Peoria Holds Cedar Rapids to Three Hits, Beats Kernels 5-1

Cedar Rapids, IA – The pitching combination of Alex Cornwell and Leonardo Taveras dominated the Cedar Rapids bats Saturday night as the Chiefs hold the Kernels to a season-low three hits en route to a 5-1 win.

Cornwell got the start for Peoria and made his best start of the season. After allowing eight hits in each of his previous three starts, the southpaw allowed just three hits and punched out five allowing just a single run on his way to his fourth win of the season.

Cornwell’s offense got the lefty an early lead to work with on one swing. With two outs in the top of the second, Francisco Hernandez crushed his first home run of the season over the right field wall to make it 1-0 Chiefs.

Peoria added two more runs in the third to grow the lead to three. Elijah Cabell took ball four to start the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch; after a flyout, Nathan Church ripped an RBI single to make it 2-0. An Aaron McKeithan single moved Church to third, and then a Jimmy Crooks single brought him in to put Peoria up 3-0.

In the sixth inning, the Chiefs' lead got extended to four. After a single and a double, a Ramon Mendoza groundout drove home a run opening it up to a four-run game.

Cedar Rapids got on the board for the first time in the bottom half of that sixth frame. After singles by Jeferson Morales and Ben Ross, an error on a ground ball to first base by Emmanuel Rodriguez scored Morales to make it 4-1.

After that error, Cornwell left the game, and Taveras came on out of the bullpen. The right-hander went the rest of the way for Peoria, continuing his stellar stretch on the mound. Taveras went the final 3.2 innings, not allowing a hit while striking out eight of the thirteen batters he faced to earn the save.

The score ended in a 5-1 final after McKeithan added to the Peoria lead in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI double to put the Chiefs up by four and settle the score at 5-1, which would be the final.

The win for Peoria (20-18) sets up a chance for the Chiefs to split the six-game series with a win in the series finale tomorrow, while Cedar Rapids (21-17) tries to win its third straight series with a victory. The Kernels send out Alejandro Hidalgo to try to win the set against Iowa native Ian Bedell at 1:05.