Del Rosario Wins 4-0 Shutout Thursday

DAVENPORT, IOWA - Eduardo Del Rosario tossed six scoreless innings Thursday at Modern Woodmen Park to lead the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 4-0 two-hit shutout victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits. Colton Davis and Hector Lujan completed the shutout, and the three Kernels pitchers combined to retire the final 16 Quad Cities batters in the game.
Del Rosario (7-3) earned his team-high seventh victory in the opening contest of the season's second half. He allowed just two hits and one walk over six shutout innings while adding seven strikeouts. Del Rosario also set down 13 of the last 14 batters that he faced including seven in a row to cap a quality start.

Davis and Lujan collectively tossed three perfect innings out of the bullpen to secure Cedar Rapids' 4-0 victory. Davis retired all six hitters that batted within the seventh and eighth innings and notched his third hold of the season. Lujan pitched in a non-save situation in the ninth and fired a quick frame that closed the shutout.
Two-out RBI singles in the third and seventh innings helped the Kernels (1-0, 40-31) build their lead. Ben Rortvedt doubled during the third and later scored on an RBI single from Jermaine Palacios. Brandon Lopez opened the seventh with a walk and stretched the Kernels' lead to 2-0 after Blankenhorn's run-scoring single.
Lewin Diaz and Blankenhorn added insurance runs in the final frames. Diaz clubbed his eighth home run with a leadoff solo shot in the eighth. During the ninth, Blankenhorn drove in Aaron Whitefield with an RBI groundout to push Cedar Rapids to its winning margin of 4-0.
Forrest Whitley (2-3) took the loss for Quad Cities (0-1, 37-32) in Thursday's series opener. Whitley allowed one run in four innings of work and matched Del Rosario with seven strikeouts for the game high.
Game two of this four-game series will be at 6:35 p.m. Friday. The probable pitchers for Friday's tilt are Kernels right-hander Sean Poppen (5-1, 2.80) and River Bandits right-hander Yohan Ramirez (0-1, 4.02). Catch all of the action with Chris Kleinhans-Schulz on 1450 KMRY AM and 93.1 KMRY FM and also online at www.kmryradio.com and www.kernels.com.
The Kernels' next homestand starts Monday, June 26 and runs through Thursday, June 29. Fans can purchase tickets for all 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 Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. On Sundays when the Kernels have a home game, the Kernels Ticket Office will open at 11:00 a.m.