Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/12): Palka Doing Palka Things

[Steve Lein]

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 after the Twins game that JT 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 9.1 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 its 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 inning's first two outs, but ended up allowing five runs on five hits before Nick Greenwood finished the game with a ground ball back at himself with runners on first and second. Ryan O’Rourke had been summoned between Martinez and Greenwood, but he 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). 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 bat 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 remained 3-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when the Smokies got three consecutive two-out singles to tie the game. Hurlburt’s day was done after the inning and he had 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. 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 among his eight K’s in the game he 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 an Edgar Corcino RBI ground ball, 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 finished six innings on the day, allowing those runs on five hits and four walks, while striking out five. The loss put his record at 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.

 

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[clutterheart]

Over 2 seasons Rosario has 7 walks in 45 games at AAA.

Its almost like he is going for some record.

 

[nytwinsfan]

Also, 17 year-old SS Wander Javier hit his 2nd HR and is now hitting .304/.385/.696 (1.080) in the DSL.

[twinssouth]

JT got sent down, got things to work on, with a little luck, we should see him up in 2021

[Seth Stohs]

Javier's home run was on Saturday and mentioned in that report.

[mlhouse]

 

JT got sent down, got things to work on, with a little luck, we should see him up in 2021

 

 

And instead of working on them we just show we have no confidence in him and replace him with a with a waiver wire player that will be joining is 3rd team of the season.

 

How any of these moves makes any sense in rebuilding this team totally escapes me. 

 

To get better we must get "worse", play the kids, take the lumps.  Maybe Chargois is not the closer of the future.  But the only way to tell is to have him pitching in the major leagues.  The step from minors to majors is a big one.  Sending him back to strike out more AAA batters does nothing to taking that next step.  IT is the same with all of our young players.  

 

This has been an ongoing saga for 5 years now.  This team would rather player the Eric Fryers of the world than develop their young players.

[Steve Lein]

TR made it clear on Sunday that he only brought up Chargois because of a roster crunch, but those exact comments only confuse me even more. Has he been watching how bad this team is? Then goes and add another guy in Ramirez who has been just as bad (or worse) than several guys already here.

 

 

[scottz]

"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."

 

Let's keep sacrifice bunting early in games. Teach everyone to sac bunt when it is 0-0 in the 2nd. When they get to the bigs, they'll know just what to do.

[Vanimal46]

Eddie Rosario AAA walk count:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XhVLcc36Nk

[Mike Sixel]

A sac bunt in the 2nd? No wonder the MLB team isn't baseball smart. Unreal.

 

As for Chargois....there were 100% other ways to handle this, they chose this route, 100% TR chose this route. No one tied their hands. They weren't forced to do this. This was their decision. I'm tired of the "we had no other choice" way they treat their prospects.

[scottz]

 

A sac bunt in the 2nd? No wonder the MLB team isn't baseball smart. Unreal.

 

It could be worse, I suppose. It could have been in the first inning of the first game of a playoff series against the Yankees.

 

Bottom of the 1st, Twins Batting, Tied 0-0, Yankees' CC Sabathia facing 1-2-3
b1 0-0 0 --- 5,(2-2)   MIN D. Span C. Sabathia -4% 42% Single to LF (Ground Ball)
b1 0-0 0 1-- 1,(0-0)  O MIN O. Hudson C. Sabathia 2% 43% Bunt Groundout: P-1B/Sacrifice; Span to 2B
b1 0-0 1 -2- 5,(2-2)  O MIN J. Mauer C. Sabathia 3% 47% Strikeout Swinging
b1 0-0 2 -2- 2,(0-1)  O MIN D. Young C. Sabathia 3% 50% Groundout: 2B-1B
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Yankees 0, Twins 0.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN201010060.shtml

 

Teach all the players. Bunt early, bunt often.

Edited June 13, 2016 by scottz

[Cap'n Piranha]

I'm joining the dark side. Fire Terry!

[B Good]

 

I'm joining the dark side. Fire Terry!

 

I am as well.  I literally stopped reading the article when it said Chargois had been sent back down.  I want to see Terry gone, and I want to see Dougie Baseball manage the young guys.  He's had success with them at several levels, he's fiery, and he's young.  I think he could push the right buttons and get the younger guys playing at a higher level.  

[dgwills]

I would of game Chargois one more chance. When you throw that hard it's going to be more difficult to throw strikes. It looks like nerves got to him as well, so a second chance could of helped. At the same time though, he was a danger to opposing batters. You can't have a guy up in the majors with that little control for too long.

[nicksaviking]

 

It could be worse, I suppose. It could have been in the first inning of the first game of a playoff series against the Yankees.

 

Bottom of the 1st, Twins Batting, Tied 0-0, Yankees' CC Sabathia facing 1-2-3
b1 0-0 0 --- 5,(2-2)   MIN D. Span C. Sabathia -4% 42% Single to LF (Ground Ball)
b1 0-0 0 1-- 1,(0-0)  O MIN O. Hudson C. Sabathia 2% 43% Bunt Groundout: P-1B/Sacrifice; Span to 2B
b1 0-0 1 -2- 5,(2-2)  O MIN J. Mauer C. Sabathia 3% 47% Strikeout Swinging
b1 0-0 2 -2- 2,(0-1)  O MIN D. Young C. Sabathia 3% 50% Groundout: 2B-1B
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Yankees 0, Twins 0.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN201010060.shtml

 

Teach all the players. Bunt early, bunt often.

 

The bunt in the 1st is just barely more of an eye-roll than Delmon Young batting cleanup in a playoff game.