Bees Take Another Series

BURLINGTON, Iowa - The Burlington Bees' (52-53, 20-16) pitching stole the show and dominated the Cedar Rapids Kernels (43-63, 11-25) en route to a 2-to-0 shut out win. The Bees have now won six of the seven rubber match games they've played in the second half.

Tanner Peters made his sixth start for the Bees looking for his first win in the 2012 season. The skinny right-hander actually lost the opening game of the Bees' six-game home stand, but was much more effective in the finale.

Peters didn't have perfect command and fell behind several batters early, but the right-hander never surrendered a walk and battled his way through six innings. Peters pitched six innings and only allowed four hits. He didn't yield a run, had three strikeouts and went six innings for the third consecutive start. Peters (1-4) earned his first win since September 2, 2011 when he was pitching in Short Season ball.

The offense only went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, which wasn't much better than Sunday's 2-for-12 effort. In fact, the Bees loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third, but failed to score. They did the same thing in the first inning of Sunday's game.

Luckily already had a 1-to-0 lead by the third inning after scoring the first run of the game in the bottom of the first. Bobby Crocker hit a one-out single into left field and stole second base to give Rashun Dixon an RBI opportunity. Dixon struck out and the Bees were on their way to squandering a chance to take an early until Douglas Landaeta delivered a two-out RBI single.

The Bees scored again in the fifth inning after Crocker hit another single with one out and stole second base for the second time. Crocker tried to steal third base with Dixon at the plate, which drew the third baseman out of the position and allowed Dixon to single into left for an RBI. The Bees led 2-to-0 after five.

The pitching was strong in game three and only allowed the Kernels to three at bats with runners in scoring position. Raul Alcantara pitched two scoreless innings out of the pen and Jonathan Joseph earned his ninth save in nine attempts after striking out the final batter of the rubber match. The Bees have won eight of their 12 series in the second half the season.

The Bees head to Grand Chute, Wisconsin to play the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the first game of a four-game trip. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday. Chris Lamb (0-0) gets the start for the Bees.

For more information on Bees baseball call (319) 754-5705 or visit www.gobees.com.