Article: Twins Minor League Report (5/30): Saturday In The Parks

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins evened their series with the Blue Jays with a nice 3-2 win. All four affiliates played on Saturday as well. There were some good games. Two of the four games finished in walk-off fashion. A big inning late in the game helped one of the affiliates to a win. Chih-Wei Hu returned to the mound for Ft. Myers.With that, here’s what happened on Saturday in the Minnesota Twins minor league system:

 

 

TRANSACTIONS

• Cedar Rapids received outfielder Edgar Corcino from extended spring training. He was one of the more athletic players I saw in minor league camp.
• Following their game on Saturday night, the Kernels added catcher Alex Real to their roster. He was a 2014 draft pick who was given a 50-game suspension in the offseason.
• To make room for Real, 1B Tyler Kuresa was sent back to Extended Spring Training.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Buffalo 3

Box Score

 

Tommy Milone made another start for the Red Wings. He gave up twice as many runs in seven innings on this night as he had in his previous four starts. The left-hander gave up two runs on five hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out six. Mark Hamburger got two outs in the eighth. Michael Tonkin, freshly back from Minnesota, got two outs. Ryan O’Rourke struck out the only batter he faced. Lester Oliveros came in for the bottom of the ninth inning. The first batter, Brad Glenn, hit a solo walk-off home run to end the game. Red Wings announcer Josh Whetzel tweeted following the game that it was the first home run allowed in 92 batters faced by Oliveros.

 

The Red Wings had just six hits in the game. Jose Martinez went 2-3 with an RBI. Josmil Pinto was 1-3 with a walk. Oswaldo Arcia went 0-3 with a walk and is now 0-11 in his four games with the Red Wings.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 8, Biloxi 11

Box Score

 

When you score eight runs in a game, you expect to win. However, on this night, pitching was the concern right from the beginning. Biloxi won this game, their third win in the first four games of the series.

 

D.J. Baxendale started. He gave up four runs in the first inning. He went unscathed in the second inning. After three batters reached to start the third inning, Baxendale came out of the game. The Lookouts announcers said that catcher Stuart Turner stepped in front of home plate and called over to the dugout. Manager Doug Mientkiewicz and the team’s trainer came out to check on Baxendale. He was removed from the game. The announcers said he just didn’t look like he had all season. His line (which is probably not the most important piece of this paragraph right now): He gave up six runs on seven hits in two innings. He walked one and struck out two.

 

Madison Boer came on with runners on. He was charged with three more runs on four hits and a walk over 2.2 innings. Cole Johnson came on to replace him. He gave up one run on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. Nick Burdi gave up two hits and a walk, but no runs, in his two innings. He struck out three. D.J. Johnson pitched the ninth inning. He gave up one run on two hits.

 

Down 7-0 in the bottom of the third, the Lookouts attempted to come back. Travis Harrison cut the deficit to 7-4 with a grand slam, his third home run of the season. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the Shuckers tacked on more runs to their lead. Down 11-5 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Lookouts scored three and had Miguel Sano up to bat representing the tying run. However, he flew out to end the game.

 

Jorge Polanco led the offense. He went 3-5 with his seventh double. Max Kepler went 2-4 with his third triple. Miguel Sano returned to the lineup after missing two games with a jammed finger. He went 2-5. Byron Buxton walked twice in the game.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 2, Clearwater 4 (11 innings)

Box Score

 

Chih-Wei Hu made his first start for the Miracle in about two weeks. In between, he had a very impressive spot start for the Rochester Red Wings and then skipped a start. He performed well. In six innings, he gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.

 

Bryan Haar put the Miracle on the scoreboard with his first home run of the season. Down 2-1 in the eighth inning, Niko Goodrum came through with an RBI single to tie the game at two.

 

That’s where the score remained for a while. Todd Van Steensel threw two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out one. Brandon Peterson kept the score right where it was for two innings. He walked one and struck out four.

 

In the bottom of the 11^th, Dallas Gallant came on. He gave up a single which was followed by a two-run homer to end the game.

 

The Miracle had just six hits in the game; Bryan Haar had three of those.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 5, Clinton 1

Box Score

 

The Kernels played their 50^th game of the season, and they got a nice win to improve to 32-18 thanks to a big, four-run seventh inning.

 

Zach Tillery started. He gave up only an unearned run on five hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out two. Lefty Jose Velez tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up a hit, walked two and struck out three. Luke Bard came in next. He struck out three over two shutout frames to get the win. Cameron Booser got the final three outs.

 

In the big seventh inning, J.J. Fernandez led off with a walk which was followed by a Pat Kelly single. After a bad pickoff throw moved both runners up a base, Brett Doe doubled to score both of them and give the Kernels a 3-1 lead. The next batter was Edgar Corcino. He was making his Kernels debut. In the seventh, he singled in another run. Two batters later, Nick Gordon singled in the fifth run of the game for the team.

 

Doe led the way going 2-4 with the two-run double, his sixth of the year. Corcino went 2-3. Gordon went 2-4. Fernandez walked twice and Zach Larson hit his tenth double.

 

On Sunday afternoon, Australian right-hander Sam Gibbons will make his Kernels debut.

 

Please take a moment to read the Cedar Rapids Gazette article on lefty Jose Velez, authored by Jeff Johnson. It is remarkable!

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tommy Milone, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Bryan Haar, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Buffalo (12:05 CST) – LHP Jason Wheeler

Biloxi @ Chattanooga (1:15 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut

Ft. Myers @ St. Lucie (12:00 CST) – RHP Aaron Slegers

Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Saturday games.

 

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[curt1965]

Thanks for the advise on the article, Seth. Amazing. Need to root for Jose!

 

Also, a huge thank you for these reports by you and the other TD writers! I am a late night person, so I usually wait up until after they come out. I am constantly amazed by the quality writing and the dedication you show every day to the Twins and their fans. Some of us probably take it for granted, but it's hard to imagine anyone could do a better job of expressing his skills than you do! It is much appreciated!

[Seth Stohs]

Very nice compliment. I appreciate that! It is a bit of work, but obviously I completely enjoy it. I really like being able to recognize these players for what they do on a day-to-day basis. 

 

Velez is a great story. As I wrote in the forum thread about the Jeff Johnson story, I had a good 5-minute chat with him. I enjoy reading and writing these stories.  Thank you!

 

Jeremy, Cody, Eric and Steve do a great job too of writing these stories... and giving me a couple of nights off from them to write other things.

[nater79a]

Anybody hear any word on Baxendale? Hope it's not a long term thing.

[Bill Tanner]

Baxendale was holding and manipulating his pitching elbow on the walk from the mound to the dugout.  I didn't notice that Stewart called for the trainer.  Sure hope the young man is doing OK.

 

After watching Kohl Stewart on Friday and DJ Baxendale on Saturday, maybe I should stay away from watching the affiliates for a while.

 

I will say that Chattanooga is a terrific venue.  Beautiful town, and lots of local interest in the Lookouts.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the draw they get, which had to be over 3,000 last night.

[Sam Morley]

Sooo... thoughts on what exactly is going on in the background of the Jose Velez pic... ???