BURLINGTON - It's hard to win a ballgame when you strike out 16 times against a team that has the second-worst record in the entire Midwest League.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels proved that Tuesday night on a soggy, foggy night in Burlington.

The Kernels whiffed 16 times and lost to the struggling Bees, 4-1, before a paid crowd of 511 at Community Field.

Everybody in the Cedar Rapids lineup struck out at least once except Adam Brett Walker, who went 2-for-4 with a triple and made a nice catch against the wall in right field. The rest of the guys had a tough night in murky conditions.

"Kind of football weather," said Kernels skipper Jake Mauer. "I wish we were hunting ducks in that weather."

The Kernels took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Walker socked his triple to deep left-center and Max Kepler, who normally struggles against left-handed pitchers, ripped an RBI single to right field against Burlington southpaw Tyler DeLoach, who is one of the toughest lefties in the league.

DeLoach struck out 11 batters in 5.1 innings before reaching his pitch count and leaving the game. The Burlington bullpen, normally a sore point for the Bees, collected five more K's, including two whiffs by closer Cam Bedrosian in the ninth inning.

The 16 strikeouts tied a season-high for the Cedar Rapids hitters, who lead the Midwest League in batting. Mauer did not realize it was 16 strikeouts, but knew it was a lot.

"It was over 10, I knew that," he said. "When you only get four or five hits (it was five) and don't put the ball in play for five innings, that ain't going to help."

Burlington snapped the Kernels' four-game winning streak and raised its overall record to 41-61. Cedar Rapids fell to 65-40, still a healthy 25 games over .500 and headed to the playoffs in a month.

The game was tied, 1-1, heading into the bottom of the sixth inning with Christian Powell pitching well for the Kernels. Powell walked the first two batters in the sixth, however, and became the pitcher of record on the losing side when the Bees scored a run on a sacrifice fly against relief pitcher Dallas Gallant.

Burlington tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning and upset the visitors from up north.

The Bees and Kernels will meet again Wednesday night at Community Field at 6:30 with Josue Montanez on the mound for Cedar Rapids.

KERNELS (1): Murphy, cf, 4 0 1 0, Goodrum, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Polanco, ss, 3 0 0 0, Gonzalez, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Walker, rf, 4 1 2 0, Kepler, lf, 3 0 1 1, Harrison, 3b, 4 0 1 0, Quesada, c, 4 0 0 0, Pineda, dh, 4 0 0 0. Totals 33 1 5 1.

BURLINGTON (4): Johnson, 3b, 3 1 0 0, Toribio, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Cayones, lf, 3 1 2 0, Hinkle, 1b, 3 1 2 3, Wright, c, 2 0 1 0, Bolaski, dh, 3 0 0 0, Clarke, rf, 3 0 0 0, Good, cf, 3 0 1 1, Rosa, ss, 4 0 1 0. Totals 28 4 8 4.

Kernels        010 000 000 - 1 5 0
Burlington    000 101 20x - 4 8 2

Powell, Gallant (6), Boyd (7) and Quesada. DeLoach, Hurtado (6), O'Grady (8), Bedrosian (9) and Wright. W - Hurtado (1-1). L - Powell (2-4). S - Bedrosian (5). 2B - Cayones (6), Hinkle (24). 3B - Walker (6). SB - Goodrum (13), Wright (2). E - Rosa 2 (5). T - 2:56. A - 511.