Doncon’s Two Home Runs Slugs the Kernels to a Split in the July 3rd Twin Bill at Quad Cities

DAVENPORT, IA - After Quad Cities rallied from two down in the bottom of the seventh to walk off and beat the Kernels 3-2 in game one, Rayne Doncon blasted two home runs and drove in all five runs in a 5-0 game two win as the Kernels and River Bandits play to a split in the July 3 doubleheader.

In game one, the Kernels got a strong start from Jeremy Lee. In his second straight outing without allowing an earned run, Lee went five scoreless, allowing just four hits while striking out five.

With Lee posting zeros, Gabriel Gonzalez and the Kernels offense jumped out to an early lead. In the top first inning, Payton Eeles singled, stole second and moved to third on a Ricardo Olivar base hit. A batter later, he came home to score on a Gonzalez sac fly to put Cedar Rapids on to 1-0.

That stayed the score until the top of the sixth inning. To begin the frame, Gonzalez belted his first home run back off the Injured List, a solo shot to left to double the Kernels lead to 2-0.

Down by two in the bottom of the seventh inning, Dustin Dickerson singled to begin the frame. After two quick outs, he was left on first for Jack Pineda, who put two runners in scoring position with a double. With runners on second and third, Carter Jensen tied the game on a two-run single and moved up to second on the throw to the plate. As the winning run, Jensen scored from second on a Jared Dickey walk-off single to lift Quad Cites to a 3-2 game one win.

In game two, Rayne Doncon got revenge on the game one loss right away. In the top of the first inning, Eeles singled on the first pitch of the game, and on the second pitch, Doncon blasted a two-run shot to put the Kernels suddenly on top 2-0.

In the third, Doncon struck again. With two outs, back-to-back singles by Eeles and Dillon Tatum put two more on for Doncon, who smacked his second home run of the night, a three-run shot, to up the Cedar Rapids lead to 5-0.

With an early lead, Mike Paredes tossed up zeros on the mound. In his second start of the year, Paredes matched a season-high with 3.1 innings, not allowing a run on four hits with five strikeouts.

Behind Paredes, the Kernels' bullpen took them the rest of the way. Jarret Whorff grabbed the win, not allowing across his 2.2 innings, and Juan Mendez slammed the door on the Kernels' 5-0 win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

The split sets the Kernels at 45-31 on the season and 8-4 in the second half. Cedar Rapids returns home for July 4th tomorrow at 6:35 with Ty Langenberg on the mound opposite Quad Cities’ Hunter Owen.