Festa Dominates, Kernels Crush Four Homers in 9-2 Rout of Quad Cities

July 8, 2022 - Midwest League (MWL)
Cedar Rapids Kernels News Release

Cedar Rapids, IA - Cedar Rapids righthander David Festa carved while the lineup supported him with nine runs on 10 hits and four homers in a 9-2 upending of Quad Cities on Friday evening. The Kernels plated three in the first, second and fourth - all on the long ball - as Festa took a no-hitter into the fifth and struck out eight across 6.0 innings of work. The Kernels improve to 47-31, 4-8 in the second half.

Festa shoved while earning his seventh win of the season, tossing his fourth quality start with 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball. The righthander allowed two hits and walked three, firing 50 strikes on 87 pitches with 19 swinging strikes. All eight of his punchouts came on his secondaries: five on the changeup, three on the slider.

Seth Gray opened the scoring with an opposite-field three-run shot in the first inning after Kyler Fedko and Christian Encarnacion-Strand led off with back-to-back singles, clobbering a changeup off the Gordon Flesch sign in left.

Jake Rucker made it 5-0 with a no-doubt two-run homer over the left field wall with one away in the fourth, promptly followed by a Dylan Neuse solo shot to left.

The Kernels tacked on their final three runs as Charles Mack singled to lead off the seventh, Encarnacion-Strand doubled two batters later then Alerick Soularie deposited a three-run bomb out to left.

Ryan Shreve finished things out with 1.2 scoreless relief frames, striking out three and working around a walk.

Encarnacion-Strand, Gray and Mack each supplied multi-hit games as eight of nine Kernels scored at least one run.

Games four and five of the series are set for a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday evening, with the doubleheader scheduled to begin at 5:35 p.m. CT at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free cap from Electronic Engineering.

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