Article: Twins Minor League Report (8/29): Darnell Dazzles; Santana Slugs

[Seth Stohs]

The GCL Twins season ended in unfortunate circumstances. The game was cancelled by more rain. Cedar Rapids was able to complete their two games. The Miracle took all the free passes that they could. And two left-handers in the upper levels were remarkable on Saturday night. Two Red Wings made strong cases for getting back into a Twins uniform in September.It was a busy night in the Twins farm system. Check out all the game stories and highlights below.

 

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Pawtucket 1

Box Score

 

On August 7^th, Logan Darnell pitched a scoreless inning in relief for the Red Wings. It dropped his season ERA to 4.20. Through his first 30 games this year (two spot starts, but the rest out of the bullpen) batters hit .307 against him in 45 innings. On August 13^th, he got another start and gave up just one run on one hit over 5.1 innings. Five days later, he gave up no runs in 5.2 innings. On Monday, he threw a five-hit, complete game shutout for the Red Wings. One run over three starts and 20 innings is pretty impressive, so how did he do on this night?

 

Darnell started with five shutout innings and was terrific again. In all, he gave up one run (in the sixth inning) on five hits and a walk. He struck out eight. As impressive, he was efficient. He needed just 91 pitches to work the eight innings, 69 of them were strikes. With Terry Ryan in attendance, he’s made a strong showing in hopes of a September call-up. Michael Tonkin gave up two hits in a scoreless ninth inning.

 

By the way, after his four starts, he is now 5-1 and his ERA is down to 2.84 on the season.

 

The offense managed just six hits, but they too were efficient. Danny Santana led off with his first Red Wings home run. In his second at bat, he hit his second homer. James Beresford drove in two runs with a single.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 5, Birmingham 2

Box Score

 

The Lookouts also got a terrific start from a left-hander. David Hurlbut gave up only an unearned run over the first seven innings. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out five. He improved to 10-6 with a 3.66 ERA. DJ Johnson gave up one run on three hits and a walk over the final two innings.

 

Stuart Turner went 2-3 with a walk and his 13^th double. Travis Harrison was 2-5. Max Kepler went 1-3 with two walks. Niko Goodrum hit his sixth double.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 7, Bradenton 3

Box Score

 

The Miracle scored seven runs and it’s fair to say that they should have had twice as many runs. They had nine hits in the game and 12 walks. The first six hitters in the lineup each got to first base via walk or hit batter at least once. Engelb Vielma led off and went 1-3 with three walks. He stole his 33^rd base of the season. Marcus Knecht went 1-3 with two walks. Logan Wade went 1-3 with two walks and his 20^th double. Jason Kanzler went 2-5 with his eighth triple. Blake Schmit went 2-5. Mitch Garver and Chad Christensen both walked twice.

 

Stephen Gonsalves didn’t have his best stuff. He went just 4.2 innings and gave up three runs on five hits. He walked four and struck out three. Trevor Hildenberger came on and went the next 2.1 innings. He walked one and struck one out but allowed no runs. Zack Jones struck out three over the final two scoreless innings.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Game 1 – Cedar Rapids 2, Kane County 6

Box Score

 

Lewis Thorpe made the trek up to Cedar Rapids to watch fellow Australian Sam Gibbons. The right-hander gave up four runs (three earned) on 11 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out one. Jared Wilson gave up two runs (one earned) on one hit over two innings. He struck out one.

 

TJ White went 2-2 with a walk. Austin Diemer went 2-3. Nick Gordon added his 22^nd double.

 

Edgar Corcino and Max Murphy each threw out a base runner at home.

 

 

Game 2 – Cedar Rapids 4, Kane County 3 (9 Innings)

Box Score

 

Randy LeBlanc got the start. He got two outs in the fifth inning, but three runs scored in that inning before he was removed from the game. In his 4.2 innings, he gave up three runs on eight hits. He struck out five without allowing a walk. Luke Bard replaced him. He went 2.1 innings without allowing a run. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out one. Jeff Johnson from The Gazette in Cedar Rapids tweeted that Bard was “throwing mid-90s and a tad higher.” Nick Anderson came on and threw a scoreless eighth inning. However, he gave up a solo home run in the ninth, the first run he’s allowed in professional baseball, to take the loss.

 

The Kernels scattered eight hits in the second game. Nick Gordon went 2-4. .

 

E-TOWN E-NOTES

Elizabethton 2, Kingsport 5

Box Score

 

Christian Cavaness picked up his first E-Twins hit in the first inning when he led off with a triple. He scored when second-place hitter Jermaine Palacios grounded out. Zander Wiel was also 1-3 with a walk.

 

Miles Nordgren started and went the first five innings. He gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walk. He struck out three. CK Irby came on and gave up no hits and no runs over the final four innings. He walked one, hit one and struck out five.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins, GCL Red Sox

 

The teams were supposed to be playing the final regular season game of the GCL season. However, they were unable to play due to rain and the game was cancelled. The Red Sox end the season with a 41-17 record and will advance in the playoffs. The Twins end the year at 27-32.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Logan Darnell, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Danny Santana, Rochester Red Wings

 

 

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Pawtucket @ Rochester (12:35 CST) – LHP Pat Dean

Chattanooga @ Birmingham (DH @ 1:30 CST) – RHP Greg Peavey, LHP Brett Lee

Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – TBD

Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (5:00 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele

Kingsport @ Elizabethton (5:00 CST) – RHP Andro Cutura

GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (9:00) – TBD (final game of their season)

 

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below

 

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[Squirrel]

Glad the Miracle pulled it out. Was at the game, but only stayed through 4. Gonsalves did not look good, as stated in the report. And yeah, lots of wasted opportunities for so many more runs as the Bradenton pitchers looked worse.

[twinssouth]

Good to see Bard hitting mid 90's and not having his arm fall off. That's close to predraft, as hitting 97 at GA Tech. My guess is they're keeping him in Cedar Rapids this year to build arm strength under less stressful conditions, after coming out of last years surgery. Give him a good healthy off year and he could really shoot up the ranks.

[roger]

We should be hearing about September callups today, or do you already know Seth?

 

Expect Darnell is a done deal.  On 40-man roster, check!  Pitching great, especially the last part of the season, check!  Has experience working out of the bullpen, check!

 

If he travels on Tuesday, should be available on Wednesday for some work out of the bullpen.

 

So do you think he will be here then, after the Red Wings season, or not at all?

[Otto von Ballpark]

The Red Wings are 5 games out with 9 to play. I sure hope they are not waiting for the end of that season to call up players, especially given our bullpen (no long relievers right now) and bench (no pinch hitters).

[Seth Stohs]

 

Good to see Bard hitting mid 90's and not having his arm fall off. That's close to predraft, as hitting 97 at GA Tech. My guess is they're keeping him in Cedar Rapids this year to build arm strength under less stressful conditions, after coming out of last years surgery. Give him a good healthy off year and he could really shoot up the ranks.

 

Yes. He hasn't pitched much since being drafted, several surgeries. The key for him this year is to get him consistent innings and make sure he's healthy. I don't think people realize just how much his arm was hurt. He's taken the time and worked hard to recover, so this has been encouraging.

[DocBauer]

Great to see Bard healthy, throwing hard, and presumably, back on his career path.

 

Darnell may not be a top prospect, but any LH that can get outs always grabs my attention. I thought last season he was on track as a LH relief option who could get some SO's and not exclusively be a LOOGY. Needless to sY, a disappointing season for the most part. But his strong finish has me encouraged again.

[Seth Stohs]

 

We should be hearing about September callups today, or do you already know Seth?

 

Expect Darnell is a done deal.  On 40-man roster, check!  Pitching great, especially the last part of the season, check!  Has experience working out of the bullpen, check!

 

If he travels on Tuesday, should be available on Wednesday for some work out of the bullpen.

 

So do you think he will be here then, after the Red Wings season, or not at all?

 

I would think Darnell's last 4-5 appearances have probably made him a yes. Before that he was not. 

 

I tweeted this morning that I expect the following (and no, I don't know):

 

I expect Vargas, Santana, Fryer and Tonkin to be called up on Sept. 1st. 

 

After the minor league season is complete, I would think we'd see Achter, Darnell. I think Hamburger will get a shot then.

 

I also think Kepler will come up whenever the Chattanooga playoff run is done. 

 

Hicks will be up off the DL next week. I also expect that Vargas will come up on Aug. 31st with O'Rourke being optioned to the GCL so that he can stay up. But that gets their playoff roster to 12 pitchers, 13 hitters.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Why Santana on Sep. 1? There is no way he starts up here while Escobar is healthy. I guess pinch running? I'd rather have him keep swinging a bat for another week in AAA in case Escobar got hurt.

 

Also, you don't think Berrios will get any kind of look? I'd like to see a pitcher capable of long relief on Sep. 1, preferably Berrios but Darnell would be in that group too. No sense going another week without a long reliever despite expanded rosters in a pennant race, short starts absolutely destroy our pen right now.

Edited August 30, 2015 by spycake