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Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/21): Wheeler Deals In Wings Win

Seth Stohs
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Seth Stohs GOAT

Seth Stohs

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It was a busy night in the Twins minor league system. One starting pitcher recorded a career-high in strikeouts. Six hitters recorded three hits on the day as well. There were two one-run games, one of which finished in 12 innings with a walkoff. Hey the Twins beat Justin Verlander on Friday night which is a good reminder that in this great game of baseball, anything can happen.Continue on to find out all the specifics on a busy night in the Twins farm system. Be sure to go to the Minor League forum and check out the Adopt-a-Prospect. We’d love to have you adopt a Twins prospect or three and follow them throughout the season.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 3, Charlotte 2

Box Score

 

Jason Wheeler has never been described as a strikeout pitcher, but seemingly each year he reaches double digits in strikeouts once. He did so once each year from 2012 through 2015. He didn’t have a ten strikeout game in 2016, but on Friday night the left-hander struck out a career-high 11 batters in seven innings to improve to 2-1 on the season. He gave up two runs on five hits and walked two batters.

 

Drew Rucinski got the first two outs of the eighth inning on strikeouts. Buddy Boshers recorded the third out of the inning. Alex Wimmers recorded his first save of the season with a scoreless ninth frame.

 

The Red Wings tied the game at two in the fifth inning. A wild pitch on a strikeout with the bases loaded allowed the first run to score. Next, Matt Hague grounded out to score the game-tying run. Then in the eighth inning, Kennys Vargas walked for the second time. Bengie Gonzalez pinch ran for him. Daniel Palka doubled him to third base, and Leonardo Reginnato drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

 

Reginnato went 2-3. JB Shuck went 2-4 with his third double. Palka and John Ryan Murphy added doubles.

 

Former Twins starter Mike Pelfrey was supposed to start for Charlotte. Instead, he was called up and will make a start for the White Sox this weekend.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 6, Biloxi 3

Box Score

 

Chattanooga was able to end their series against the Biloxi Shuckers with a nice win. The Lookouts got the majority of their offense from their top two hitters. Nick Gordon went 3-5 with his second double and three RBIs. In the sixth inning with the game tied at three, he hit a bases loaded single. He tried to stretch it into a double but was thrown out at second. In the meantime, the third runner scored all the way from first giving Gordon three RBI on that single.

 

The second-spot hitter was Engelb Vielma. He went 3-5 with two RBIs. He gave the Lookouts the early lead when he hit a two-run single in the third inning. The other Lookouts run scored on an RBI single from Ryan Walker in the fourth inning. LaMonte Wade went 2-3 with a walk. Levi Michael, who made another start in center field, went 0-1 and walked twice.

 

Paul Clemens was back on the mound for the Lookouts. The veteran right-hander gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out seven. Todd Van Steensel came on and worked 2.1 scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, but no walks and struck out four. John Curtiss recorded the final two outs to earn his second save of the season.

 

May have to do a little digging, but lefty Mason Melotakis was ejected from the game in the first inning. UPDATE:

 

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 10, Dunedin 4

Box Score

 

A five-run third inning gave the Miracle a lead. They kept adding to it including three runs in the ninth inning to claim a big win. The bats have continued to hit after a very slow start.

 

Ehire Adrianza played in his first game on rehab assignment. He started at shortstop and went 3-5 with a stolen base and three runs scored. Max Murphy was also 3-5. Zander Wiel hit his fourth and fifth doubles and drove in three runs. Nelson Molina went 2-4 with his first triple and two RBI. Chris Paul had just one hit, but his three-run homer was the big blow in that third inning.

 

Keaton Steele was back on the mound. The right-hander gave up four runs on ten hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out four on his way to his first win of the season. Michael Theofanopoulos struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. Jonny Drozd came on and got the final three outs.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 4, Kane County 3 (12 innings)

Box Score

 

Travis Blankenhorn led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a walk. Two wild pitches advanced Blankenhorn to third base. After Lewin Diaz was intentionally walks, Jaylin Davis singled in Blankenhorn, ending a long night in Cedar Rapids with a 4-3 Kernels win.

 

Blankenhorn had the big hit early in the game when his double scored two runs for the Kernels. Jermaine Palacios went 3-6 with his second double. Brandon Lopez was 3-5 in the game. Davis went 2-6.

 

Sean Poppen was back on the mound and provided the Kernels with another quality start. The right-hander from Harvard gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out seven. Logan Lombana struck out four over 2.2 scoreless innings. Thomas Hackimer picked up the win with 3.1 scoreless innings, with three strikeouts.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Jason Wheeler, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Nick Gordon, Chattanooga Lookouts

 

 

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Charlotte (6:05 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers

Tennessee @ Chattanooga - (6:15 CST) - RHP Kohl Stewart

Ft. Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 CST) - RHP Randy LeBlanc

Kane County @ Cedar Rapids (5:05 CST) - LHP Domenick Carlini

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

 

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Trov GCL Twins

Trov

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Man, Gordon is really looking nice with the bat. Hopefully he continues to do this all year. I really like the increase in walks.

Gordon has always been a streaky hitter.  I would love to see him sustain this for a long period.  

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Brock Beauchamp GOAT

Brock Beauchamp

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Gordon has always been a streaky hitter.  I would love to see him sustain this for a long period.  

I don't think he's streaky so much as he hasn't really put it together offensively. His career high season OPS is .721 and looking through his splits, he only has four months OPSing above .800 or below .600 (out of a possible 16 months total).

 

And that's including this month, which hasn't finished yet (currently at .861, could drop considerably in next 7-8 days).

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diehardtwinsfan Minnesota Twins

diehardtwinsfan

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Last season, he got off to a nice start and had an .800 OPS into August.. He really cooled off after that. I wonder how much of that is still getting used to playing baseball as a career.  He's got reputation for being a very good hitter, so what I want to see more than anything is him just not cool off this year and maintain a decent pace.

 

He strikes me as a guy who can OPS in the .800s pretty consistently, which out of SS is pretty nice.

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Mr. Brooks Cedar Rapids Kernels

Mr. Brooks

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Post anthem standoff... the players stand outside the dugout, at attention,. When the anthem is done, Melotakis and the guy from Biloxi stayed still. The one that gives in and moves and goes to the dugout first loses.

 

It's funny to watch, but obviously the game has to start.

I can't believe this is a thing.

These guys are willing to hurt their team (by getting tossed) because they'd rather play "post anthem standoff" than baseball- which they are being paid for, by the way.

What a bunch of clowns.

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yarnivek1972 Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

yarnivek1972

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I can't believe this is a thing.

These guys are willing to hurt their team (by getting tossed) because they'd rather play "post anthem standoff" than baseball- which they are being paid for, by the way.

What a bunch of clowns.

It wouldn't be surprising if Melotakis got sent down a level for a couple weeks for that nonsense. He clearly needs to learn what it means to be a professional. He isn't in junior high. His manager and the Twins brass needs to make that extremely clear to him.

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