Baseball is a challenging game at any professional level, but it gets much tougher when you give up five unearned runs in the first inning before anyone on your team gets their hands on a bat.

That was the hole the Cedar Rapids Kernels dug themselves into Friday night as the Beloit Snappers struck for a five-spot in the opening stanza en route to a 13-7 thumping of the Kernels in front of 3,347 fans on “Minions Night” at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Randy Rosario retired the first two Beloit batters in the first inning and looked to be on his way to a routine 1-2-3 inning when he coaxed a ground ball off the bat of Snappers shortstop Yairo Munoz. Third baseman Rafael Valera’s throw to first base was well off the mark, however, allowing Munoz to reach safely.

Rosario never recorded another out. The next six batters reached base off the left-hander before he was lifted.

"That was embarrassing, absolutely brutal,” Manager Jake Mauer lamented afterward. “We had a hard time recovering from that error and it all happened with two outs.

"That’s a tall task to ask your bullpen to get 8 and 1/3 (innings). Randy really didn't give us too much, which was very disappointing.”

If it had been just those five first-inning runs the Kernels had to make up, the night would have had a happier ending. But after Cedar Rapids tied the game 5-5 in the fourth inning, Beloit kept right on scoring runs.

Randy LeBlanc (6-3) relieved Rosario and shut down the Snappers for 3 and 1/3 innings, but gave up a two-run home run in the fifth.

Cedar Rapids sent all nine batters to the plate in its five-run fourth inning on singles from Valera, Zack Larson and Sean Miller, an RBI double from Tyler Kuresa and a two-RBI triple by Tanner English.

Beloit quickly broke that tie, touching reliever Cam Booser for a pair of runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth to pull ahead 8-5.

Brian Navarreto closed the gap to 8-6 in the sixth with a solo home run high off the left field foul pole, but the Snappers immediately struck back with their second five-run inning of the night in the seventh, stretching their lead to 13-6 and putting the game out of reach.

The Kernels added their final run in the ninth.

In total, Kernels pitchers surrendered 15 hits and eight walks to the Snappers.

The Kernels had 13 hits themselves, spread among nine of the 10 position players in the game. The bottom four hitters in the Cedar Rapids lineup -- Tyler Kuresa, Brian Navarreto, Austin Diemer and Sean Miller -- contributed two hits each.

"Too many walks, again. We’ve walked too many guys the past week,” Mauer said. “We find a way to score some runs but if we’re walking guys, it’s going to be awfully tough.”

Luke Bard worked two innings of shutout relief for Cedar Rapids and Valera, who played third base the first eight innings, took the mound in a cleanup role and pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

The same two teams face off at 6:35 p.m. Saturday.

BELOIT (13): Bennie, lf, 4 0 1 0, Akau, c, 5 0 2 0, Munoz, ss, 6 2 2 1, Pimentel, 1b, 5 1 1 0, Kuhn, rf, 4 3 2 3, Brizuela, 3b, 4 2 1 0, Raga, dh, 4 2 2 2, Harris, cf, 3 1 1 1, Proudfoot, 2b, 4 2 3 4. Totals 40 13 15 11.

KERNELS (7): English, cf, 4 0 1 2, Gordon, ss, 5 0 1 0, Corcino, rf, 4 0 0 0, Larson, dh, 4 1 1 0, Kelly, 3b, 1 1 1 0, Valera, 3b/p, 5 1 1 0, Kuresa, 1b, 4 1 2 1, Navarreto, c, 5 2 2 3, Diemer, lf, 5 0 2 0, Miller, 2b, 4 1 2 0. Totals 41 7 13 6.

Beloit    500 021 500 - 13 15 2

Kernels  000 501 001 -  7 13 2

Wagman, Johnson (4), Fagan (6), Huber (7), Sosa (8), Gauna (9) and Akau. Rosario, LeBlanc (1), Booser (6), Bard (7), Valera (9) and Navarreto. W - Johnson (2-5). L - LeBlanc. 2B - Munoz (14), Proudfoot (2), Kuresa (9), Diemer (1). 3B - English (7). HR - Kuhn (5), Navarreto (1). SB - Larson (11). E - Munoz (24), Pimentel (10), Valera (8), Kuresa (7). T - 3:35. A - 3,347.