The Twins fell behind the Mariners early thanks to some more bad pitching by Nick Blackburn. John Jaso hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Miguel Olivo hit a hanging curveball. The Twins’ bats didn’t do much early either. After Felix Hernandez’s perfect game on Thursday, Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma was perfect through the first four innings. In the fifth frame, Justin Morneau led off with a double. A couple of batters later, Matt Carson came up and singled in Morneau to put the Twins on the board. Unfortunately, the Twins went behind 5-1 behind Blackburn which put the game out of reach. In the 8^th inning, they still tried. Joe Mauer hit his eighth homer of the year to dead center. Josh Willingham came up next and drilled his 31^st homer of the year to cut the lead to 5-3. However, that was it for the scoring and the Mariners picked up the win.

The Twins played without the services of outfielders Denard Span (Shoulder) and Ben Revere (ankle). Carson was 1-4 in his first game with the Twins with that RBI single. Pedro Florimon made his first Twins start. He went 0-3 batting ninth, but he did make a couple of very nice plays in the field, including a diving catch in shallow left field that should be a Web Gem.

Here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Friday night:

ROCHESTER 3, INDIANAPOLIS 4

The big news in Rochester on Friday was that the Twins and Red Wings agreed to extend their player development relationship for another two years. Obviously negotiations were likely tenuous when they were talking in June and the Red Wings were terrible again. However, the team now has the best record in the International League since July 1^st and have an outside shot at a wild card berth.

The team also had a game and their best pitcher was throwing. Liam Hendriks entered the game having thrown 14 straight scoreless innings. He extended that with a scoreless first inning, but he would really struggle in the second inning. He gave up four runs in the inning on a couple of hits and an unusual two walks. Then he settled down and completed seven innings, giving up only those four runs. He gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out six. He recorded that sixth strikeouts in the 7^th inning on his 97^th pitch with a 94 mph fastball.

Caleb Thielbar gave up a hit and a walk in the 8^th inning, but did not allow a run. In the ninth, Kyle Waldrop walked one but gave up not runs to give the Red Wings a chance at the comeback.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka led the Red Wings bats with a 4-5 day at the plate. He stole his seventh base. Eduardo Escobar went 3-4 with his second double. In his 18^th game with the Red Wings, it was already his fourth three-hit game. Chris Parmelee was 1-3 with a walk and his 16^th home run, a blast off the scoreboard at Frontier Field. His 16 home runs is the most by a Red Wings hitter since 2010 when 1B Brock Peterson hit 19 homers. (You may have seen, Peterson has spent the past two seasons playing independent league baseball. Earlier this week, he signed a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and will report to AAA Memphis.)

NEW BRITAIN 0, PORTLAND 0 (suspended)

The Rock Cats were in Portland. The two teams completed three-and-a-half innings before the rains came. The game was suspended. The Rock Cats still did not have a hit, and the lone base runner was a Chris Herrmann walk.

Luke French made his first start since his return to the Rock Cats. The lefty gave up two runs in three scoreless innings. He walked none and struck out one. Of the 28 pitches he threw, 20 of them were strikes. The game will resume on Saturday.

FT. MYERS 9, PALM BEACH 4

Josmil Pinto came to the plate in the 9^th inning with three hits, a single, a double and a home run. Needing a triple for the cycle, Pinto hit a ball to the gap. He rounded second, looking for that triple, and was thrown out easily. But it was a great try, and a great game for Pinto. The powerful catcher was 4-5 with his 20^th and 21^st doubles and his 12^th home run. Jhon Goncalves went 2-3 with two doubles and three RBI. Danny Ortiz went 1-3 with two walks and stole in fourth base.

Tom Stuifbergen made the start for the Miracle and provided another quality start. In seven innings, he gave up three runs on nine hits and a walk. He struck out four. AJ Achter pitched the final two innings. He gave up one run on two hits.

BELOIT 2, WISCONSIN 5

Tyler Jones started for the Snappers. The right-hander gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out ten. Taylor Rogers moved into the bullpen. He gave up one run on four hits over three innings. He struckout three. Corey Kimes pitched the ninth inning. He gave up two hits and walked a batter but did not give up a run.

Matt Koch went 2-4 with his 18^th double. Nate Roberts went 2-4 with a walk. Miguel Sano was hit by a pitch and later hit his 26^th home run. ESPN.com’s Keith Law tweeted that it went over the batter’s eye in center field.

ELIZABETHTON 5, KINGSPORT 1

Supplemental first round pick J.O. Berrios is making the Appalachian League look easy. After throwing four shutout innings in his first E-Town start, he threw five shutout innings on this night. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out 11 batters. Travis Huber struck out three in two perfect innings. Andrew Ferriera struck out three batters in the eighth inning. JT Chargois pitched the ninth frame and gave up an unearned run on three hits. He struckout two.

Rory Rhodes went 2-4 with his eighth double and fifth home run. Adam Walker was 1-3 with a walk and his 14^th home run. He also stole his third base.

GCL TWINS 1, GCL RED SOX 5

Aderlin Mejia played with the GCL Twins a year ago. He started out really fast, but then struggled for most of the season. This time around, he has been able to sustain his offensive success. On Friday, he was 3-4 to raise his season average to .348. He also stole his 11^th base. Bryan Haar hit his seventh double. Logan Wade tripled for the fourth time.

Randy Rosario started and threw five shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out three. Trent Higginbotham pitched a scoreless sixth inning. However, he got just one out in the 7^th. He was charged with four runs on one hit and three walks. Markus Solbach came in and got the final out of the 7^th but not before allowing a fifth run. He pitched a scoreless eighth.

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Players of the Day for Friday, August 17, 2012

Pitcher of the Day – J.O. Berrios

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Hitter of the Day – Josmil Pinto

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A Look Ahead – Saturday, August 18, 2012 Schedule

Rochester vs Empire State – RHP Shairon Martis

New Britain @ Portland - TBD

Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach – LHP Pat Dean

Beloit @ Quad Cities – LHP Matt Tomshaw

Elizabethton vs Kinsport – LHP Hein Robb

GCL Twins vs GCL Red Sox – TBD

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If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them!