers third.

But this was a night to dwell on the good stuff, and there was plenty of that. Maybe other than fans only getting to watch about the final five minutes of Iowa's NIT championship loss to Baylor on the brand-new big-screen scoreboard.

Though, you could construe that as a positive, too.

The teams play again Friday night at 6:35.  Right-hander Hudson Boyd (a supplemental first-round draft pick in 2011) gets the starting nod for the Kernels against righty Michael Ynoa, who signed with the parent Oakland Athletics in 2008 for $4.25 million out of the Dominican Republic.

RAPID REWIND

- The Kernels got two home runs in the first inning en route to the season-opening win: a two-run shot by Jorge Polanco and solo blast by D.J. Hicks.

- They finished with 12 hits, scoring all nine runs in their first five at-bats. Polanco finished with three hits, Byron Buxton, Jairo Rodriguez and J.D. Williams two each.

- Tyler Jones threw 3 1/3 hitless relief innings for the pitching win. Chris Mazza gave up two hits and a run in the ninth but got the save. Four Kernels pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts.

Here is the game boxscore:

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2013_04_04_belafx_cedafx_1&t=g_box&sid=l118