Jose Salas' Two Home Runs Not Enough, Chiefs Top Kernels 13-10

Cedar Rapids, IA - Jose Salas crushed a pair of home runs and drove in five Tuesday night, but it was not enough as Peoria grabbed game one of the series in Cedar Rapids 13-10.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Kernels got the scoring started. Khadim Diaw reached with one out, then moved up to second on a Nate Baez single. With two outs, Jose Salas lined a base hit up the middle to score Diaw and make it 1-0 Cedar Rapids. The next batter, Misael Urbina, hit an infield single to plate Baez to up the lead to 2-0.

In the top of the third, Peoria answered with a Miguel Villarroel solo home run, making it 2-1 Kernels.

In the home half of the third inning, Cedar Rapids got that run back. Brandon Winokur reached on an error, then stole second base. Gabriel Gonzalez singled to left, and on the play, Winokur moved up to third. Diaw then hit an RBI groundout to score Winokur and up the Kernels' lead to 3-1.

In the top of the fourth, Peoria got one back. Joshua Baez tripled and scored on an RBI groundout two batters later to cut the Kernels' lead down to 3-2.

In the last of the fourth, the Kernels added two more runs. Salas led off the inning with a home run off the right field foul pole to up the Cedar Rapids edge to 4-2. An Urbina triple then set up Kaelen Culpepper, who doubled into right field to plate Urbina to extend the lead to 5-2.

In the road half of the fifth inning, Peoria answered again. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases to start the frame, then a run scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3. One batter later, an RBI fielder’s choice brought another run home to make it a 5-4 game.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Kernels grabbed their largest lead of the night. With one out, Diaw singled into center, then Baez walked. A Jaime Ferrer single and an error scored Diaw to make it 6-4 Cedar Rapids. One batter later, Salas launched his second home run of the game, a three-run shot, to pad the Kernels' lead to 9-4.

In the top of the sixth, Peoria got a run back. A Brayden Jobert single led off the inning, then he moved up to second on a groundout and scored on a Michael Curialle single to make it 9-5 Kernels.

In the top of the eighth inning, Peoria completely flipped the script and posted an eight-run go-ahead inning. The Chiefs sent 13 batters to the plate, collected nine hits, just one for extra bases, and scored eight times to jump ahead 13-9, a lead they would never lose.

The Kernels answered with a home run in the bottom of the eighth. A solo homer from Winokur cut it back to a three-run game, but that would be the end of the scoring on the night as the Chiefs hung on for the 13-10 win.

With the loss, the Kernels drop to 20-13 on the season and 3-3 in the season series with the Chiefs. Game two of the homestand is set for Wednesday at 12:05 with Tanner Hall on the mound for the Kernels opposite Hancel Rincon.