Smith the Fresh Prince of pitching

You pull your hamstring in the first inning of your second start, and you've got to think it's not going to be your season.

But Will Smith apparently is a quick healer. He's back in the Cedar Rapids Kernels starting rotation and made ultra quick work of the Lansing Lugnuts on Sunday afternoon.

The lefty threw eight five-hit innings, combining with Mike Kohn for 1-0 shutout victory before 1,919 fans at Memorial Stadium. This beautifully pitched ballgame took all of one hour and 46 minutes, which had to be among the quickest games this 100-plus-year-old franchise has ever had, if those kind of records were kept.

"Will did a great job of filling the (strike) zone up," said Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello, whose team moved to 23-20 in the Midwest League's first half with its seventh win in eight games. "That was his best outing, by far. When you miss time, it's going to take a few outings to get it going."

Smith (2-1) injured his left hamstring trying to field a ball early in a game April 18 at Kane County. He went on the disabled list, not returning to active duty until May 7 at South Bend.

He got lit up to the tune of six earned runs in three innings. His next two starts were better: two runs each allowed in six and five innings, respectively. Sunday afternoon, he was better than better.

"It was no fun at all (getting hurt)," said Smith, a 19-year-old from Newnan, Ga., and Gulf Coast (Fla.) Community College. "Sitting there watching people play while I'm just sitting there on the training table. Give credit to (trainer) Dan Nichols. He got me back as quick as possible. It was an amazing job what he did. I don't even feel a thing any more. Not at all."

Changing speeds, working quickly and throwing strikes, Smith allowed only one runner past first base. He walked nary a Lugnut, leaving after throwing 90 pitches, somewhat to the dismay of he and catcher Beau Brooks.

"Beau did a little more lobbying than I did. He was trying for me," Smith said. "But we had Kohn, and I had no problems with letting him finish it."

"Never had a chance," Mosiello said. "We didn't want to send him back out there for the eighth inning."

Kohn struck out the side in the ninth for his third save. That allowed Cedar Rapids' third-inning run to stand up.

And it was quite a run. Ryan Groth, hitting .119 coming in, doubled to right with one out, went to third on a groundout and scored when leadoff hitter Tyson Auer dragged a perfect bunt down the third-base line for the tiniest of run-scoring, two-out RBI hits.

It was small ball at its finest.

"(Mosiello) gave me the sign," Auer said. "I saw the third baseman was way back, so all I had to do was get it down."

That was the only blemish on the ledger of hard-luck Lansing starter Henderson Alvarez (4-4) . The 19-year-old Venezuelan, who consistently flashed low-90s heat, also gave up just five hits and no walks in seven innings.

The Kernels and Lugnuts (14-27) conclude their three-game series and Cedar Rapids' six-game homestand with a 2:05 game Monday. Before Sunday's game, the Kernels announced infielder Jon Townsend has been activated from the disabled list and infielder Michael Wing has been sent back to Los Angeles Angels extended spring training.