Fifth 1-run loss this week for Kernels

Not even extra, extra innings could help the Cedar Rapids Kernels break their losing streak in one-run games.

It's been a week full of gut punches for the Men of Corn. Seven days, five losses by a run. One, stinking run.

It hurt even more Friday afternoon because it took 15 innings for Cedar Rapids to drop a 6-5 decision to West Michigan before 1,693 fans at Memorial Stadium. They say these things even out over time. It's all in the odds.

Try telling that to the Kernels (10-11).

"You've just got to play through it," said Kernels outfielder Matt Crawford. "We've all played this game for years and have been in situations where we've lost one-run games. I think we're fine. We're out there battling. I think things will start falling our way."

Gustavo Nunez led off the top of the 15th with a triple to center against Francis Cabrera (1-2), the sixth Kernels pitcher of the game. He scored on Brent Wyatt's line-drive single to right-center, making Cabrera a loser for the second time in about 17 hours. He also took the loss Thursday night against West Michigan, a game decided by ... one run.

Now the really bad news. The Kernels have no pitchers left. Reliever Chris Armstrong gets a spot start Saturday night against Peoria because Cedar Rapids had a double-header earlier this week at Peoria. He'll be limited to about 50 pitches most likely.

Throw in this little 15-inning affair in which four relievers were used for at least two innings each, and you've got problems. Then there's this: center fielder Tyson Auer has some sort of knee injury suffered in a collision with right fielder Angel Castillo in Thursday night's game and might have to go on the disabled list.

"I don't even want to show up tomorrow," kidded Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello. "We are literally out of pitchers. We're in huge trouble ... But it's just one of those stretches that you've got to survive."

The same could be said for that one-run loss thing.

"We're just not getting the big hit, not making the big pitch," Mosiello said. "We're playing good enough baseball to be in those games, we're just finding a way to lose them by a run."

The homecoming of former Northern Iowa standout Brandon Douglas ended with a bang. Or a thud. Whatever the sound is when two guys collide.

The West Michigan second baseman, a former Interstate 35 prep, came into this three-game series leading the MWL with a .400 batting average, but went 2-for-11 with four walks. He was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the 13th after scoring what appeared to be the winning run after jarring the ball loose from Kernels catcher Anel De Los Santos on a home-plate collision.

Douglas walked with two outs and was waved home on a Brian Pounds double to center that deflected off the glove of a reaching Crawford. Both Douglas and De Los Santos were shaken up on the play, though De Los Santos remained behind the plate and Douglas walked off the field under his own power. He said he wrenched his neck upon impact.

"When I hit him, I had my head completely down," Douglas said. "I just kind of jammed it, I think. When we hit, I thought I was out. I thought he had held the ball. I reached back and touched the plate just in case."

An 11th-round draft pick of the parent Detroit Tigers, Douglas has been playing with an injured right wrist, which he incurred on a collision at home plate earlier in the season.

"I was safe there, too," Douglas said. "This time, the catcher actually caught the ball. The play before, I hit him just before he had caught it."

The Kernels tied the game in the bottom of the 13th when Gabe Jacobo brought home Crawford with a one-out single through a drawn-in infield. Jacobo had three hits in the game.

The teams also exchanged three-run fourth innings. Catcher Joe Bowen had a two-run triple against Kernels starting pitcher Christian Scholl and scored on a Chao-Ting Tang single in the top half for West Michigan. The Kernels put together four-straight hits against West Michigan starter Casey Crosby in the bottom half, including an RBI double by Jacobo and RBI single by Angel Castillo.

Jacobo and Castillo are the 4-5 hitters in the Cedar Rapids lineup but haven't gotten going, yet, hitting .221 and .200, respectively coming into the game.

The Kernels took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Alexi Amarista. The Kernels' best player the first month of the Midwest League season, the diminutive Venezuelan second baseman began the fourth-inning rally with a bunt hit.

West Michigan tied things in the seventh, thanks in part to the wildness of reliever Matt Shoemaker. He hit Ben Guez leading off, walked Brent Wyatt and gave up an infield single to Douglas, with Brian Pounds' lineout to center field scoring Guez.

The Kernels host Peoria for three games beginning Saturday night at 6:35.