Culpepper, Yanez Combine for Eight Perfect Innings as Cedar Rapids Tops Peoria 8-5

Peoria, IL - C.J. Culpepper did not allow a base runner across six perfect innings, and Gabriel Yanez posted two 1-2-3 innings behind him as the Kernels took an 8-0 lead, they would never lose in an 8-5 win over Peoria Thursday night.

In his sixth start of the season, C.J. Culpepper was dominant in his best start as a professional. Culpepper retired all 18 batters he faced, striking out eight, including a streak of four in a row, and pitched six perfect innings in a shutout effort.

With Culpepper dominating on the mound, Cedar Rapids got on the board first in the fifth inning. With one out in the frame, Jose Salas ripped a double down the left field line. The next batter, Dalton Shuffield, walked, and after the pair stole third and second respectively, they both came home to score on a Luke Keaschall two-run single to put the Kernels on top 2-0.

In the sixth, the Kernels blew it open. A Rubel Cespedes walk and a Rayne Doncon single put two runners on to begin the inning. After a strikeout and a fielder’s choice yielded two outs, Salas blasted a three-run home run over the wall in right to grow the Cedar Rapids lead to 5-0.

In the top of the seventh, the offense continued. After Keoni Cavaco was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, singles by Keaschall and Ricardo Olivar loaded the bases with no one out. Two batters later, Doncon extended the Cedar Rapids lead to 7-0 with a two-run base hit, and the next batter, Jay Harry, made it 8-0 with a run-scoring single.

After Culpepper exited the mound, Gabriel Yanez entered for his twelfth appearance of the season and picked up right where Culpepper left off. The southpaw struck out the first batter he faced and retired all six that came to the plate against him, keeping Peoria without a base runner into the bottom of the ninth inning.

With a perfect game on the line entering the bottom of the ninth, the leadoff batter, Joshua Baez, walked to end the perfect game bid. The next batter, William Sullivan, then singled to end the Kernels’ no-bit bid in the ninth inning. The Chiefs went on to score five runs in the ninth frame to cut the Kernels lead to 8-5, but Cedar Rapids hung on to strikeout Brody Moore to end the game in an 8-5 win.

The win improves the Kernels to 26-15 on the season and is Cedar Rapids’ ninth win in ten tries. Game four of the series in Peoria is set for tomorrow night at 7:05, with Christian MacLeod on the mound against Quinn Matthews.