Gonsalves makes his Kernels finale memborable

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Cedar Rapids Kernels have Tuesday off, then begin a week-long road trip. The bus leaves 7:30 Wednesday morning for South Bend, Ind.

Will Stephen Gonsalves be on it, or will he be on an airplane headed toward Fort Myers, Fla. instead? He was asked that Monday afternoon.

'I'd love to be in the air, but you never know,” the Kernels pitcher said after beating Clinton, 5-0, at Veterans Memorial Stadium. 'I think I'll be on the bus.”

Turns out he was wrong. Late Monday night, the 20-year-old Californian tweeted that he had, in fact, been promoted to high-Class A Fort Myers.

He honestly didn't have anything left to prove in the Midwest League. taking a no-hitter deep into the game Monday and striking out 11 in seven shutout innings to improve his record to 6-1 and his earned run average to an itty bitty 1.15.

'Just keep on doing what I'm doing, and a promotion will come,” Gonsalves said. 'They know what's best right now. I've got stuff to work on down here.”

'His command wasn't outstanding today, by any stretch of the matter. He walked a few,” said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. 'But he shut it down right after that. He'd walk a guy, then the next guy he'd get a strikeout or a popup, whatever it was. Very efficient. A guy who didn't have his best stuff still struck out 11. They're not a bad-hitting ballclub, but he made quick work of them.”

The lefty only had a pair of 1-2-3 innings, walking four, but didn't give up a hit until Estarlyn Morales' popup with one out in the seventh was lost in the sun by shortstop Nick Gordon. The ball was initially scored an error but changed to a single postgame.

Chris Mariscal did line a clean hit to right with two outs in the inning. Gonsalves threw 113 pitches, with Randy LeBlanc relieving him and throwing shutout eighth and ninth innings.

He has given up only 29 hits in his 55 innings this season, striking out 75. That includes four games with double-digit Ks.

Gonsalves' major step forward has been because of a vastly improved circle changeup, a pitch he never threw growing up.

'My hands were always too big, so it was tough,” he said. 'I played around with a lot of grips when I was younger. I stuck with a splitter during high school. When I got here (to pro ball), I had to learn a circle changeup. The trick for me has been that I just keep sliding my pinkie further and further under the ball, so I'm really just throwing it with my middle and ring finger. It's been awesome.”

'If you can throw a changeup in the Midwest League, you are going to strike a lot of people out,” Mauer said.

As a competitor who wants to win games, Mauer hopes to keep Gonsalves around as long as possible. But he knows that's not realistic, admitting he won't be here for the MWL's second half.

If not sooner. The parent Minnesota Twins have an injured pitcher in Ricky Nolasco, who could go on the disabled list, setting into motion a chain of moves that could very well involve Gonsalves.

Fort Myers is the next step in the Twins farm system.

The Kernels (34-18) got two hits each from Edgar Corcino and Zack Larson and two RBIs apiece from Larson and Brett Doe to complete a four-game sweep. They went into the day two games back of Quad Cities for first place in the Western Division.

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