On July 2^nd, the Rochester Red Wings were 11 games behind Pawtucket in the International League Northern Division. With a win tonight, and a Pawtucket loss, the Red Wings are now 60-51 and in sole possession of first place in the division. The Red Wings have now won 19 games in July, their most since 1999. Defense has been a big part of the Red Wings success. They have not committed an error in their last nine games, a span covering 82 innings. In fact, if you were to only look at errors, the Red Wings 66 errors on the season are the fewest in all of minor league baseball.

Check out what else happened in the Twins Minor League system on Monday:

Rochester 5, Norfolk 3

Box Score

It’s been a pretty busy week for PJ Walters. On Friday, he became a father again to a little girl. He had very little sleep and caught a 6 a.m. flight to Rochester to make the start on Monday night. They immediately put him to work, and Walters came through. He needed 116 pitches to complete seven innings, but he gave up just one run on seven hits. He walked three and struck out five. He got the win and is now 5-2 with a 3.57 ERA with the Red Wings.

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Cody Eppley came on to start the eighth inning, but he got just one out and left with runners on first and third after giving up two hits and a walk. Aaron Thompson came in and kept a 5-3 lead for the Red Wings. Michael Tonkin came on for the ninth inning and gave up one hit, but no runs, to record his seventh Red Wings save.

Antoan Richardson led the offense. He went 3-4 with his 13^th double. Oswaldo Arcia gave the team a lead in the 3^rd inning when he hit his 10^th homer. He was 2-3 and was hit by a pitch. Eduardo Escobar went 2-4 with his fifth double.

New Britain

No Game Scheduled.

Ft. Myers 5, Daytona 0

Box Score

Lefty Matt Tomshaw began the 2013 season in the Cedar Rapids bullpen, but since he was promoted to the Miracle, he has primarily been a starter. The crafty southpaw had his best start of the year. He threw eight shutout innings. He gave up four hits, walked three and hit one while striking out four. Nelvin Fuentes gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth inning to maintain the shutout.

Plenty of hitters helped the Miracle to this win. Byron Buxton went 2-5 with his sixth stolen base. Stephen Wickens was 2-4 with his seventh stolen base. Dalton Hicks was 2-4 with a walk. JD Williams went 1-2 with two walks and his sixth stolen base. Matt Koch went 1-2 with a walk, was hit by a pitch and hit his sixth home run of the season.

Former Twins starter Scott Baker started the game for the Cubs. He went 3.1 innings and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three this. He walked two and struck out two.

Cedar Rapids 4, Clinton 3

Box Score

JO Berrios started his closely contested game. The young right-hander went the first six innings. He gave up three runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out two. Alex Muren came on and gave up one hit and two walks in two scoreless innings. He improved to 6-1 since his promotion to the Kernels. Brian Gilbert came on for the 9^th inning and recorded the save.

Max Kepler gave the Kernels an early lead with a two-run double, his eighth of the season. He later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Travis Harrison went 2-4 and scored the go-ahead run. Jeremias Pineda went 2-4 with his fifth double. Adam Walker hit his 24^th double and stole his eighth base.

The Kernels are now 65-39 on the season after their three-game sweep of the LumberKings.

Elizabethton 0, Kingsport 4

Box Score

Felix Jorge started and gave up one run in each of the first three innings. One of them was unearned. He went four innings and gave up six hits, walked two and struck out seven. Andrew Ferreira gave up one run on one hit and three walks in 1.2 innings. He struck out three. Austin Malinowski came on and struck out four in 3.1 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and walked one.

There was not much offense for the E-Twins on this night. Carlos Avila went 1-1 with two walks. Mitch Garver hit his seventh double.

GCL Twins 9, GCL Orioles 4

Box Score

The Twins were down 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7^th inning. Brian Navarreto stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and connected for his third home run. The team added three more runs in the 8^th inning. Jorge Fernandez went 3-4 with his second stolen base. Will Hurt and Adonis Pacheco each tripled. Wilkin Ramirez returned to the field and went 1-2 with a double. Darin Mastroianni was in a game for the first time in a long time. He went 1-3 with two RBI.

Alex Wimmers started and worked the first four innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He walked two and struck out six. Dan Sattler gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit and one walk in just 0.2 innings. Tyler Stirewalt gave up two hits in the next 1.1 innings. Zach Hayden gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one in his inning. Jose Abreu recorded his third save. He gave up one run on four hits in the final two innings.

Thanks for checking out today’s Twins minor league report. Please feel free to discuss, comment or ask questions.