Twins Minor League Report (7/20): Quality Starting
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The Tampa Bay Rays finished off a three game sweep of the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon with a 5-3 victory in the heat at Target Field. Kevin Correia wasn’t able to continue his recent run of solid pitching, as he lasted just four innings and gave up runs in each of the first three.
In the minors, the starting pitching was the story of the day, but in a good way as all four full-season affiliate starters pitched into the sixth inning. Read on to find out what happened in the minor leagues on Sunday.
RED WINGS REPORT
Rochester 14, Norfolk 2
Pedro Florimon (3), Nate Hanson (2), and Danny Ortiz (5) all homered in this game, while accounting for eight of the Red Wings fourteen runs. Florimon’s was a solo-blast, Hanson’s a three-run shot, and Ortiz’s a Grand Slam in the eighth inning.
In addition to Hanson (3-4, R, 2B, HR, BB, 4 RBI) and Ortiz (2-5, R, HR, 5 RBI), rightfielder Chris Rahl (4-5, 3 R’s, 3 2B’s, 3 RBI) and centerfielder Eric Farris (2-5, 2 R’s, 2B, RBI) each collected multiple hits. All batters in the lineup reached base and scored at least one run.
Logan Darnell made the quality start for Rochester, pitching 6.1 innings in which he allowed just two earned runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out two. The two runs came in the third inning when Steve Lombardozzi and Christian Walker bookended a 3-hit inning with doubles.
Lester Oliveros finished the seventh inning and eighth with 1.2 perfect innings of relief, striking out two in the process, and Michael Tonkin pitched a scoreless ninth.
ROCK CATS REVIEW
New Britain 6, Reading 5
New Britain was largely dominated by Reading’s starter, Adam Loewen, for six innings before breaking through in a big way in the seventh. Down 3-0 going into the inning, The Rock Cats strung together a Hit-by-pitch (Reynaldo Rodriguez), double (Brandown Waring), and walk to load the bases (Stephen Wickens), before an ejection (Coach Chad Allen) on a Catcher Interference call (Tony Thomas), and a Grand Slam (Aaron Hicks) put five runs on the board.
Starter Jason Wheeler gave up a two-run home run in the first inning, but settled down nicely and allowed just one more run in the fourth to also log a quality start. On the day, Wheeler went seven innings and allowed just five hits and a walk, with three strikeouts.
Matthew Summers took over in the eighth, and recorded two outs before loading the bases. He was then replaced by Mason Melotakis, who gave up a two-run single to tie the game before picking up a strikeout to end the threat.
In the top of the ninth, Tony Thomas would put New Briatain back in the lead with his seventh home run of the year to left field.
Melotakis would work a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning to pick up the Win.
For the game, Rodriguez and Waring (2B) each had two hits while Thomas (2) and Hicks (4) collected all of the RBI’s to lead the Red Wings.
MIRACLE MATTERS
Brevard County 4, Fort Myers 7
Tim Shibuya was the third of the Twins affiliate’s starting pitchers on the day to give a quality start, and he also did so with a seven inning effort. He scattered seven hits and a walk to allow only one earned run, while striking out five.
The early lead for the Kernels was provided by the bat of Adam Walker, who doubled in the third inning to score Jorge Polanco and Dalton Hicks. Walker went to third on the throw, and then scored on a Mike Gonzalez single.
The needed insurance runs came in the sixth inning courtesy of the bat of Niko Goodrum, who crushed a three-run home run to put the Miracle in front 6-1.
B.J. Hermsen came on to pitch the eighth, and allowed consecutive singles and a three run home run to the first three batters he faced, before recording all three outs to finish the inning with a 6-4 lead.
Fort Myers would add another run in the bottom of eighth on a Goodrum double, before Todd Van Steensel finished the game with with a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his first Florida State League Save.
Goodrum (2-3, R, GS, BB, 4 RBI), Stuart Turner (2-3, 2 R’s, BB), and Travis Harrison (3-4, 2B) led the Miracle offense. The three hits continue a torrid hitting pace in July for Harrison. On the month he is batting .361/.418/.475, with four doubles and a home run in 16 games. His average on the season is now up to .292, and though the home runs aren’t there yet, he does rank third in the FSL in doubles, with 24.
Byron Buxton did not play for the second day in a row after being hit by a pitch on Friday.
KERNELS NUGGETS
Fort Wayne 2, Cedar Rapids 0
This game at Perfect Game Field lasted just over two hours, as both teams combined for just nine hits and two runs on the day.
Not to be outdone by his fellow Sunday starters, Ryan Eades also threw six innings of quality baseball for Cedar Rapids. It was a big bounce-back game for him, as in each of his previous four starts he had allowed at least five runs, and never made it into the sixth inning. In this one he allowed just five hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out two. Alex Muren and Jared Wilson combined for three innings of perfect baseball in relief, picking up three K’s along the way.
Unfortunately for Eades, the games two runs were scored by the TinCaps, and the Kernels offense was held silent the entire game. J.D. Williams (2-3), Alex Swim and Michael Quesada were the only batters with a hit, and they were all singles.
E-TWINS E-NOTES
The Elizabethton Twins played a double-header on Sunday, with the second game a make-up of their rain out from last night.
Game 1: Burlington 0, Elizabethton 8
In the first regularly scheduled game, Elizabethton scored early and often on their way to the seven-inning shutout.
First-baseman Tyler Kuresa was the star in this one, going 3-4 with a double, his third and fourth home runs of the year, and three RBI. Max Murphy slugged his eighth home run, and Brett Doe added his first.
Derrick Penilla made the start for Elizabethton, and pitched five scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits and struck out four. Samuel Clay struck out three in his one inning, and Koa Hua Lo pitched a perfect seventh inning.
Game 2: Burlington 3, Elizabethton 1
Michael Cederoth made the start for Elizabethton in the makeup game and pitched 4.2 innings, surrendering seven hits, three walks, and three earned runs before he was chased in the fifth. John Curtiss was the first reliever summoned, and recorded all four of his outs with strikeouts, before Randy LeBlanc pitched a perfect final inning with one K.
On offense, Blake Schmit picked up the only Twins RBI with a Sac Fly in the fifth, while as a team they collected just five hits. Centerfielder Austin Diemer hit his fourth double.
TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher – Tim Shibuya, Fort Myers Miracle (7.0 IP, 7 H’s, 1 BB, 1 ER, 5 K’s)
Hitter – Nate Hanson, Rochester Red Wings (3-4, R, 2B, HR, BB, 4 RBI)
MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Rochester @ Durham – Sean Gilmartin (1-1, 4.13 ERA), 6:05PM CST
Altoona @ New Britain – TBD, 6:05 CST
Brevard County @ Fort Myers – Matthew Tomshaw (8-2, 2.88 ERA), 6:05PM CST
Fort Wayne @ Cedar Rapids – Chih-Wei Hu (1-0, 3.00 ERA), 12:05PM CST
Burlington @ Elizabethton – Stephen Gonsalves (2-0, 2.25 ERA), 6:00PM CST
GCL Twins @ GCL Orioles – TBD, 11:00AM CST
DSL Twins @ DSL White Sox – TBD, 9:30AM CST
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