Right-handed relief pitcher Ricardo Velez took a circuitous route to affiliated professional baseball. He doesn’t have the biggest fastball, but throws five different pitches to keep hitters’ timing off. He has five saves in five opportunities this season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels won the Midwest League championship Wednesday night with a 7-6 win over Great Lakes in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the team’s title series. It’s the first MWL championship for Cedar Rapids since 1994.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels finished with a 40-26 record in the first half of Midwest League baseball play, winning the Western Division championship and securing a 10th straight MWL postseason berth. If the many youngsters on this team, especially, in the lineup, continue to progress, the second half might just be ever better.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels have been a minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins for 10 seasons. A 3-1 win Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium over the South Bend Cubs clinched the Midwest League’s Western Division first-half championship and a 10th-straight playoff berth for the local baseball club.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels beat Wisconsin in five of six games of their Midwest League series this week. It’s a good sign for a ballclub prepping for the upcoming playoffs.
Tickets for the August 9 Midwest League baseball game between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Quad Cities River Bandits at the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville go on sale to residents of Iowa and Illinois on Saturday morning. They are $85 for a box seat and $65 for a bleacher seat.
A 9-5 win over Dayton on Saturday clinched the first-half championship for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the Midwest League’s Western Division
Larger first, second and third, pitch clocks and defensive shift bans are experimental rules being used this baseball season in the Midwest League.
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