Bedrosian shines in front of Angels brass, though Kernels lose again

CEDAR RAPIDS – Cam Bedrosian was the silver lining with a golden pitching performance last night that ended up going to waste.

In front of Los Angeles Angels General Manager Jerry DiPoto and farm director Scott Servais, Bedrosian faced the minimum through seven innings of the Cedar Rapids Kernels' 9-1 loss to Fort Wayne at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels gave up six runs in a disastrous eighth inning and three more in the ninth to prevent Bedrosian from picking up a win he deserved.

Nevertheless, this was a terrific outing for the 2010 first-round draft pick, a guy who has suffered through significant ups and downs in his return this season from Tommy John surgery.

“Very encouraging,” Bedrosian said. “Probably my best outing of the year. Before the game, during warmups and everything, I felt like everything was going right. I was able to take it into the game. I just kept the ball down.”

Fort Wayne (46-50 overall, 15-11 second half) hit very few balls hard against the right-hander. He retired the first seven Tincaps, gave up an infield hit to Lee Orr but erased him on a double-play grounder.

Travis Whitmore (a Burlington native) singled up the middle leading off the sixth, but Bedrosian got another DP. He was taken out after 64 pitches, on a 70-pitch count since he is just returning from a stint on the disabled list because of a right toe injury.

“That was awesome,” said Kernels pitching coach Chris Gissell. “He's been working on a lot of stuff, working really hard on it. He really put it all together tonight.”

The Kernels dropped to 8-18 in the Midwest League's second half. R.J. Alvarez, the Angels' top draft pick in June, took the loss, though only one of the six runs charged against him were earned.

A huge throwing error past home plate by third baseman Kevin Moesquit with the bases loaded opened the Fort Wayne floodgates. A tough loss for a club that has lost five straight and seven of eight.

The teams conclude their three-game series tonight, with Cascade native Collin Rea the starting pitcher for Fort Wayne.

DiPoto and Servais were in town to give a presentation to members of the Kernels' board of directors in hopes of getting a Player Development Contract between the sides extended. Cedar Rapids and Anaheim have been partnered for 20 years, though the board has not made a decision, yet, whether to extend the expiring PDC or go into the free-agent pool.

Sources have indicated the Minnesota Twins could be a strong possibility for Cedar Rapids, if it decides to test free agency.

Here is the game boxscore:

Scoreboard _ Midwest League Scoreboard