116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Injuries piling up as Kernels fall to South Bend
Jeff Johnson
Apr. 17, 2014 12:04 am, Updated: Apr. 17, 2014 12:42 am
CEDAR RAPIDS - Chad Christensen didn't play for a third straight game Wednesday night, but it wasn't a manager's decision.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder and Cedar Rapids Washington graduate has a barking elbow that has him on the shelf. He hopes that's temporarily.
'It's a little better today,” Christensen said, after the Kernels lost to South Bend, 4-2, before 732 fans at the wind tunnel known as Veterans Memorial Stadium. 'That's baseball.”
Christensen said he began to feel some discomfort in his right, throwing elbow at the end of the Kernels' road trip to Michigan last weekend. It's a shame because he has been hitting the ball well, boosting his batting average to .286 in seven games and 28 at-bats.
He and Kernels Manager Jake Mauer hope his name can be penciled into the lineup Thursday night when the Kernels (8-5) begin a three-game home series against West Michigan.
'I'm just trying to do some work with Curtis (Simondet), our trainer, to get back healthy,” Christensen said. 'We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I've never had any problems with it before. They don't think it's anything major.”
The same might not be able to be said for outfielder Zack Granite and catcher Michael Quesada.
Granite went on the disabled list last week after injuring his shoulder diving for a fly ball. Mauer said he is scheduled for an extensive check and MRI on that shoulder today.
Quesada took a fastball from South Bend starting pitcher Adam Miller off his right wrist in his first at-bat in the second inning and had to leave an inning later. He'll get it looked at today by a doctor.
It's a little early in the season to have all these injuries, though South Bend (5-7) can relate. Miller had to leave after three innings because of a left ankle injury, incurred when he twisted awkwardly trying to field a comebacker.
Outfielder Colin Bray hurt his right ankle in the first game of the series Monday night running into the right-field wall after making a spectacular catch. Infielder Joe Munoz suffered a concussion late in that game sliding into second base and colliding with a Kernels infielder's leg.
Memorial Stadium seems to be a jinxy place right now.
The Kernels were limited to seven hits, with South Bend taking a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning on a Stryker Trahan two-run home run. Ethan Mildren took the loss, though his first professional start was a decent one: five innings, six hits and two runs allowed, no walks and five strikeouts.
'We just didn't put many good offensive at-bats together tonight,” Mauer said. 'We took a bunch of called third strikes, which is disappointing ... We sure didn't bunch many hits together, and that's what we're going to need to do.”
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