Clayton Homers, Langenberg Dominates, Kernels Top Captains 7-5

Eastlake, OH - Matthew Clayton blasted a grand slam, and Ty Langenberg notched six scoreless innings as the Kernels opened a 7-0 lead they would never lose in a 7-5 win over Lake County Wednesday afternoon.

After falling behind early in the loss on Tuesday, the Kernels climbed on the board first on Wednesday. In the top of the second, Rubel Cespedes opened the inning with a double, and a batter later, he came home to score on a Misael Urbina base hit to lift Cedar Rapids on top 1-0.

In the third, the Kernels doubled the lead. Walker Jenkins opened the frame with a triple, and a batter later, Gabriel Gonzalez made it 2-0 with an RBI single.

That stayed the score all the way until the top of the sixth, thanks to the outing by Ty Langenberg. The Iowa native posted one of his best starts as a Kernel, not allowing a run on just two hits across six innings of work with three strikeouts.

With Langenberg shutting down the Captains on the mound, the Kernels’ bats blew it open in the sixth. Three straight walks opened the inning, and with the bases loaded and no one out, Kyle Hess increased the Cedar Rapids edge to 3-0 with an RBI base hit. The next batter, Matthew Clayton, then blew the game wide open with a grand slam, his first high-A home run, to increase the lead to 7-0.

Down by seven, the Captains scored twice in the eighth and three more times in the ninth, but it was not enough as Rafael Marcano came on to pick up the final three outs and lock down the Cedar Rapids 7-5 win.

The win is the Kernels' second on their 12-game road trip and improves Cedar Rapids to 63-57 on the season and 26-30 in the second half. Game three of the series in Lake County is set for Thursday at 6:00 with John Klein on the mound opposite Yorman Gomez.