Article: Twins Minor League Report (5/10): Carrier Carries Kernels To Win

[Seth Stohs]

The Ft. Myers Miracle played a morning game on Wednesday. All four Twins affiliates played, but the Miracle game was the only one that didn’t go to extra innings.

 

Kevin Chapman arrived in Rochester. The move also meant that Raul Fernandez was sent down to Chattanooga. Those moves happened before the Twins claimed Adam Wilk and sent Drew Rucinski down to Rochester.Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Wednesday.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Lehigh Valley 2 (11)

Box Score

 

David Hurlbut continued the terrific start to his season. The left-hander went six innings and gave up just one run on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three to drop his season ERA to 1.59 on the season. Trevor Hildenberger struck out one in a perfect seventh inning. Nik Turley then threw two shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two. Alex Wimmers pitched a scoreless tenth inning. However, he went back out for the 11th inning and gave up a game-winning, walkoff homer.

 

Despite extra innings, the Red Wings managed just six hits. Their lone run came off rehabbing Aaron Nola when Ben Paulsen drove in a run with a single. Daniel Palka went 2-3 with a walk and his fourth double. Tommy Field added a double.

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 4 (12 innings)

Box Score

 

The Lookouts also needed extra innings to decide their Wednesday game. And unfortunately, they too came up short.

 

Randy LeBlanc made the start. He gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out two. Raul Fernandez, just sent down from Rochester, threw 2.2 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out two. Mason Melotakis finally gave up a run. The left-hander came into the game with 12.1 scoreless innings. He surpassed 13 innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch, which tied the game at three in the 11th. Todd Van Steensel came in for the 12th frame. He recorded two outs, but he gave up a run on two hits to take the loss.

 

LaMonte Wade went 3-6. Nick Gordon went 2-6 with his seventh double. Engelb Vielma went 2-5 with two RBI. Levi Michael went 2-4 with a walk and his third double. Jon Rodriguez went 2-5 with a walk.

 

LaMonte Wade’s season has been very interesting. In his first ten games, he hit .103/.229/.103 (.332). In his next 20 games, he hit .421/.557/.667 (1.224). And that was before the 3-6 on Wednesday.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 0, Palm Beach 5

Box Score

 

The Miracle played a morning education game with lots of kids at the stadium. Keaton Steele was on the mound to start for Ft. Myers. He gave up two runs in the first inning and three more in the second despite leaving with two outs. In 1.2 innings, he gave up five runs on eight hits. Jonny Drozd came on and provided 3.1 shutout innings. He gave up just two hits and struck out one. Williams Ramirez walked two and gave up one hit over two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Sam Clay and Nick Anderson each pitched a scoreless inning. That puts Anderson at 13.1 scoreless innings to start the season. Sam Clay has a streak of 17.2 scoreless innings.

 

 

Sean Miller provided much of the Miracle offense. He went 3-4 with his seventh double. Zander Wiel went 1-3 with a walk and his 12th double. Max Murphy went 1-3 with a walk.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Dayton 5 (10 innings)

Box Score

 

Apparently the theme of the night is extra innings, and the Kernels needed to go one extra frame before settling their game.

 

Tyler Wells made the start. The right-hander gave up three runs on four hits (including two homers) in five innings. He walked two and struck out six. Hector Lujan gave up four hits over two scoreless innings. Alex Robinson struck out two in his scoreless inning. Colton Davis came in for the ninth inning to protect a two-run lead. However, he gave up a two-run homer which sent the game to extra innings.

 

Lewin Diaz went 3-5 with his 13th double. Ariel Montesino was 2-3 with his fourth double and two sacrifice flies. He also stole his first base. Shane Carrier went 3-4 and was hit by a pitch. He also singled in the game-winning run in the top of the tenth.

 

Colton Davis went back out for the bottom of the tenth inning. He got the first two outs and left with the tying run on third base. Tom Hackimer came on and struck out the one batter he faced to end the game and record his third save.

 

Lewin Diaz hit .224/.264/.358 (.622) in his first 18 games with the Kernels this year. In his past 13 games (including Wednesday night), he has hit .346/.370/.635 (1.005).

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Randy LeBlanc, Chattanooga Lookouts

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Shane Carrier, Cedar Rapids Kernels

 

 

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Pawtucket (5:05 CST) - LHP Adalberto Mejia

Chattanooga @ Montgomery (7:05 CST) - LHP Matt Tracy

Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (5:35 CST) - LHP Lachlan Wells

Cedar Rapids @ Bowling Green (2:05 CST) - RHP Sean Poppen

 

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

 

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[nyazbeck]

Kohl Stewart to DL left knee tendinitis

[clutterheart]

Really great to see young players struggle make adjustments then improve.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Wade is destroying AA right now...  wow.. 

[Oldgoat_MN]

If Wade can keep hitting I sure hope they move him up mid-season. We really could use a backup OF should one of our guys get injured. He made the adjustments he needed to pretty quickly.

 

Really glad Park is back in the lineup. Rather doubt we'll ever see him in a Twins uniform again, but I'm glad he is healthy.

[Han Joelo]

Thanks for pointing out Clay's numbers. That stuff can fall through the cracks. Same with Diaz, although he isn't as likely to fall through any cracks.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Kohl Stewart to DL left knee tendinitis

 

Yeah, it was weird to see that in the Southern League transactions yesterday. We noted that in the Minor League Report last Friday.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Thanks for pointing out Clay's numbers. That stuff can fall through the cracks. Same with Diaz, although he isn't as likely to fall through any cracks.

 

With relievers, one bad outing can be tough on an ERA. Consider his season ERA is still over 3 despite throwing 17+ consecutive scoreless innings since his first outing.

 

It's like Matt Belisle. Something like 13 of his 15 runs allowed have come in two of his 15 outings. He's been fine 13/15 appearances, but those two bad outings put his season ERA at 9.00. 

[Tom Froemming]

Great to see Daniel Palka get two hits off Aaron Nola. Also encouraging to see he's dropped his strikeout rate from 38.6% with ROC in '16 to 23.9% so far this year.

[Mike Sixel]

 

With relievers, one bad outing can be tough on an ERA. Consider his season ERA is still over 3 despite throwing 17+ consecutive scoreless innings since his first outing.

 

It's like Matt Belisle. Something like 13 of his 15 runs allowed have come in two of his 15 outings. He's been fine 13/15 appearances, but those two bad outings put his season ERA at 9.00. 

 

if you ignore inherited runners and other things, and look at ERA.....do people look at ERA for RPs?

[Seth Stohs]

 

if you ignore inherited runners and other things, and look at ERA.....do people look at ERA for RPs?

 

probably not... though in the minor leagues they probably (without looking at all indepth) starting and finish innings more than in the big leagues. Not as many pitching changes. I could be wrong. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

probably not... though in the minor leagues they probably (without looking at all indepth) starting and finish innings more than in the big leagues. Not as many pitching changes. I could be wrong. 

 

good point on the minors maybe being different. I had not thought of that. Would be interesting to know!

[Brock Beauchamp]

The team must be considering a timeline for Gordon to head to Rochester. The guy is dominating the Southern League. He needs to get some quality time in at the highest MiLB level before the season is complete.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Lest we forget, Gordon got off to a similar start last year... I'm not against promotion, but he cooled considerably as the season went on... I'm hoping that was more about him tiring than anything, but something to keep in mind.

[yarnivek1972]

Kind of an important start for Lachlan Wells tonight. He was fine his first couple starts. 2 of the last 3 have been kinda f-ugly.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Lest we forget, Gordon got off to a similar start last year... I'm not against promotion, but he cooled considerably as the season went on... I'm hoping that was more about him tiring than anything, but something to keep in mind.

He was pretty good but not nearly as good as he is this season. He started hot in April (.845 OPS) but tailed off hard in May (.660 OPS).

 

This season, he posted an .818 OPS in April and has been even better in May, posting a .934 OPS.

 

We could be dealing with SSS here but I think it's more than that. Gordon is getting to the age where he's probably adding some muscle and hitting the ball with a bit more authority.

 

We'll know more by the end of May, I suspect. Anyway, I didn't mean the team should promote him now, only that they should be thinking about how to get him reps in Rochester when the promotion season hits in late June or July.

[Darius]

There are plenty of outings in which Belisle has been bad, but not given up any runs. For instance, last night, he was on the verge of giving up the lead in the 8th, when they brought Kintzler in to attempt a 5 out save. Kintzler K'd the subsequent two batters, stranded Belisle's runs, and bailed Belisle out a blown lead or a loss.

 

It goes both ways, ERA can be deceiving when it's on the low end also. In Belisle's case, his ERA should probably be higher than 9.00....and the fact that he's only given up runs in two outings is the deceiving part.

 

Im of the opinion that it's rather ridiculous that the FO has put the team in the position that they're having to run a guy like Belisle out in high-leverage situations, and have to use Kintzler in that way (he's literally the only guy in the bullpen that you can rely on to get an out).

 

Hopefully we'll see a guy like Hildenberger, Burdi, or Melo up soon to help that train-wreck of a bullpen.

 

Another observation: At some point they have to move Wade up to AAA, right? Since there is no room for him in the everyday lineup, is imaging they'd want him to stay down and play everyday, but I'd love to see him fill the Grossman role pn the big club as the fourth outfielder eventually (who can actually be serviceable in the outfield).