Article: Twins Minor league Report (6/25): Sano and Walker Homer

[Eric R Pleiss]

The Twins enjoyed an off-day on Thursday and traveled to Milwaukee for a three-game border-battle with the Brewers, starting on Friday evening.

 

It was announced on Thursday that the Fort Myers Miracle will host the 2016 Florida State League All-Star Game.RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester @ Pawtucket PawSox

Box Score

 

Ervin Santana ran his record to 2-0 with a seven-inning, 97-pitch outing. Santana struck out three, walked two and gave up seven hits, including a pair of home runs. Santana was relieved by Logan Darnell who pitched 0.2 of an inning, and Mark Hamburger who got just one out. A.J. Achter earned his ninth save despite giving up a pair of runs in the ninth inning.

 

Red Wings hitters Reynaldo Rodriguez and Wilkin Ramirez each hit a home run on Thursday night, a three-run shot for Rodriguez, a solo dinger for Ramirez. Rodriguez was 2-4 on the night with a pair of runs scored and those three RBIs. James Beresford reached three times, scored twice and he was 2-3 with a walk. Oswaldo Arcia continues to struggle, he was 0-4 with a strikeout and is now hitting just .183 in AAA this season.

 

Final: Red Wings 6, PawSox 5

 

 

LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN

Chattanooga @ Montgomery Biscuits

Box Score

 

Despite building a 4-0 lead after an inning and a half, the Lookouts were blown out by the Montgomery Biscuits 12-7. The Biscuits scored six runs in the bottom of the second, three more in the third, and one each in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. David Hurlbut, the Lookouts starter, lasted just 2.1 innings, giving up nine runs (seven earned) on eight hits, a walk, and a strike out. Madison Boer pitched 1.2 innings, gave up one run, and was replaced by Nick Burdi, who gave up a run in each inning he pitched, including a solo home run. Tim Shibuya finished the game with two innings of one-hit ball. On the evening the Lookouts gave up fourteen hits, four walks and a single dinger.

 

The Lookouts tried to come back from being down seven runs with a run in the sixth and two more in the eighth, but despite multi-hit nights from Levi Michael, Adam Brett Walker and Heiker Meneses, they could not get the job done. Miguel Sano and Adam Brett Walker both had home runs for the Lookouts. Stuart Turner added a triple and Levi Michael and Max Kepler each had a double. Chattanooga had plenty of additional scoring chances, but left seven men on base and were 3-10 with men in scoring position. Jorge Polanco committed his fifteenth error of the season, another throwing error.

Final: Lookouts 7, Biscuits 12

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers @ Charlotte Stone Crabs

Box Score

 

Miracle starter Aaron Slegers went seven innings, gave up just five hits and a single unearned run. He struck out eight and walked none. Despite that strong performance, the Miracle hitters didn't put any runs on the board until after Slegers was out of the game, so he was left without a decision. Corey Williams vultured a win with a scoreless eight inning when the Miracle scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth. D.J. Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth to earn just his second save of the year.

 

Miracle hitters were stymied for most of the game, but put together two runs (one earned) in the top of the ninth inning thanks to an Engelb Vielma walk, an Alex Swim triple and a passed ball. The Miracle collected just three hits on the evening, one from each of Chad Christensen, Alex Swim and Engelb Vielma.

 

Final: Miracle 2, Stone Crabs 1

 

 

KERNELS KORNER

Quad Cities River Bandits @ Cedar Rapids

Box Score

 

Cedar Rapids rallied late, then gave up the lead in the top of the ninth, only to walk-off the River Bandits in the bottom of the frame to move to 42-29. Felix Jorge was going to be on the hook for the loss, leaving after six innings of two-run (one earned) baseball. He struck out five, but walked three and was down 2-0 when he left the contest. Brandon Bixler pitched a pair of scoreless innings and Luke Bard pitched the top of the ninth. Bard gave up a run, on three hits and a walk, and was charged with a blown save (his first of the season), but then claimed rights to a win when the Kernels rallied in their last at-bat.

 

The Kernels pushed across the winning run in the ninth thanks to a leadoff single from Jorge Fernandez, who was quickly lifted for pinch runner Tanner English. English moved to second thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Brian Navarreto and then took third on a Pat Kelly groundout. With two outs and a man on third, Edgar Corcino singled to right field and English had an easy trot in for the winning run. Nick Gordon was 1-4 with a run scored. Zach Larson was 1-4 with a pair of RBIs. Corcino hit leadoff for the Kernels, was 3-5 with that RBI and one strikeout. If you're unfamiliar with Corcino, don't be alarmed, he's a 23 year-old MiLB journeyman who has played in the minors and independent baseball since 2009. Corcino is playing in affiliated ball for the first time in three years, after playing as high as AAA in 2012 for the Detroit Tigers' Toledo Mud Hens.

 

Final: River Bandits 3, Kernels 4

 

 

E-TOWN E-NEWS

Elizabethton @ Bluefield Blue Jays

Box Score

 

The Twins lost 4-1 in a game that lasted just one hour and fifty-nine minutes. Miles Nordgren was charged with four unearned runs in the first inning, and the Twins held the Blue Jays scoreless for the rest of the game. Nordgren pitched five innings, gave up those four runs, struck out three and walked none. Kuo Hua Lo pitched two scoreless innings of relief, struck out four and walked none. Logan Lombana pitched the eighth for the Twins, giving up a walk, a hit and he struck out a batter.

 

Despite holding the Blue Jays scoreless for seven innings, the Twins managed just five hits of their own, to go along with seven strikeouts. Tyler Kuresa was 2-4, A.J. Murray was 1-3 with a solo home run and Austin Diemer was 2-3. The rest of the Twins team was held hitless and went a combined 0-26.

 

Final: Twins 1, Blue Jays 4

 

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Hitter of the Day - Edgar Corcino, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Pitcher of the Day - Ervin Santana, Rochester Red Wings

 

 

FRIDAY'S PROBABLES

 

Charlotte @ Rochester - Erik Johnson vs. Pat Dean (5-6, 3.22)

Chattanooga @ Montgomery - Alex Wimmers (5-1, 4.31) vs. TBD

 

Charlotte @ Fort Myers - TBD vs. Chih-Wei Hu (4-1, 2.17)

 

Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids - Joshua James vs. Ethan MIldren

 

Pulaski @ Elizabethton - TBD vs. Brandon Easton (0-0, -.--)

 

Click here to view the article

[jimbo92107]

For those of us that thought Ervin Santana was the second coming of Johan Santana, I'm afraid it doesn't look like it. Ervin was impressive this spring, but now he looks like another fairly good starter.

[Linus]

Did anybody think he was going to be the second coming of johan?

[Platoon]

Well in reality, he is! But no he won't be!

[Pitz]

Player A - 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR

 

Player B - 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO, 0 HR

 

Player C - 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO, 2 HR

 

Who's your pitcher of the day?

 

[drjim]

 

Did anybody think he was going to be the second coming of johan?

 

I'm sure there were a couple of strawmen.

[70charger]

 

Player A - 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR

 

Player B - 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO, 0 HR

 

Player C - 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO, 2 HR

 

Who's your pitcher of the day?

 

B. Looked again, and that's Aaron Slegers. Which I think I agree with. But these things are subjective, and it's fun to get alternative viewpoints. 

[Craig Arko]

 

For those of us that thought Ervin Santana was the second coming of Johan Santana, I'm afraid it doesn't look like it. Ervin was impressive this spring, but now he looks like another fairly good starter.

Johan in his prime, no. But if he puts up a line like this against the Royals, I'll be okay with that.

[mobeck]

Zach Larson looked like he robbed a homerun in last nights game as well. He ran right to the wall and made a leaping catch. I couldn't tell from my angle if it would have been over, but its the second fantastic catch for him I've see in 2 games.

[MileHighTwinsFan]

 

For those of us that thought Ervin Santana was the second coming of Johan Santana, I'm afraid it doesn't look like it. Ervin was impressive this spring, but now he looks like another fairly good starter.

 

I agree that Santana may be a push with whoever gets moved out of the rotation.  I worry that the Twins will make an irreversible move with one of the existing starters, like trading Pelfrey or Milone, Santana struggles and it ends up being a net loss.  

 

I am hoping that they move Milone to the pen, keeping him ready to start in the event that he is needed.   

[clutterheart]

Why wouldnt you include the GCL Twins? Outside of AA the GCL has the most exciting collection of hitters in the system

[nytwinsfan]

As the person in charge of Sano's adopt-a-prospect thread, and in light of his name in the title of this post, I thought I would take this opportunity to leave this here:

 

On the year, Sano is now batting .248/.348/.500 (.848).

 

That's pretty good after coming back from a year off with a serious injury. Perhaps the best news, however, is that Sano only has 1 error in his last 10 games and only 2 errors in June. June isn't over yet, but it still seems to be quite a bit of an improvement over May when he had 8 errors, and April, when he had 4 errors in 2/3 of a month.

[scottz]

If you're unfamiliar with Corcino, don't be alarmed, he's a 23 year-old MiLB journeyman who has played in the minors and independent baseball since 2009. Corcino is playing in affiliated ball for the first time in three years, after playing as high as AAA in 2012 for the Detroit Tigers' Toledo Mud Hens.

 

A 23-year old who made AAA in 2012 (as a 20 year old) caught my attention. Looking up his minor league stats, I see he played only 3 games (4 ABs) at AAA in 2012, and otherwise appears to be a light-hitting player A-ball level player. My attention has now been released.

[h2oface]

I can't judge what Santana's performance is likely to be by his results in the rehab starts. Pawtucket has Rusney Castillo (solo homer) and Shane Victorino (double) at the top of the order, and Allen Craig later. Plus, these are rehab starts, and the most important thing is to stretch it out and gain arm strength, and to work on his pitchers - like a second spring training for him. Results (which haven't been too bad) in the rehab starts are not as important as getting the work in he needs to to be ready to help the Twins upon his activation. I don't expect him to be much more than another fairly good starter, though, because that is all he has ever been. 

[Guest]

 

Zach Larson looked like he robbed a homerun in last nights game as well. He ran right to the wall and made a leaping catch. I couldn't tell from my angle if it would have been over, but its the second fantastic catch for him I've see in 2 games.

There was no doubt that Larson pulled a potential home run ball back in on that play.

[blairpaul715]

And most major leaguers in minor rehabs dont have the adrenaline flowing like they do or will in a ream MLB game.......especially when he makes his first start........and like someone else said above, he is an avg ML pitcher, so i am not expecting greatness either, but hoping for status quo from the likes of what we have seen so far from our starting pitchers

[DocBauer]

In regard to Santana........COME ON!

 

Anyone really going to scold me if I use the term; "reality check"?

 

Who....and I mean WHO ever said anything about Johan? We signed a proven, quality, expensive but market average cost, RHSP with a really nice track record to bolster our team. A guy slightly more expensive and a bit better than the tough luck Nolasco, and the steal of Hughes....again...more expensive, but better overall.

 

Lest we forget, I was in favor of Santana over Nolasco, but not by much, and was OK with the Nolasco signing. Forget his tough start to his Twins career. He is NOT a bad pitcher. Maybe a bad fit in the end, bad karma or bad luck that should force a name change to Murphy, but he is not a bad pitcher. If you look at career numbers, you will see that Santana is, and always has been, a bit better than Nolasco. (Albeit not by a great margin)

 

Just for a moment, can we drop the whole ACE mentality here? There is a difference between an ACE and a #1 SP on most staffs. Honestly, it's a really, really small, almost tiny difference. Sometimes, you even have to break down smaller numbers to see the difference. But overall, generally speaking, if you don't recognize that slim difference, you probably aren't a real baseball fan. Sorry. Truth.

 

Then comes "top of the rotation starter", which really means anything from dominate #2 SP to really good/potentially dominate #3 SP. Career numbers, Santana ranks ahead of Nolasco....but not by that much really. I know it sounds easy to say that a pitcher put up better numbers when he pitched for a better team. But as there is a difference between different players and pitchers, if you remove the elite, there is also a difference in "rising to the occassion" as opposed to doing their best. Hence, an OK SP "rises" when surrounded by quality supporting cast. Santana and Nolasco are similar, quality, experienced MLSP. However, Santana still wins out in comparison.

 

And since when does any kind of warm up or rehab with a ML vet even matter in regard to ML comparable stats?