The Twins had a back and forth game on a beautiful afternoon at Target Field. Unfortunately, the club came out on the losing side of their match-up with the Royals. There were home runs from Justin Morneau, Trevor Plouffe, and Clete Thomas but it still wasn't enough. The bullpen gave up four runs in the last four frames for a tough loss.

In minor league news, RHP AJ Achter was transferred to Rochester from New Britain. It will be his first trip to Triple-A. Achter had appeared in 24 games as a relief pitcher. He has a 2.27 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 19 walks in 35.2 innings. In a corresponding move, C/OF Dan Rohlfing was sent to New Britain from Rochester.

There were some close games and some hard fought victories in the Twins system today. Check out all of the action from down on the pond.

Rochester Red Wings 0, Syracuse Chiefs 2

Box Score

Liam Hendriks pitched a complete game but the offense didn't give him any support. He struck out four and walked one while limiting the Chiefs to two runs. The loss dropped his record to 1-6 and he hasn't won a game since the beginning of May.

The Red Wings had a tough time getting the offense going. Drew Butera was the lone Rochester hitter to collect more than one hit. Jeff Clement knocked his 10th double but he was the only person in the top five of the batting order to collect a hit. The bottom four batters in the order all had at least one hit.

Today's loss marked the first three game losing streak for the Red Wings since May 13-15. Rochester still ended the month of June with a 17-13 record. This was the second game of a 24 game stretch against opponents in the International League North Division.

New Britain Rock Cats 2, Reading Phillies 8

Box Score

The Rock Cats wouldn't score a run until the late innings and the Phillies were well in control by that point in the game. Two New Britain errors from Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario resulted in some extra work for the pitching staff and the Rock Cats lost their series to Reading. It was their third loss in four games to end the month of June.

Matthew Summers was making his second start since being called up from Fort Myers. He pitched four innings and gave up five runs on seven hits. His control was a little all over the place as he walked four and struck out three. Out of his 87 pitches, 55 of them were for strikes.

Dakota Watts and Edgar Ibarra did a good job to keep the game close in the middle innings. They combined to pitch four innings and they limited Reading to two base runners. Matt Hauser pitched the ninth and he gave up three earned runs in the final frame.

Josmil Pinto didn't start at catcher but he still went 2-for-3 with a run scored from the DH slot. Daniel Ortiz went 2-or-4 with his 21st double of the season. Rosario tried to make up for his error with a double and a run scored but it still wasn't enough for New Britain.

Fort Myers Miracle 4, St. Lucie Mets 1 (Rain Shortened- 6 Innings)

Box Score

Fort Myers scored runs in four of the six innings to come out victorious in this rain shortened game. Bryon Buxton seems to be finding his swing at High-A. He went 3-for-3 in this game with his first double and first stolen base at this level. Every time he was on base, he scored a run and his average is up to .333 since being promoted.

Kennys Vargas went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI to get his RBI total up to 61 for the year. With Buxton at the top of the order, Vargas could continue to add to this total in the coming weeks. Jhon Goncalves and Mike Kvasnicka each had a hit.

Jason Wheeler pitched 5.1 innings for his seventh win of the season. He scattered four hits and allowed one earned run. Ryan O'Rourke earned his third save by recording the last couple of outs before the rains came tumbling down. He struck out both of the batters he faced.

After losing four straight games at the beginning of the week, the Miracle have won two straight games. The team will close out the series with St. Lucie on Monday evening.

Cedar Rapids Kernels 6, Peoria Chiefs 5

Box Score

The Kernels had won nine straight games coming into Sunday's contest with the Chiefs and it looked like their winning streak was going to come to an end. It took a little bit of magic from the Kernels in the bottom of the ninth to pull out their 10th straight wins. Max Kepler's RBI single was the only hit of the inning and it made the team walk-off winners.

Tim Atherton made his first start for the Kernels after appearing in 20 games as a relief pitcher. He pitched into the fourth inning and allowed three runs even though one of them was earned. He walked three batters and struck out two. Alex Muren and Tyler Jones pitched the last three innings and one unearned run was scored against them. Jones picked up his fourth win of the season.

The offense was lead by Jorge Polanco with two hits and two runs scored. Travis Harrison hit his 24th double and knocked in a couple of runs. In the game, Harrison did have his 17 error of the season at third base. Niko Goodrum got a start at first base and he added his 17th double while scoring a run.

Mike Pelfrey will make a rehab start for the Kernels on Monday night. It will be the final game of the series against the Chiefs and the club will be going for win number 11 in a row.

Elizabethton Twins 5, Kingsport Mets 1

Box Score

The E-Twins kept up their winning ways in the early portion of their season. Randy Rosario won his second decision after he threw five innings by striking out seven and allowing one earned run. The Mets only managed three hits against him and he didn't walk a batter.

Austin Malinowski and Brandon Peterson each pitched two frames and combined to give up two hits. Peterson struck out four batters and he has yet to let a run cross the plate. Malinowski had a good bounce back performance after allowing three runs in his last appearance.

Dereck Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored. He also stole third base for his fourth steal of 2013. Bryan Haar hit his third home run of the season. Mitch Garver and Romy Jimenez also hit long balls and for each of them it was their first home run.

Kernels better come to play tomorrow. They better give Pelfrey some run support and remember that what they did to Estrada (Brewers pitcher on rehab start) can easily happen to them. Time to get out those hitting sticks early and often tomorrow.