CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – The West Michigan Whitecaps got into an early hole and were unable to recover, resulting in an 8-4 loss to the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The Whitecaps, who were sitting alone in first place in the Midwest League Eastern Division just one week ago, have watched their record sink below .500 to 12-13 with their sixth straight defeat.
The Kernels scored in pairs to open the contest, with two runs in each of the first three innings. Brandon Winokur’s RBI Single highlighted a two-run first before a two-run double by Khadim Diaw one inning later to extend the lead to 4-1. In the third, a two-run homer by Jay Thomason pushed the Cedar Rapids advantage to 6-1, opening up an early lead against Whitecaps starter Rayner Castillo. Despite a two-run double by Samuel Gil to cut the deficit to 6-3 in the fifth, the Kernels answered back with a two-run home run from Jaime Ferrer to expand the lead to 8-3. The ‘Caps tallied a single run in the eighth, but it was too little, too late as the ‘Caps fell for the sixth straight contest.
The Whitecaps record drops under .500 to 12-13, while the Kernels now hold the same record at 12-13. Cedar Rapids righty Christian Becerra (2-0) earns the win with two scoreless frames of relief, while Castillo (0-3) gets saddled with his third loss after giving up six runs in just 3.2 frames. For the second straight night, the ‘Caps went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps and Kernels play the penultimate contest of this six-game series on Saturday night beginning at 7:05pm. Pitchers Troy Watson and Jason Doktorczyk get the starts for the ‘Caps and Kernels. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 6:50pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’, and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, or listen to all the action on whitecapsbaseball.com.