Stankiewicz shoves, Sabato homers in 5-3 Kernels win

Cedar Rapids, IA – Righthander John Stankiewicz retired 15 of 16 batters faced in his High-A debut while Aaron Sabato homered as part of a two-hit game, leading the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 5-3 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits on Thursday evening. Stankiewicz struck out seven and earned the win with 5.0 shutout frames out of the bullpen. Anthony Prato, Seth Gray and Sabato each supplied multi-hit games for the Kernels as they improve to 17-7, three games ahead in the West Division standings.

Quad Cities struck first with an unearned run in the opening frame, but Cedar Rapids responded quickly in the home half as Gray plated Christian Encarnacion-Strand with an RBI single poked through the right side. Wander Javier opened the second inning with a walk and stole second, scoring a bit later on a two-out error by the Quad Cities shortstop.

The River Bandits plated a pair in the top of the third to go up 3-2, but the Kernels’ bats again would not let the deficit stand for long. Prato singled into left then Encarnacion-Strand roped a double down the left field line. Sabato scored Prato with a groundout to short, then Gray rapped a grounder to the second baseman that was misplayed, allowing Encarnacion-Strand to cross home.

Stankiewicz entered in the fourth, proceeding to allow a lone baserunner on an infield single as he stymied Quad Cities through 5.0 scoreless and struck out seven.

Sabato added the final tally for Cedar Rapids with a solo shot out to left in the fifth inning.

Miguel Rodriguez earned the save by working around a single in a scoreless ninth.

Game four is set for Friday with a 6:35 p.m. CT first pitch at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

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