Max Kepler officially made his presence felt in a Twins uniform on Sunday afternoon, giving the home team a walk-off victory with his first career home run, a three run shot in the tenth inning to give Minnesota a 7-4 victory. Too many more, Max! Prost!

In the minors on Sunday, one hitter continued his impressive display of power and a top prospect made the start in Fort Myers, but would they do enough to help their teams to victory?

Before we get to the games however, it was announced this afternoon that J.T Chargois would be sent back down to AAA after just one appearance in which he struggled. He will be replaced by waiver claim Neil Ramirez who has pitched just nine and a third innings with the Cubs and Brewers this year to the tune of a 5.79 ERA. He has walked eight and struck out thirteen.

Infielder Chris Ibarra was also assigned to the Kernels roster before Sunday’s game, and he had a nice first day in the Midwest League.

Let’s check out all the action from Sunday in the Minor Leagues!

RED WINGS REPORT

Toledo 7, Rochester 9

Box Score

Rochester starter Logan Darnell kept the Toledo offense out of the game through most of it due both to effective pitching and fortunate defensive bounces. He faced the minimum through the first four innings, and in the fifth kept the Mud Hens off the board by inducing a double-play ball after a leadoff single was followed by a double to put runners on second and third.

The Red Wings starter was spotted an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when Eddie Rosario led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a Tommy Field single to left field. The Red Wings added three runs in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff double from Adam Brett Walker was followed by singles from Carlos Paulino and James Beresford to make it 2-0. Walks to Jorge Polanco and Kennys Vargas made it 3-0, and a ground ball off the bat of Rosario made 4-0.

Darnell continued to keep Toledo off the board through the seventh, when Rochester extended their lead to 7-0 thanks to a 2-RBI double from Rosario and Wilfredo Tovar sac fly to score Rosario. The eighth is when the Mud Hens finally broke through.

A double, single, and walk loaded the bases in the top of the eighth before a sac fly for the first out of the inning made it 7-1 in favor of the home team. Another sac fly made it 7-2 before Darnell finished the inning and his day. Overall, he pitched 8 innings with two runs (one earned) allowed on seven hits and two walks, while striking out four.

In the bottom of the eighth the Red Wings added to their lead thanks to a Beresford double to score Walker, who had walked, was followed by a single from Schafer to bring in Beresford and make it 9-2. Little did Darnell know, these two runs would be necessary for him to factor into the decision as the Rochester bullpen nearly imploded in the ninth.

David Martinez got the innings first two outs, but ended up allowing five runs on five hits before Nick Greenwood finished the game with a groundball back at him with runners on first and second. Ryan O’Rourke had been summoned in between, but gave up a run scoring double and walk to the only two batters he faced to make it even more interesting.

The Rochester offense was led by Rosario (2-4, 2 R’s, 2B, 2 RBI), Beresford (2-5, 2 R’s, 2B, 2 RBI), and Schafer (3-5, R, 2B, RBI) who had multiple hits. Walker scored two runs on a walk and his seventh double.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 4, Tennessee 5

Box Score

Chattanooga scored first in this one when a Levi Michael triple in the second inning to score one was followed by a ground-rule double off the bad of Shannon Wilkerson to make it 2-0.

Lookouts starter David Hurlburt gave them right back in the bottom of the inning after loading the bases with no outs. A single scored one, and with two outs an Engelb Vielma fielding error scored another to tie the game.

The red hot Daniel Palka stepped to the plate for the second time in the game in the third, and launched a…double… to right field to score Zach Granite to make it 3-2. Granite was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and stole his organization leading twenty-eighth base.

The score would remain 3-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when the Smokies got three consecutive two-out singles to tie the game. Hurlburt’s day would be done after the inning and allowed the three runs (two earned) on nine hits and a walk. He struck out two.

Tennessee took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh when Omar Bencomo entered the game and an error, triple, and sac fly made it 5-3 Smokies.

Chattanooga pulled within one in the eighth when Palka finally delivered a home run in his fourth at-bat (took him long enough…), a solo shot, but got no run runner into scoring position afterward. It was his sixteenth home run of the year and added to his league leading total.

Mason Melotakis allowed two hits in the eighth, but no runs in pitching the final inning for the Lookouts.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 4

Box Score

Stephen Gonsalves was on the hill for the Miracle, but didn’t have enough consistency to keep his team close enough in this one. He struck out two in the first, two in the third, and two in the fifth, but in between and amongst his eight K’s on the game allowed four earned runs on five hits and two walks, and left the game after five innings down 4-2.

The Miracle offense got single runs in the first and fourth innings thanks to a Chris Paul RBI double, and Edgar Corcino RBI ground ball to score Paul, respectively, but couldn’t string anything else together on the day. As a team they were just 1-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.

Paul went 3-4 with a double and a triple, and Alex Real added two hits to lead the lineup.

The bullpen combination of Brandon Peterson (2.0 IP, 1 BB, 3 K’s) and Luke Bard (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB) pitched three scoreless innings to finish the game.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 1, Peoria 3

Box Score

Cedar Rapids took the lead 1-0 in the second inning due to a sac fly from J.J. Fernandez, but were unable to scrounge together any more runs for the game despite outhitting the Chiefs 8-6 for the game.

Peoria scored all three of their runs in the third inning against Kernels starter Dereck Rodriguez. It was a two out rally that consisted of two walks and three singles to plate the runs. Rodriguez would finish six innings on the day, allowing those runs on five hits and four walks, while striking out five. The loss put his record at just 1-8 on the season with Cedar Rapids.

Sam Gibbons pitched the final two innings, allowing no runs on one hit. He struck out one.

The Kernels offense got multiple hits from Sean Miller (2-4, 2B) and Chris Ibarra (2-4). Zander Wiel added his thirteenth double of the year.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – Logan Darnell, Rochester Red Wings (W, 8.0 IP, 7 H’s, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s)

Hitter of the Day – Daniel Palka, Chattanooga Lookouts (2-4, R 2B, HR, 2 RBI)

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester – Scheduled off day.

Chattanooga @ Tennessee (6:05PM CST) –RHP Aaron Slegers (3-4, 3.71 ERA)

Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:00PM CST) – RHP Randy LeBlanc (0-1, 7.20 ERA)

Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – LHP Sam Clay (4-2, 2.43 ERA)

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