Cedar Rapids Earns Seventh Win in a Row

DAVENPORT, IOWA - The Cedar Rapids Kernels defeated the Quad Cities River Bandits, 5-2, Sunday at Modern Woodmen Park. Cedar Rapids (11-7, 50-37) notched its season-high seventh consecutive win and clinched a series victory within this three-game set at Quad Cities (10-6, 53-29). Kai-Wei Teng picked up the win along with the ninth quality start in a row by Kernels pitchers.
Gabe Snyder's first-inning solo shot lifted the Kernels to an early lead before the River Bandits answered a few innings later. Snyder crushed a home run to right field in the opening stanza for a 1-0 Cedar Rapids advantage. Within the bottom of the fourth, an error allowed Cesar Salazar to come home and even the contest at 1-1.

RBI doubles on back-to-back pitches put Cedar Rapids in front by a 3-1 margin during the sixth. Snyder drew a two-out walk and scored from first base on a go-ahead double from Jared Akins. Chris Williams doubled on the next pitch to bring in Akins.
Both teams traded runs in the final frames with the Kernels securing a 5-2 edge. Trevor Casanova's eighth-inning sacrifice fly plated Akins, but Quad Cities tallied its own run later in the inning via Freudis Nova's RBI groundout. Akins produced a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and drove in Jacob Pearson for the last run.
Teng (3-0) highlighted a solid evening from the Cedar Rapids pitching staff. He allowed just one unearned run in seven innings with only 71 pitches recorded. The Kernels also improved to 6-0 in games when Teng takes the mound. Alex Schick yielded a run during the eighth but still received credit for his second hold. Moises Gomez fired a scoreless ninth inning and collected his sixth save.
Jose Bravo (1-2) was saddled with the loss for Quad Cities. Bravo gave up three runs in 5.2 innings of work. He led all pitchers Sunday with six strikeouts.
Monday's series finale is slated for 6:35 p.m. at Modern Woodmen Park. Cedar Rapids right-hander Austin Schulfer (6-4, 2.40) will face Quad Cities right-hander Felipe Tejada (4-0, 2.67), and Chris Kleinhans-Schulz will call the game on 1450 KMRY AM and 93.1 KMRY FM and also online at www.kmryradio.com and www.kernels.com.
Cedar Rapids will host its next homestand Wednesday, July 10 through Monday, July 15. Fans can purchase tickets for all Cedar Rapids Kernels home games by visiting www.kernels.com, going to the Kernels Ticket Office, or calling (319) 896-7560. The Kernels Ticket Office is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays. On Sundays when the Kernels have a home game, the Kernels Ticket Office will open at 11:00 a.m.