Cedar Rapids Kernels Baseball

Kernels postponed at Burlington

BURLINGTON - The Kernels game at Community Field in Burlington versus the Bees was postponed due to rain Tuesday.

The game will be made up May 15 as part of a doubleheader in Cedar Rapids. The first game will start at 5:30 p.m.

The Kernels (12-5) have a scheduled off-day Wednesday and will return home Thursday to begin a three-game series against Great Lakes, the Midwest League affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thursday's game begins at 6:35 p.m.

The Kernels will be home from April 25 through April 30 before hitting the road from May 1-13.

Berrios gets win in Kernels debut

BURLINGTON - A lot of 18-year-old guys are trying to find a date for the senior prom these days or worrying about how to pay for college next year.

Not Jose Berrios.

He's already got $1.55 million from the Minnesota Twins and he's pitching in the Class A Midwest League for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. And he can probably get all the dates he wants.

Berrios pitched five innings in his debut for the Kernels Monday night and got the victory in an 8-4 triumph over the Burlington Bees before 727 fans at Community Field.

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Duffey enjoys starting (and winning) for Kernels

BURLINGTON - Tyler Duffey had a fancy vibrating gadget with all sorts of wires and sensors attached to his right arm after he pitched a strong game for the Cedar Rapids Kernels Sunday.

He was all smiles.

The machine was helping remove all the "bad stuff" that collects in a pitcher's arm after he throws for an extended period of time, and that's exactly what the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder righthander did for the Kernels Sunday.

Duffey tossed seven strong innings and got the victory as Cedar Rapids trimmed Burlington, 3-2, before a skimpy gathering that was announced as 531 fans on a sunny day in southeast Iowa.

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Berrios creating buzz with Kernels

BURLINGTON - Jose Berrios graciously signed a few autographs as he stood outside the Cedar Rapids Kernels locker room at Community Field in Burlington Sunday.

He was dressed in street clothes, rather than a uniform, but the fans knew who he was and wanted his name on a shiny new baseball and a scrap of paper.

The line of autograph hounds might grow after he actually pitches for the Kernels, and that's scheduled to happen Monday when Cedar Rapids and Burlington meet in Game 2 of their three-game series at Community Field at 6:30 p.m.

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Kernels pound Peoria, 11-2

PEORIA, Ill. – The Cedar Rapids Kernels set season highs for runs and hits in an 11-2 pounding of the Peoria Chiefs on Saturday afternoon at Peria Chiefs Stadium.

The Kernels collected 17 hits with Drew Leachman collecting four safeties.  Romy Jimenez drove in four runs and had the Kernels' only extra-base hit. They scored six runs in the first inning and five more in the fourth to cruise to the victory and avoid a sweep of the three-game series by the Chiefs.

The Kernels sent 12 hitters to the plate and scored six runs in the first inning. All five hits in the inning were singles and all resulted in RBIs. Jorge Polanco, Travis Harrison, Leachman, Jhonatan Arias and Niko Goodrum collected the hits. Jimenez added an RBI sacrifice fly.

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Kernels fall at Peoria on frigid Friday

PEORIA, Ill. - Peoria topped the Kernels, 4-1, Friday afternoon at frigid Peoria Chiefs Stadium in a Midwest League ballgame.

Temperatures were in the 30s, winds were gusting as much as 25 mph and snow flurries even fell from the sky.

Byron Buxton gave the Kernels a 1-0 lead in the third inning with an RBI triple to right-center that scored Jairo Rodriguez. That was one of only four hits the Kernels collected off Chiefs starter Kurt Heyer.

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Kernels drubbed by Peoria, 13-4

PEORIA, Ill. - The Peoria Chiefs scored all their runs in the fifth and sixth innings and cruised to a 13-4 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels Thursday night before 1,191 fans at Peoria Chiefs Stadium.

The Chiefs scored nine runs in the fifth inning, sending 13 men to the plate.

Peoria was without a base hit until the fifth, but the Chiefs were rolling once the first one was allowed. After the first single, nine straight men reached base and Peoria grabbed a 9-3 lead.

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Berrios joins Kernels

The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Minnesota Twins announced Thursday that right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios has joined the Kernels from extended spring training in Fort Myers, Fla. Also, outfielder Drew Leachman was activated from the disabled list, pitcher Josue Montanez was assigned to extended spring training, and pitcher Matt Tomshaw was placed on the 7-day disabled list.

The Twins selected Berrios in the compensation round (32nd overall) of the 2012 First Year Player Draft out of Papa Juan HS in Bayamon, PR. He split time last season between the GCL Twins and Elizabethton where he posted a combined 3-0 record and 1.17 ERA in 11 games (four starts). In 30 2/3 innings he allowed 15 hits and four runs (all earned) with 49 strikeouts and just four walks.

Leachman injured his shoulder in the Kernels' first game of the season and is 0-for-5 with one RBI.

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Top prospect Berrios headed to Kernels

Jose Berrios, a top pitching prospect of the Minnesota Twins, is expected to join the Cedar Rapids Kernels as soon as Thursday when the Kernels open a six-game road trip at Peoria.

Berrios was a supplemental first-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in the June 2012 amateur draft out of Papa Juan XXIII High School in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He was the 32nd pick overall in the draft. He signed with the Twins for a reported $1.55 million bonus shortly after being drafted.

Berrios, a right-hander, won't turn 19 until May 27. Yet he gained valuable experience this spring pitching for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. Puerto Rico finished second in the tournament. Berrios made two appearances of one inning each out of Puerto Rico's bullpen and struck out New York Yankees star second baseman Robinson Cano swinging in one of those appearances.

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