Kernels win 8th in a row, lose Stewart

CEDAR RAPIDS – You've seen the last of Kohl Stewart this season.

That's not official or anything quite yet, but just common sense. The Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher had to be removed from Tuesday night's 5-3 win over Quad Cities in the second inning with a recurrence of a shoulder issue that put him on the disabled list about three weeks ago.

The parent Minnesota Twins first-round draft pick in 2013 and one of the better mound prospects in the minors barely touched 90 miles per hour with his fastball in the first inning, then saw his velocity drop to the mid-80s in the second. After a one-out double and walk, pitching coach Ivan Arteaga walked to the mound to convene with Stewart and catcher Mitch Garver.

Manager Jake Mauer and trainer Curtis Simondel soon followed, with Simondel eventually walking off the mound with Stewart and straight to the Kernels clubhouse.

'I'm going to let the team put out (information) about it because I don't know what's going to happen,” Stewart said postgame. 'I felt like (crap), tried to pitch through it.”

Other than that, he didn't want to comment publicly.

'Talking to Garver in the bullpen a little bit, he wasn't so crisp,” Mauer said. 'You saw it. It didn't look like there was anything mechanically wrong, it just wasn't coming out of his hand very good.”

Stewart, who came in with a 2.42 earned run average, first experienced right shoulder tightness during a nine-hour bus ride for a series in Bowling Green, Ky., last month and was placed on the DL. An extensive physical exam showed no structural damage, the tightness subsided, and he was activated last week.

He threw four good innings at Beloit in his return to game action, but this was a major setback.

'It's disappointing,” Mauer said. 'We thought we were over the hump with him, the way he threw the ball in Beloit. But it was a lot different tonight.”

What wasn't different was the outcome of the game. The Kernels (67-60, 36-21) scored three times in the eighth inning to win for the eighth straight time.

Tanner Vavra's opposite-field RBI double past first base scored the tying run. With one out and runners on second and third and the infield in, Jonatan Hinojosa hit a grounder to QC second baseman Jose Fernandez, whose throw home was wild, scoring Engelb Vielma and Vavra.

'The boys just don't stop,” Mauer said. 'They don't stop believing and give themselves an opportunity to put the ball in play. We took advantage of their mistakes tonight. That was a big win for us.”

Kane County won its ninth consecutive game Tuesday to remain in first place in the Midwest League's Western Division second half, but Cedar Rapids still was able to cut its magic number for clinching a playoff spot to four. These teams play again Wednesday night at 6:35.

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