All six of the Minnesota Twins’ Minor League affiliates were scheduled for action on Friday, though only five of them would play their games. It was a tough day however, as only the Gulf Coast League Twins were able to pick up a victory, and two other teams lost despite allowing only three runs combined to opposing teams.

Daniel Palka did something noteworthy (because it wasn’t hitting a home run), Jose Berrios and Kohl Stewart were on the mound at AAA and AA, and the five teams combined for eight errors on the day.

How did it all go so bad on Friday night? Read on to find out!

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7

Box Score

Jose Berrios was on the mound for Rochester looking to continue his recent surge, as in his last four starts he had allowed just four runs (two earned) on ten hits and seven walks in thirty innings. He also struck out twenty-nine and his last turn in the rotation was an 87-pitch complete game victory.

He wasn’t as good on this night, and it was an error of his own that led to some of the damage.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre took a 3-0 lead in the second inning after Berrios recorded the first out of the inning on a K, but walked the next two. He induced ground ball with a chance to end the inning with a double play, but Berrios had to cover first and missed the throw. One run scored on the play, and the next two tripled and doubled in a run respectively, leading to three unearned runs for Berrios.

All of Rochester’s runs on the scoreboard came in the fourth inning to give them a 5-3 lead at the time. Daniel Parka started the inning with a single, and ended it with a strikeout, but in between just about everything possible on the offensive side of the scorebook happened. Adam Walker followed Palka with a walk and James Beresford delivered a sacrifice bunt to move them to second and third. Logan Schafer then singled in the first run of the inning. Wilfredo Tovar drove in the second run on an error, John Ryan Murphy the third with a sac fly, and Tommy Field the fourth with a triple. Darin Mastroianni finished off the Rochester scoring for the game with a single to drive in Field.

Berrios pitched into the sixth inning, but a two-run home run put the RailRiders out front for good. For the game Berrios pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six runs (three earned), on nine hits and three walks, while striking out five and falling to 8-4.

Sean Burnett finished the sixth and seventh innings, allowing one hit and one walk with a K. Alex Wimmers allowed one run on two hits and a walk in eighth. He struck out one.

The Red Wings offense pounded out sixteen hits and was also 5-19 with runners in scoring position, compared to the RailRiders twelve hits and 2-8 lines on the game, but the opposing team got big hits (HR, 2 2B’s) to score runners from first, while the Red Wings power went cold for a night outside of Tommy Field.

He led the offense going 3-4 with a double and a triple, scored one, and drove in one. Walker and Beresford each had three hits, and Tovar and Mastroianni each went 2-5. Murphy was the only starter held hitless.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Birmingham 10, Chattanooga 6

Box Score

Birmingham was able to jump on Chattanooga starter Kohl Stewart early and often, and knocked him out the game in the fourth inning. It didn’t help any that his defense also committed two errors behind him that led to runs.

He finished 3.2 innings, and allowed seven runs (four earned) on eleven hits, including five doubles and a home run. He walked one and struck out one.

The Lookouts closed the game to 7-4 in the sixth after a Leonardo Reginatto sac fly and Stuart Turner’s sacrifice double play (7-1-5 in the scorebook).

Luke Westphal gave Chattanooga two scoreless innings, but ran into trouble of his own in his third. Before he was replaced by Zack Jones in the seventh, three runs had scored to make it 10-4. Jones also finished a scoreless eighth, and struck out one. Jake Reed allowed a single and struck out two in the ninth.

Rochester’s fifth run scored on a wild-pitch in the eighth, and that would be it. Ryan Walker (2-3, BB, 3 R’s, 2B) and D.J. Hicks (2-3, BB, 2B RBI) had multi-hit games for the Lookouts.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Dunedin 2, Fort Myers 1

Box score

Randy LeBlanc outlasted his opposing starter seven innings to five, but it was the shorter of the two outings that picked up the win in this one.

LeBlanc scattered six hits and a walk over those seven innings while striking out ten, but a costly error in the second and slow bases loaded ground ball in the sixth put two runs on the board for Dunedin while his offense managed just four hits and one run in support of him.

Nick Gordon went 2-4 with a double and the lone RBI. Alex Perez and LaMonte Wade each singled. Daniel Kihle drew a walk in his Florida State League debut.

Michael Theofanopoulos finished the game with two scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and struck out two.

The loss evens the Miracle’s record on the year with the Blue Jays at 45-40, and they are within a game of each other at 11-5 and 12-4 respectively, in the second half with three more games in their series that ends on Monday.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Kane County 1, Cedar Rapids 0

Box Score

The Kane County Cougars utilized four pitchers to stymie the Kernels offense, with their starter pitching three scoreless innings, and the three others each adding two. The Cedar Rapids offense managed just four hits and was 0-3 with runners in scoring position on the game.

Lachlan Wells was on the hill for the Kernels, and went the first five innings. His allowed a solo home run and just three other hits, and struck out three. Williams Ramirez added three scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit and walking two, while striking out five. Anthony McIver finished the game with a perfect ninth.

Sean Miller, Luis Arreaz, Zander Wiel, and Christian Caveness all singled to tally the Kernel’s four hits. Miller also stole his sixth base.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton @ Bristol – Postponed by rain.

Elizabethton’s game on Friday was postponed due to rain. But in transaction news, pitcher Patrick McGuff was promoted to their roster from the Gulf Coast League. The 2016 thirty-sixth round pick out of Morehead State (KY) had pitched 5.2 innings in the GCL, striking out nine with a 0.53 WHIP.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 8, GCL Red Sox 3

Box Score

The Twins lineup took advantage of a sloppy Red Sox defense for eight runs early in the game to take a lead they would never be in jeopardy of relinquishing.

Three walks, a hit-by-pitch, two errors, and passed ball would allow five runs to score despite only one hit allowed in the second, an RBI single off the bat of Jean Carlos Arias. Jose Miranda added a Sacrifice Fly in the frame

They added three runs in the third after a hit-by-pitch and an error put two runners on base, and was followed by a Jorge Andrade 2-RBI triple and RBI single from Manuel Guzman with two outs.

Miguel De Jesus went the first five innings for the Twins, improving his record to 2-1. He allowed two runs on four hits and two walks. He struck out five.

Daniel Martinez struck out four in two scoreless innings of relief, and was followed by Callan Pearce who surrendered an unearned run on two hits in his inning, striking out one. Garret Kelly finished the game by striking out three in the ninth.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – Randy LeBlanc, Fort Myers Miracle (7.0IP, 2 R’s (1 ER), 6 H’s, 1 BB, 10 K’s)

Hitter of the Day – Jorge Andrade, GCL Twins (2-3, 2 R’s, 3B, 3 RBI, BB)

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (6:05PM CST) – LHP Logan Darnell (8-7, 3.55 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Tennessee (6:05PM CST) – TBD

Dunedin @ Fort Myers (5:05PM CST) – LHP Tyler Jay (5-5, 2.84 ERA)

Kane County @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Dereck Rodriguez (1-10, 6.55 ERA)

Greeneville @ Elizabethton (5:00PM CST) – RHP Ryan Mason (0-1, 14.14 ERA)

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (9:00AM CST) – TBD

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