Kernels outlast Beloit in offensive affair, 23-16

BELOIT, Wis. - Adam Brett Walker had two home runs and seven RBIs for the second time this season to help the Cedar Rapids Kernels outlast Beloit, 23-16, in a Midwest League offensive affair Sunday.

Walker also collected a pair of doubles, scoring four runs. He went 4-for-6.

Every Kernels position player had at least one hit and scored at least one run. Byron Buxton also had four hits, scored four runs and drove in four.

Cedar Rapids (24-10) had 19 hits and drew nine walks against five Beloit pitchers, including infielder Sam Roberts, who pitched the ninth. The Kernels had a 22-3 lead in the sixth inning.

Beloit had 19 hits, scoring six times in both the sixth and ninth innings. Reliever Alex Muren (1-0) got his first Kernels victory, allowing a run in 2 1/3 innings.

The teams have the rubber match of their three-game series Monday afternoon. Cedar Rapids then begins a homestand Tuesday, facing the Burlington Bees.

Here is the game boxscore.

The Kernels are expected to receive catcher Michael Quesada from Minnesota Twins extended spring training in time for Tuesday's game against Burlington. Quesada, 23, hit .234 in 18 games last season for Rookie-level Elizabethton.

A 24th-round pick of Minnesota in the 2010 draft from Sierra Junior College in California, Tuesday is when Quesada will have officially served a 50-game MLB suspension for testing positive for Methylexaneamine.