Aaron Sabato hit two homers and drove in five runs to lead the Cedar Rapids Kernels to a 9-2 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Both teams had seven hits in the game, but Cedar Rapids had six extra-base hits, including four home runs while Wisconsin had six singles.
Sabato and Yunior Severino put the Kernels (59-37 overall, 16-14 second half) up in the first inning with back-to-back home runs off Wisconsin starting pitcher Russell Smith. Sabato hit a two-run home run with one out. Severino followed with a solo homer.
Cedar Rapids made the score 5-0 in the top of the third inning. Sabato drove in the first run of the inning with a double. Wander Javier sent Sabato across the plate with a two-out triple to center.
Sabato struck again in the fifth inning. Jake Rucker drew a leadoff walk from reliever Christian Tripp. Sabato drilled a 3-2 pitch to the Cedar Rapids bullpen for his second homer of the day to give himself five RBI on afternoon.
Wisconsin (50-45, 14-16) broke through in the bottom of the seventh inning. Antonio Piñero walked and Terence Doston singled with one out. Tristan Peters lined a double down the line in left to score both runners.
Peters had two hits and a walk on Sunday to extend his streak of games with at least two hits to seven. He is 15-for-28 during the streak.
Rucker, who scored four runs in the game, capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the ninth for Cedar Rapids.
The Kernels used five pitchers in the game on day for their bullpen. None of their pitchers went longer than three innings.
Severino and Sabato each hit four homers in the six-game series at Wisconsin. Sabato is 15-for-46 with six homers, four doubles, and nineteen RBI in twelve games against the Timber Rattlers this season.
The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They return to action on Tuesday with the first game of a six-game series at Modern Woodmen Park against the Quad Cities River Bandits. Justin Bullock (0-2, 7.62) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Game time is 6:30pm.
