Kernels starters struggling, but offense doing OK

These aren't technically the dog days of the minor league baseball season, but you can definitely hear some barking in the distance. Maybe that's why this turn through the normally stingy Cedar Rapids Kernels starting pitching rotation was kind of dicey.

The starting five has been one of the biggest strengths of this 2009 Kernels team, but it's a young and/or inexperienced group, and that sometimes catches up to you this time of the summer.

Will Smith made it five games in a row without a quality start for Cedar Rapids on Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The good news was the lefty still picked up his eighth win, as the Kernels simply outscored Dayton, 11-7, before 2,037 fans.

Have some guys hit a wall? That question was posed to pitching coach Brandon Emanuel, who watched his starters give up 21 runs in 21 1/3 innings the past five games.

"We're going to sit down and have another talk tomorrow. I need to know how they feel," Emanuel said. "I know they all want the ball, know they want to get their work in. But we've got some young pitchers, and it's their first full seasons. That half-season mark on up is when they usually get a little tired.

"They've lost a little bit of their crispness. You can tell it's a little wear and tear. It's a bump we've got to get over."

The Kernels' rotation consists of 19-year-old Tyler Chatwood, 20-year-old Manuarys Correa, the just-turned-20 Smith, 21-year-old Ryan Chaffee and "old man" Manuel Flores, 22. Emanuel said both Chatwood and Chaffee, who didn't pitch at all professionally last season because of injuries, are being limited to no more than five innings per start the rest of the way.

Smith said his arm feels fine, blaming Sunday's subpar outing (five innings, seven hits, six runs, two earned) on a sudden sore back.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal that we're young," Smith said. "That just gives us a little more energy, I guess you could say. It's no big deal."

The Kernels (52-35, 12-5 second half) rallied from a 5-0 hole, scoring five tying runs in the fourth and two go-ahead runs in the fifth.

All nine starters had at least one hit. Dayton pitchers walked eight batters and hit another.

The teams play the final game of their three-game series at noon today.