Kernels lose to Clinton, 7-1, but get encouraging relief outing from Zack Tillery

CEDAR RAPIDS — He was asked if this was a relief.

'Whew,' said Zack Tillery, wiping his hand across his brow.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher was good in a two-inning shutout relief stint Tuesday night, one of the few bright spots in his team's 7-1 loss to Clinton at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

It had been a gigantic struggle for the right-hander since he rejoined the club recently from Minnesota Twins extended spring training. He'd walked eight and given up four runs in 1 1/3 innings, perhaps trying too hard to make an immediate impression after coming back from a pair of arm injuries that sabotaged almost his entire 2015 season.

Without question a step in the right direction here.

'I'm definitely not one of the guys around here who is a spring chicken,' Tillery said. 'To (try and) put up numbers can add to the pressure. It felt great to get out there, pound the zone and do what I'm capable of doing.'

Tillery, 24, pitched most of the 2014 season with the Kernels, but an elbow injury limited him to six mostly poor relief outings last season. He underwent surgery to take out bone chips and help repair a fracture.

On track to break spring training this season with the Kernels, a case of biceps tendinitis kept him back in Florida and provided another setback. He threw strikes Tuesday night, didn't walk anyone, allowed just a scratch infield hit and struck out a pair.

'Just some fine tuning in my ability to think a little more clearly,' Tillery said. 'Tap into my imagination a little bit. Try to use my stuff and trust the ability to pound the zone. I know it's there. That's what I had to get back to.'

The Kernels (26-19) scored only on a Jaylin Davis solo home run in the fourth, his Midwest League-leading 10th longball. Starting pitcher Domenick Carlini (2-3) was roughed up for all seven runs in five innings of work.

Rayder Ascanio led off the game with a home run just onto the short porch in left field for Clinton (17-25), adding two doubles after that. The teams play again Wednesday at noon.

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