CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – The West Michigan Whitecaps were unable to hold a pair of late leads as part of their eighth straight loss, falling 6-5 in ten innings to the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
West Michigan, who lost a pair of five-run leads twice in the series, lost a three-run advantage in the ninth inning on Sunday, leading to a Kernels walk-off win for the third time in the set. The ‘Caps are swept in a six-game series for the first time since the institution of the six-game format in 2021, while their eight-game losing streak is their longest losing skid since 2019, when they dropped nine in a row in early June of that season.
Sunday’s game entered the sixth inning tied at one before back-to-back doubles by Garrett Pennington and Bryce Rainer, and a run-scoring single by Juan Hernandez gave West Michigan a 3-1 lead. In the eighth, the Whitecaps scored what appeared to be an insurance run when Clayton Campbell blasted a solo home run to right-center field to extend the lead to 4-1. In the ninth, reliever Carlos Lequerica’s first pitch of the afternoon was blasted by catcher Eduardo Tait for a solo home run to trim the ‘Caps lead to 4-2. Later in the frame, a throwing error on a double steal attempt allowed a second run to score before Rayne Doncon’s two-out, game-tying RBI Single evened the score at four. In the tenth, a pair of wild pitches by Kernels righty Cole Peschl allowed Rainer to score a go-ahead run and give West Michigan a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the frame, a ‘Caps fielding error resulted in the Kernels collecting the tying run for the second straight frame before Danny De Andrade, whose walk-off home run won the first game of this series, drove a game-winning RBI Single to left field to give Cedar Rapids the stunning victory and six-game sweep.
The Whitecaps record drops to 12-15, while the Kernels climb over the .500 mark at 14-13. Peschl (1-0) collects the win in relief after allowing an unearned run in two innings, while Ryan Harvey (1-1) gets the loss for the ‘Caps after allowing the tying and winning runs to score in the tenth. Over the course of the six-game series, the Whitecaps went just 13-for-68 (.191) with runners in scoring position. Last season, the Whitecaps swept their six-game series during the regular season before pulling off a sweep in the postseason to win their seventh Midwest League Championship.
UP NEXT
The ‘Caps return home for a six-game series against the Dayton Dragons beginning Tuesday night at 6:35pm. J.P. Ortiz gets the start for Dayton against the Whitecaps Hayden Minton. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty and Nate Wangler begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 6:20pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’, and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, or listen to all the action on whitecapsbaseball.com.