Cedar Rapids Kernels top Burlington, pitcher Clark Beeker promoted

BURLINGTON ? Caleb Hamilton homered and drove in three runs Tuesday night as the Cedar Rapids Kernels bested the Burlington Bees, 5-2, in Midwest League baseball at Community Field.

Hamilton hit a two-run shot in the top of the first inning against Burlington starting and losing pitcher Luis Madero (0-2), part of a three-run inning that also included a Trey Cabbage RBI hit.

Cabbage and Whitefield finished with two hits apiece, in support of winning and starting pitcher Bryan Sammons (2-0), who allowed two runs and struck out six in five innings.

Ryan Mason, Colton Davis and Hector Lujan combined for four shutout innings out of the bullpen for the Kernels (63-58 overall, 24-27 second half). Lujan notched his team-high 13th save.

The teams play again Wednesday night at 6:35. Prior to Tuesday?s game, the Kernels and parent Minnesota Twins announced starting pitcher Clark Beeker has been promoted to high-Class A Fort Myers and been replaced on the roster by pitcher Eduardo Del Rosario, who comes down from Fort Myers.

Beeker had an 11-3 record and MWL-best 2.03 earned run average for Cedar Rapids and is on a scoreless streak of 32 2/3 innings.

Del Rosario began this season with the Kernels and went 1-1 with a 5.32 ERA in four starts for Fort Myers.