Brett Lee put all of the Cedar Rapids Kernels in a good mood Friday night.

Lee tossed the first complete game for Cedar Rapids all season as the Kernels tamed the Dayton Dragons, 7-1, before 3,234 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Lee needed only 92 pitches in the nine-inning ballgame and gave the weary Kernels bullpen a much-needed rest after Dayton had scored 25 runs in the first two games of the series.

Adam Brett Walker belted a three-run homer and drove in four runs and the Cedar Rapids infielders turned two snappy double plays to keep things moving along.

"Just like we drew it up, right?," quipped Manager Jake Mauer. "That was just what we needed. Lee was outstanding, threw the ball really well. That was fun to watch."

The Kernels' starting pitchers have struggled in July. Nobody had thrown more than six innings in two weeks (since Lee went eight innings June 29), and the starters had lasted only 4, 3 and 4 innings the last three outings.

"I wanted to give the bullpen a rest," said Lee, a 22-year-old lefthander from Pensacola, Fla. "Try to be efficient with pitches and get groundball outs.

"I feel good," he said. "I feel like I could have gone a few more innings."

Lee got 18 of his 27 outs on groundballs. He struck out three batters and walked only one. Amazingly, he went to a three-ball count on only two batters all night.

"He kept attacking," said Mauer. "Hopefully our other guys were paying attention. He went right at them and didn't mess around."

Lee said it was the first nine-inning complete game of his career at the high school, college or professional levels. "It's pretty exciting," he said.

Lee raised his record to 6-4 and lowered his ERA to 3.54. He had a no-hitter for 4 1/3 innings, allowed five hits and faced only 31 batters all night in a snappy game that lasted just 2 hours, 12 minutes. Dayton scored its run in the sixth inning on a double and RBI single.

Kernels catcher Michael Quesada flashed the signals and enjoyed seeing Lee hit his mitt. Cedar Rapids grabbed a 7-0 lead in the third inning and Lee took it from there.

"We had a game plan going into the game and he executed the game plan," said Quesada. "We needed a big game from him. He showed up. All the credit to him. He did a great job tonight."

Lee leaned heavily on his two-seam fastball, which runs and sinks. "My two-seam helped a lot, getting guys out on their front foot, leaning," he said. "That's normally my go-to pitch. It's hard for the batters to tell what it's going to do."

Nobody in the Kernels bullpen warmed up all night, even in the later innings. Mauer and pitching coach Gary Lucas were confident Lee could finish the job.

"You could tell he wasn't going to back off," said Mauer.

Walker batted in the No.4 spot in the order for the first time this season and produced big dividends. He socked a long three-run homer to left-center field in the first inning and added an RBI single in the third.

Walker has hit 5th, 6th and 7th in the order this season (mostly 5th), but he's been hot lately and got promoted into the cleanup spot with the Kernels having lost seven of their last nine games.

Walker was aware that he hadn't batted in the No.4 spot this season.

"Yeah, I noticed when I looked at the lineup. 'Hey, I'm in the 4-hole today. First time,'" he remarked. "You still have to go out there and play the game."

It was Walker's 15th home run of the season, moving him into a tie for first place in the Midwest League. He has 73 RBIs, which ranks second in the league behind Kernels first baseman Dalton Hicks, who has 81.

"I feel pretty good. I'm having a pretty good year," said Walker, who is hitting a solid .273. "Some ups and downs, but I think overall things are going pretty well."

Cedar Rapids begins a three-game series against Bowling Green Saturday at 5:05 p.m. at the stadium.

DAYTON (1): Amaral, cf, 4 1 1 0, Pigott, dh, 4 0 1 1, Winker, lf, 4 0 0 0, Mejias-Brean, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Gelalich, rf, 2 0 1 0, Rahier, 3b, 3 0 1 0, Hudson, c, 3 0 0 0, Peterson, 2b, 3 0 1 0, Valor, ss, 3 0 0 0. Totals 30 1 5 1.

KERNELS (7): Williams, lf, 4 1 1 0, Polanco, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Hicks, 1b, 3 2 1 0, Walker, rf, 4 2 2 4, Kepler, cf, 4 0 0 1, Harrison, dh, 3 1 0 0, Goodrum, ss, 3 0 1 1, Quesada, c, 2 0 0 1, Licon, 3b, 3 0 1 0. Totals 30 7 7 7.

Dayton     000 001 000 - 1 5 2
Kernels     304 000 00x - 7 7 0

Travieso, Peralta 93) and Hudson. Lee and Quesada. W - Lee. L - Travieso. 2B - Rahier (12), Amaral (10), Licon (3), Hicks (29). HR - Walker (15). SB - Goodrum (6). E - Travieso. T - 2:12. A - 3,234.