Kernels top Burlington in Game 2, 4-1

CEDAR RAPIDS - Manaurys Correa is known simply as ‘Pollo.' His friends in the Dominican Republic started calling him that a couple of years ago, and it's stuck.

You even hear people in the stands at Memorial Stadium yelling encouragement via his nickname.

“Everybody calls me ‘Pollo' because they say my face looks like a chicken,” the gregarious Cedar Rapids Kernels pitcher said with a smile. “I don't know why. I like it.”

Correa was absolutely dinero (money) in Game 2 of the Midwest League's Western Division championship series Sunday afternoon, pitching 7 2/3 innings of beautiful baseball to help the Kernels keep their season alive via a 4-1 win over the Burlington Bees. It comes down to a deciding Game 3 tonight at Memorial Stadium, thanks primarily to ‘Pollo.'

"I think that was a great game,” Correa said. “I knew I had to throw strikes down in the zone, and that's what I did.”

“He was awesome,” Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello said. “I can't tell you how many times he has come up big. He's deserved it. He has worked his tail off, Manny (pitching coach Brandon Emanuel) has done a great job with him ... That's just really neat that he stepped up again.”

A sinker-slider guy, Correa was 1-3 with a 6.46 earned run average in four regular-season starts against Burlington, but was way better than those numbers Sunday. He gave up a run in the third but that was it, inducing 14 ground ball outs and giving up just five hits, two in the eighth.

Reliever Andrew Taylor finished up, striking out cleanup hitter Jason Taylor with two on and two outs in the eighth, then pitching around a one-out double in the ninth for the save.

“That was awesome,” said Kernels outfielder Tyson Auer. “Correa's pitched that way his last couple of starts. It's great when he takes it late into the game and can give the bullpen a rest. That's all we can ask for - throw strikes and get outs.”

It was Auer who came up with the game's most timely hit, doubling over third baseman Jason Morales with two outs in the fifth to bring home Darwin Perez with what proved to be the winning run. He then homered to left-center in the seventh for the final margin.

“My last at-bat in Burlington (Saturday), I hit the ball well,” said Auer, who was 1-for-13 in the playoffs going into Sunday's game. “I just tried to build off that. I was not trying to do too much. I knew I would come out of the slump eventually.”

It'll be a pair of lefties starting tonight: Ivor Hodgson (3-1, 3.98 in regular season) for Burlington and Will Smith (10-5, 3.76 for the Kernels). Hodgson spent much of this season at Rookie-level Idaho Falls, pitching just scoreless relief inning against Cedar Rapids.

Smith was 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in the regular season against the Bees.