Error Opens Door for Kernels in Ninth

Clinton, IA - A fielding error by Clinton second-baseman Stefen Romero put the tying run on base for Cedar Rapids in the ninth and RBI singles by Jean Almanzar and Rolando Gomez put the Kernels ahead as they handed the LumberKings a 4-3 loss on Wednesday night at Alliant Energy Field. Mike McGee went 1-for-2 with two RBI, but his go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh failed to hold up.

The Kernels scored a run in the first inning off left-hander Anthony Fernandez as Jeremy Cruz laced a two-out double off the wall in left-center and scored on a single to center by Ricky Alvarez. The Kings quickly took a lead of their own in the second, scoring twice off right-hander P.J. Jang. After a Romero single, Kalian Sams reached on fielder's choice, took second on a wild pitch and scored on McGee's double just inside the first-base bag. Jetsy Extrano followed with a two-out flare to center that dropped to score McGee.

Fernandez gave up a tying run in the fifth inning as Almanzar and Carlos Lugo reached on back-to-back one-out singles and Chris Giovinazzo beat out a fielder's choice to first on a potential double-play ball to score Almanzar.

The LumberKings pulled back ahead in the seventh on a suddenly-wild Jang. Romero and Sams were both hit by pitches, forcing Jang's removal. Left-hander Dakota Robinson came on and induced a groundout from Tim Morris moving the runners to second and third. McGee then lined a two-strike pitch to left-fielder Justin Bass, deep enough for Romero to tag and score.

Fernandez held that 3-2 lead through a career-high 7.1 innings, yielding two runs on seven hits and striking out seven in his third quality start in his last four outings. Right-hander Keli'i Zablan pitched out of trouble in the eighth, stranding two inherited runners.

But Zablan couldn't escape a jam in the ninth as he attempted to close out the game. David Harris sent a sharp grounder towards Romero at second, but the ball got tangled up in his feet allowing Harris to reach. Brandon Decker then lined a single out of the reach of a diving Romero, putting runners at the corners. Almanzar smacked a single into right-center to tie the game and send Decker to third, but was thrown out attempting to grab second base by quick-thinking shortstop Anthony Phillips.

After Zablan (L, 0-1) hit Lugo to put runners at the corners, right-hander Jessie Nava was brought on. Nava struck out Giovinazzo for the second out but watched as his 2-2 pitch to Gomez landed in center field scoring Decker. He then struck out Cruz, ending the inning.

The Kings, suddenly down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, faced right-hander Daniel Tillman. Tillman (S, 6) struck out Mickey Wiswall amongst his three-straight outs to finish the game. That made Robinson (W, 5-1) a winner after his 2.0 scoreless innings.

McGee had Clinton's only extra-base hit with his third double, just one of three hits for the LumberKings all night. Cruz finished 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a run scored for the Kernels, who have won three-straight games.

The LumberKings (7-6, 31-52) and Kernels (6-7, 38-45) continue the series with game two at Alliant Energy Field tomorrow night, first pitch scheduled for 7:00 PM. Right-hander Taijuan Walker (2-4, 3.05) starts for Clinton against Cedar Rapids' left-hander Max Russell (4-7, 3.73). Listen to the game on AM 1390 KCLN in Clinton or live on the web at 1390kcln.com.