Kernels fall by a run -- again

The Cedar Rapids Kernels' one-run woes continued last night.

Kane County built a 5-2 lead over the first five innings and held on for a 5-4 win that sent the Kernels to their sixth loss in seven games. Five of those losses have been by one run.

The Midwest League game was played before a crowd of 3,773 at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Despite the struggles, Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello said he is not discouraged.

“What it shows is we come to play every day and we're always in the game,” said Mosiello, whose club is 18-18 in one-run games. “It's one hit, one play, one pitch we're not making.”

The Kernels nearly got that elusive hit in the bottom of the ninth inning. Tyson Auer drew a two-out walk and advanced to third on Alexi Amarista's single, his third hit of the game. Gabe Jacobo then drove a pitch that Kane County center fielder Chris Berroa hauled in just short of the warning track.

“I'm not going to lie to you,” Kane County Manager Steve Scarsone said when asked if he was worried by Jacobo's drive. “The ball was hit well. But we were playing deep to keep the winning run from scoring from first base on a hit and we have a pretty good center fielder.”

Berroa also had two of Kane County's nine hits. His RBI single in the third inning put Kane County ahead to stay, 3-2. The Cougars tacked on two runs in the fifth off Kernels starter Manaurys Correa (6-6). Four Kernels relievers combined to limit Kane County to two hits over the final four innings.

Angel Castillo's sacrifice fly and a bloop RBI double by Dwayne Bailey in the Kernels' sixth cut Kane County's lead to 5-4. Southpaw A.J. Huttenlocker came on for Kane County and retired seven of the eight Kernels he faced, four by strikeout, giving soft-tossing Cougars starter Anvioris Ramirez (1-0) his first win in two starts.

The Kernels slipped to 1.5 games ahead of Peoria in the Western Division second-half race.

Their lead over Kane County in the overall race for home-field advantage throughout the postseason playoffs also fell to 1.5 games.  The Kernels (17-13, 57-43) and Cougars (15-16, 56-45) play tonight and Thursday for the final times of the regular season.  Both games are at 6:35.

“You want to beat everybody,” Mosiello said of the significance of playing Kane County with 40 games left in the regular season.  “Sure, you'd like to beat ‘em.”

The Kernels fell to 3-6 against the Cougars, who won for just the second time in their last eight games.

“Right now, the opponent is not as important as playing well and scoring runs,” Scarsone said.  “We played well (Monday) night and we played a pretty solid game tonight.  It was a confidence builder.”

Former University of Iowa catcher Dusty Napoleon was 0-for-4 for Kane County.