In the Minor Leagues on Sunday, all four of the Twins’ full season affiliates were in action including Kyle Gibson on the mound in Rochester looking to come out healthy before rejoining Minnesota’s rotation.

In the other games, one pitching staff vied for a no-hitter (could they complete it?), a manager was thrown out in the first inning, and big innings early and late led to another’s demise.

To find out how it all went down in the minors on Sunday, Read on!

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 8, Louisville 6

Box Score

Kyle Gibson was on the mound for the Red Wings to make his rehab start after experiencing some stiffness in his back before his previously scheduled return last week against the Tampa Bay Rays. His offense spotted him a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Adam Brett Walker launched a two-run home run to left center. It was his eleventh home run of the season, good for second on the International League leaderboard on the year.

The game stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth, when a one-out error from Wilfredo Tovar at shortstop was followed by three consecutive singles to even the score at two. A walk would load the bases, but Gibson escaped any further damage by inducing a double-play ground ball to end the threat.

The Red Wings lineup responded by getting back those runs and more for Gibson over the next two innings. Jorge Polanco hit his second AAA home run of the year in the fifth to spark a three run rally. His blast was followed by singles from Kennys Vargas and Eddie Rosario, who were both driven in on a Tommy Field double to put them back out front 5-3. In the sixth, a triple off the bat of Tovar scored Carlos Paulino, and Tovar would score the second run of that inning on a Logan Schafer single to make it 7-3.

Gibson allowed a walk and a double in the bottom of the sixth, but no runs and ended his night in line for the win. In his six innings he allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks, while striking out two. Of his ninety-one pitches, just fifty-three went for strikes in his tune-up.

Rochester’s bullpen made the game a little interesting late, as each of Dan Runzler, Alex Wimmers, and Sean Burnett allowed at least one run in their inning. It was another error from Tovar and two wild pitches that led to Runzlers run allowed in the seventh and a solo home run against Wimmers in the eighth that made it 7-4 heading into the ninth.

Rochester got an insurance run on a sac fly from Walker to score Rosario, and luckily they would not need it as they got just the one after loading the bases with nobody out.

Burnett allowed two doubles and a sac fly that scored two runs in the ninth, but closed out the 8-6 victory to put the Red Wings out front in the International League North Division by a half-game.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Jacksonville 3, Chattanooga 1

Box Score

Chattanooga manager Doug Mientkiewicz was ejected from the game before the Lookouts came to bat in the bottom of the first inning. It wasn’t clear anywhere for this writer as to why the skipper was ejected, but the lineup responded by loading the bases with nobody out.

Unfortunately, they were unable to push a run across as Travis Harrison and D.J. Hicks went down on strikes and a ground-out from Mitch Garver ended the inning with no runs scored. It was a prelude to how Chattanooga’s day would go as they finished 0-5 on the day with runners in scoring position, and left nine men on base.

Their lone run came in the eighth inning as a Harrison double scored Leonardo Reginatto from first after he reached base on a single.

D.J. Baxendale made the start for the Lookouts, and finished five innings. The first four were scoreless to match his opponent, but in the fifth a leadoff single and walk put a runner in scoring position, and a sac-bunt followed by a sac-fly scored the first run of the game for a Suns lead. Baxendale’s night was done after five as he had already thrown ninety-four pitches. He allowed just three hits, walked two, and struck out three.

Corey Williams was the first reliever out of the bullpen, and allowed a run in each of the sixth and seventh innings on five hits and a walk. Mike Strong pitched two scoreless innings to finish the game, allowing two hits and a walk. He struck out one.

With the loss, the Lookouts fall to 26-30 on the season, and look to even up the series with Jacksonville tomorrow night.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Daytona 4, Fort Myers 0

Box Score

If you thought the team vying for a no-hitter in the lead was one of Minnesota’s affiliates, you would only be right if it was referring to their lineup. Unfortunately for the Miracle and their fans, it was the Daytona Tortugas staff that had their number on this night.

Randy LeBlanc was on the hill to make his Florida State League debut, and after allowing just four earned runs in his last fifty-six Midwest League innings, unfortunately he allowed four earned runs in his first five innings with the Miracle to be saddled with the loss. The big damage came in the fifth inning, as a walk, hit-batter, double, and triple allowed plated three runs to make it 4-0. In five innings, LeBlanc allowed the four runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out just one.

The bullpen trio of Todd Van Steensel, Brandon Peterson, and Yorman Landa combined for four scoreless innings after LeBlanc, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out six between them.

The start for the Tortugas went to left-hander Ismael Guillon, and despite being a bit wild for the first four innings by surrendering four walks, did not allow a hit. He was followed by four hitless innings from his team’s bullpen to bring them into the ninth inning looking to make history.

Fortunately for the Miracle Tanner Witt’s single to lead off the inning held off any more infamy for the game.

Witt also drew two walks on the game, and the only other two baserunners for the Miracle on the night were Nick Gordon (0-3, BB) and Edgar Corcino (0-2, 2 BB). As expected for a team almost being no-hit, the Miracle had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position and left only five men on base for the game.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Peoria 9, Cedar Rapids 4

Box Score

The Chiefs jumped out to a big early lead by scoring four runs in the top of the second inning off of Kernels starter Eduardo Del Rosario, who was making his Midwest League debut in LeBlanc’s spot of the Cedar Rapids rotation.

Cedar Rapids got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Brad Hartong to score Nelson Molina, who had doubled. Singles from Alex Perez and Sean Miller in the third made it 5-2 in favor of Peoria, but the Kernels would get no closer than that.

Del Rosario finished four innings in his debut, allowing five earned runs on six hits and a walk, and striking out one. He was relieved by Anthony McIver who pitched two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the seventh. Three consecutive singles brought in one run and he was lifted for Michael Cederoth with one out. Both of the inherited runners would score on another single before Cederoth coaxed two groundballs to get out of the inning down 8-2.

Cederoth ran into trouble of his own in the eighth, allowing a walk and two singles to score one before inducing an inning ending double play.

In the bottom of the eighth the Kernels pushed across two runs as LaMonte Wade led off with a single, scored on a double from Zander Wiel, and a single from J.J. Fernandez later in the inning would bring in Wiel to make the final score of 9-4.

Michael Theofanopoulos pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit and a walk, but the Kernels went down one-two-three in the bottom of the inning to lose the rubber match of their three game series with the Chiefs.

The Kernels are off on Monday but remain at home to face the Kane County Cougars in a three game starting on Tuesday night.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – Yorman Landa, Fort Myers Miracle (1 IP, 1 H, 3 K’s)

Hitter of the Day – Adam Brett Walker, Rochester Red Wings (2-4, R, HR, 3-RBI)

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Buffalo @ Rochester (6:05PM CST) – RHP Jose Berrios (3-2, 3.27 ERA)

Jacksonville @ Chattanooga (6:15PM CST) – TBD

Daytona @ Fort Myers (6:05PM CST) LHP Tyler Jay (4-4, 2.44 ERA)

Cedar Rapids – Scheduled day off.

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games.