CEDAR RAPIDS — Titletown, baby.
For the first time in almost three decades.
Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a second-inning grand slam, the Cedar Rapids Kernels built an early 5-0 lead and went on to beat Great Lakes, 7-6, in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Midwest League Championship Series on Wednesday night in front of a boisterous crowd of just over 2,000 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Great Lakes earlier Wednesday won the completion of a rain-suspended Game 2 from Tuesday night, 4-2, to force a seven-inning true championship game.
“Not many words,” said Kernels outfielder Kala’i Rosario, named Wednesday as the 2023 Midwest League Most Valuable Player. “We’ve been thinking about this for the past week. I mean, it’s been a struggle, we lost the first game of the playoffs. But we knew what we were capable of. Just getting the job done is a huge relief. I’m excited to celebrate with my teammates. I know everyone is ready to go home and stuff, but I think we’re going to try and feel this moment as long as we can.”
That moment, or moments, included spraying each other with bottles of sparkling cider on the field during a massive celebration that began with a victory dog pile around the pitcher’s mound when Rodriguez secured the final out with a catch of a Griffin Lockwood-Powell fly ball. A batter earlier, Dalton Rushing hit a two-run home run against Kernels relief pitcher John Stankiewicz to make it a one-run game.
Hey, no one said it was going to be an easy deal to secure Cedar Rapids’ first MWL title since 1994. As Rosario mentioned, the Kernels lost their first playoff game at Peoria, 4-3, but came back to win the next two and capture the Eastern Division championship.
That came despite a very untimely stomach flu bug that bit a lot of the team. Cedar Rapids won Sunday’s Game 1 of the finals at Great Lakes with a five-run ninth inning, 10-6.
Then came the rain, the suspended game and the suspended game loss. Yet this club clutched up just as it has all season.
The Kernels finished the regular season with the best record in full-season minor league baseball (82-50). It was only appropriate they won the Midwest League title.
“I’m very happy right now. I’m happy to be celebrating with my teammates,” Rodriguez said, through Kernels coach Jeison Perez. “I want to thank God for that (grand slam). It was a good pitch to hit, I was waiting on it, and I put a good swing on it.”
“It’s been an amazing season,” said Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman. “To cap it off with a championship like this for Cedar Rapids, when it’s been almost 30 years, it’s an incredible feeling. I’ve been here for a while now, and I know we’ve been in the playoffs but never gotten over that hump to win. Exciting time, for sure.”
This was the 10th straight playoff appearance for the Kernels as a Minnesota Twins affilliate. It was the fourth season as skipper of the Kernels for Dinkelman, who was the team’s hitting coach for three seasons prior.
He, his wife and daughter actually lived in town for a few years before moving last year to the St. Louis area, where they have family. Dinkelman’s “billet family” this season was his sister Lindsay Alexander and her husband, Todd.
Lindsay is the head trainer for the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball team.
This was Dinkelman’s 17th season in the Twins organization as a player, coach or manager. He had a cup of coffee as a player in the big leagues.
“This has got to be toward the top,” he said, when asked where this championship ranks in his career. “You work all season to help develop players and you also want to ... win it. To get that opportunity is exciting.“
Dinkelman’s post-game clubhouse address to his team was perfect.
“This is my 17th year of pro ball and my first championship,” he told them. “Don’t ever take this for granted. You earned it.”
You wondered how the Kernels would react after the suspended game loss. Play resumed with Great Lakes up 1-0 and Cedar Rapids coming to the plate for the bottom of the fifth.
A two-out Carson McCusker single tied things, but Great Lakes immediately countered with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth and never trailed. The Kernels stranded 10 guys on base in their final five at-bats, five in scoring position.
“We just didn’t get the hits to win the ballgame,” Dinkelman said. “We had good at-bats, we just didn’t get the big hit. But Emma got the big hit there in the second inning (of Game 3), and that took the monkey off the back.”
“I was just trying to do something for the team,” Rodriguez said, through Perez. “When I was running the bases, I was really happy that I was able to do something for us, get us a lead and help the team win.”
Great Lakes, which had the second-best overall regular-season record in the MWL, chipped away against Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Cory Lewis. It scored three times in the fifth thanks in part to some dubious C.R. defense to make it a 5-4 game.
The Kernels came right back to get two of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth.
“I think the first game kind of fired us up a little bit,” Rosario said. “We had so many chances, put some good swings on balls, had some really good at-bats. Our coaches told us that was a hell of a game, trust each other, and this next game is going to be really fun.
“I just kind of gave everybody a hug before the game. I just said ‘Let’s do this one last time. And let’s have fun while we’re doing this.’”
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