Brett Doe did not make the trip north to Cedar Rapids out of spring training with his friends and teammates when they broke camp to start the 2015 baseball season, a fact that was “pretty disheartening,” Doe said Saturday.

A couple of weeks into the season, however, Doe got the call to join the Kernels when Jorge Fernandez went on the Disabled List with a concussion.

Since then, Doe has hit .333 and has stepped in to make a critical contribution to the Kernels’ offense as they attempt to zero in on a top-two finish in the Midwest League’s Western Division first-half standings and the postseason berth that comes with it.

The Kernels took a step in the right direction Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over Lansing at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Doe has made an important contribution to the Kernels since joining the club.

“It’s been huge, to be honest with you,” Manager Jake Mauer said. “He just hadn’t gotten much of an opportunity early. Now he’s getting a chance and with his swing, how short it is and compact, it works, there’s no doubt about it.

"It’s just a matter of him getting an opportunity, really. He’s making the most of it.”

Doe was the Minnesota Twins’ 38th round draft pick in 2014, so he’s aware that he’s got an uphill battle to reach the big leagues.

Doe was primarily an infielder during his junior college and college career, but the Twins are making a catcher out of him while he still gets time at other positions to keep his hot bat in the lineup.

The reason for the position change was simple, according to Doe. Pro scouts spelled things out clearly to him during the scouting process.

“I’d show up places and run my 60-yard dashes and scouts would kind of hold their breath and kind of go, ‘Ohhh, not what we want,’” Doe recounted Saturday. He said the scouts told him, “The only chance you may have is if you catch because you don’t have to run.”

Doe got his first opportunity to catch during his junior year at Baylor University, though it took a bit of truth-stretching on his part to get that opportunity.

“A couple of our catchers went down with injuries so I kind of mentioned it, ‘Yeah, I caught in junior college,’ which wasn’t entirely truthful, but I wanted to stay in the lineup," he said. "So I went back there and they said, ‘OK, you’re catching this weekend.’ That started it.”

Doe had an RBI single in four trips to the plate while manning first base and batting cleanup Saturday for the Kernels as they broke a three-game losing streak, topping the Lansing Lugnuts before 3,316 fans.

The Kernels reduced their “magic number” for clinching a playoff spot to 4.

The first four batters the Kernels sent to the plate in the home half of the first inning Saturday all hit safely and three of them came around to score before the inning was over. That gave the home team a 3-0 lead it would not surrender.

Lansing scored its only run in the top of the ninth inning.

Edgar Corcino started things off for Cedar Rapids with a triple into the right-field corner and Nick Gordon’s bounding single up the middle put the Kernels on the board. Zack Larson doubled and Doe knocked in Gordon with an RBI single. Larson scored on a wild pitch by Lugnuts starter Jesus Tinoco.

While the Kernels hitters were jumping out to a lead, starting pitcher Zack Tillery (4-1) was holding the Lugnuts hitters in check.

Lansing entered the game leading the Midwest League’s Eastern Division standings, largely on the strength of a league-leading .272 team batting average, but you wouldn’t know it by the way Tillery and his bullpen treated the visitors. The Lugnuts collected just three hits off Kernels pitching.

Lansing did not record its first hit off Tillery until a fourth-inning single by Lugnuts first baseman Rowdy Tellez.

Tillery gave up just one more hit, a sixth inning double, during his six innings on the mound for the Kernels. He walked one batter and struck out five.

Tillery was appreciative of the early lead he got from his teammates.

“We came together (offensively) in the first and they gave good run support and I just wanted to back them up and pitch my game,” the right-hander said.

Miles Nordgren relieved Tillery in the seventh inning. He gave up just one single in two shutout innings. Cameron Booser pitched the ninth inning and notched his sixth save, despite surrendering an unearned run.

Gordon and Brian Navarreto each had a pair of hits for the Kernels.

The same two teams will face off at 2:05 p.m. Sunday at Perfect Game Field.

LANSING (1): Locastro, 2b, 2 1 0 0, Urena, dh, 3 0 0 0, McBroom, ph/dh, 0 0 0 0, Tellez, 1b, 3 0 2 0, Leblebijian, ss, 4 0 0 0, Davis, cf, 3 0 0 0, Heidt, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Reeves, c, 3 0 0 0, Almonte, rf, 3 0 0 0, Carlson, lf, 3 0 1 0. Totals 27 1 3 0.

KERNELS (3): Corcino, cf, 4 1 1 0, Gordon, ss, 4 1 2 1, Larson, lf, 4 1 1 0, Doe, 1b, 4 0 1 1, Murphy, rf, 4 0 0 0, Fernandez, dh, 3 0 0 0, Kelly, 2b, 3 0 1 0, Navarreto, c, 3 0 2 0, Valera, 3b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 31 3 8 2.

Lansing    000 000 001 - 1 3 1
Kernels    300 000 00x - 3 8 1

Tinoco, Isaacs (8) and Reeves. Tillery, Nordgren (7), Booser (9) and Navarreto. W - Tillery (4-1). L - Tinoco (1-4). S - Booser (6). 2B - Carlson (11), Larson (13), Navarreto (3). 3B - Corcino (3). E - Tinoco (2), Gordon (9). T - 2:05. A - 3,316.