Welcome to July!

Minnesota's offense busted out the fireworks a couple days early with a big performance against the Royals. The biggest news of the night might have been Joe Mauer being pulled from the game with what is being called an oblique strain. Mauer told reporters after the game that he has been dealing with a sore oblique for about a week and it doesn't feel good. This is bad news especially since Mauer's bat had seemed to be warming up in recent weeks.

The Twins offense wasn't the only one to explode on Tuesday. Let's look around the minor leagues to see who's hot and who's not.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 15, Norfolk 11

Box Score

Rochester went on a scoring rampage of their own pounding out 15 runs on 19 hits. Chris Colabello cranked out two home runs and Wilkin Ramirez collected five hits to help the offensive charge. Chris Herrmann went 2-for-4 with a home run and he now has a season-high six game hitting streak. Eric Farris has a seven game hitting streak of his own and he leads the team with 29 multi-hit games.

On the mound, Kris Johnson did just enough to pick up his seventh win of the season. He last five innings and gave up four runs on six hits. Edgar Ibarra saw his 15.1 inning scoreless streak come to an end in a big way. In relief of Johnson, he was charged with five earned runs on only three hits. Aaron Thompson did well to stop some of the bleeding at the end of the game by tossing two shutout innings.

ROCK CATS REVIEW

New Britain 9, Binghamton 6

Box Score

New Britain rode a five-run first inning to an early lead and the team was able to hold back the charging Mets. Eddie Rosario and Mike Kvasnicka each hit a home run to help the cause. Rosario reached base in three at-bats and scored two runs. Aaron Hicks showed some positive signs by going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Reynaldo Rodriguez has been a doubles machine this year as he hit his 24th double in this game.

Jason Wheeler picked up his second win in three starts since being promoted from Fort Myers. He went six frames and was charged with three earned runs. He struck out five and he has yet to allow more than three runs in any of his Double-A action. Mark Hamburger struck out five batters in only two innings of relief work but it took him 45 pitches to get through those innings.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers 4, Bradenton 5

Box Score

The Miracle rallied for two runs in the ninth inning and three runs over the last three frames but it still wasn't enough to overcome an early deficit. Lance Ray got the scoring started early with a first inning home run. After that the Fort Myers offense went cold until the late innings. At one point 16 Miracle batters were retired in a row.

Alex Wimmers was strong in relief as he threw five scoreless frames before giving up two runs in his sixth inning of work. BJ Hermsen took the loss after surrendering three runs on five hits over two innings. There was a lengthy weather delay after the second inning which caused Hermsen to be pulled early.

Travis Harrison and Max Kepler each had a double, the 21st for Harrison and the 8th for Kepler. Jorge Polanco went 0-for-4 in his second game back after his brief taste of the big leagues.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 0, Wisconsin 1 (12 innings)

Box Score

It turned into a long evening in Wisconsin as the Kernels and the Timber Rattlers decided nine innings wasn't enough to decide this game. In fact, it took 12 innings and the game almost lasted until after midnight in the Central Timezone. After all of those innings and all of that time, the Kernels found themselves on the short end of the stick.

Cedar Rapids had a grand total of four hits over 12 frames. Two of those hits came off of the bat of Jason Kanzler. Bryan Haar and Zack Granite also added singles. The team went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and they left seven runners on base. They also couldn't capitalize on three defensive errors committed by Wisconsin.

Aaron Slegers started the game but he would long gone before a decision was made in this one. He last five innings and limited the Timber Rattlers to two hits. Brandon Bixler and Dallas Gallant kept the shutout going by combining for four scoreless frames. Jared Wilson took the loss as he gave up a walk, a sac-bunt, and then the game winning hit.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton 4, Johnson City 8

Box Score

After ending the month of June on a three-game winning streak, the E-Twins saw that streak come to a screeching halt. The team was only able to muster up four hits including a 2-for-3 night from Dutch Doel. Nick Gordan went 1-for-5 including his third stolen base. He also committed his second error of the season on a throw. The team left seven runners on base.

Stephen Gonsalves scattered seven hits and limited the Cardinals to four runs. Cameron Booser kept Elizabethon in the game by pitching three shut-out innings with two strikeouts. Randy LeBlanc took the loss as he gave up three run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 7, GCL Rays 8

Box Score

There wasn't a lot of solid pitching in this match-up as the teams combined for 29 hits and 15 runs. The Twins held multiple leads in this game but costly error meant three late unearned runs. Alexis Tapia tossed four innings of two-run ball to start the game but he didn't figure into the decision. Miles Nordgren took the loss but he didn't give up an earned run after Rainis Silva had a fielding error at first.

Manuel Guzman and Amaurys Minier each had three hits and they combined to go six-for-nine in the game. Minier is batting .407/.500/.630 in eight games this season with four extra-base hits. The lone extra-base hit for the Twins came off the bat of Jack Barrie, his firs double of the year. The club went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and that was the difference in the game.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jason Wheeler, New Britain Rock Cats

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Chris Colabello, Rochester Red Wings

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester@ Pawtucket (5:15 CST) – Sean Gilmartin (Listen)

Binghamton@ New Britain (6:05 CST) – Tyler Duffey (Listen)

Ft. Myers@ Bradenton (5:30 CST) – Tim Shibuya (Listen)

CedarRapids @ Wisconsin (7:05 CST) - Lewis Thorpe (Listen)

Elizabethton-Scheduled Off Day

GCL Rays @GCL Twins (11:00am CST) – TBD