Article: Twins Minor League Report (8/10): Gonsalves Delivers In AAA Debut

[Seth Stohs]

It was a night of debuts. Recently-acquired Dietrich Enns made his major league debut. And down in Rochester, Stephen Gonsalves made his first AAA start. Enns had a couple of highlights, like his first big league hit, despite a short start. Gonsalves was fantastic and looked very comfortable on the Red Wings mound, well, except when he got hit by a line drive at 109 mph. You’ll want to read more about that.

 

Maybe it’s just me. The last time I wrote a Minor League Report, the Twins affiliates all lost. Yesterday, Jeremy got to write the report, and all of the teams won. Well, here I am writing the minor league report on Thursday, so you’ll have to see if these trends continued.Find out everything and more that happened in the Twins system on Thursday.

 

Let’s start with the transaction of the day:

• Glen Perkins was assigned to Chattanooga as part of his rehab.
• Chris Paul began his rehab in the GCL. He’s been out since late May with a broken hamate.
• Tyler Wells was taken off of the Kernels disabled list and assigned to the GCL. My assumption is that they want him to make one more appearance in the GCL before moving back to the Kernels. Or, maybe there’s more going on with the Kernels roster. We shall see.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 4, Norfolk 6 (11)

Box Score

 

Stephen Gonsalves made his much-anticipated Red Wings (err… Plates) debut on Thursday night. The left-hander was pretty impressive in this outing. Through three innings, he faced the minimum nine batters. He gave up one run in the fourth inning on three hits. One line drive was painful… and will likely be more painful tomorrow.

 

As Gonsalves told Twins Daily following his outing, likely with a grimace, “That’s going to hurt tomorrow. 109 (mph) to the oblique.” That was the measurement that the Trackman system provided. As impressive, the lefty calmly reached down to grab the ball and throw the batter out at first base. He took a handful of warmup pitches and stayed in the game. One pitch later, with runners on second and third, he got the inning’s final out.

 

He looked comfortable the first three innings, and he looked very comfortable over his final three innings. The lone mistake was falling behind big-league veteran Chris Johnson 3-0. Johnson hit a rocket into the left-field bleachers, but that was about it. In seven innings, Gonsalves gave up two runs on four hits. He struck out seven batters without issuing a walk. Throwing strikes was the key for the left-hander.

 

In his own words, “All went well. Located all my pitches tonight. Was able to throw slider and curve behind in the count and that never happens. But something clicked in my bullpen in Chattanooga, and I've felt great since. Was able to get first pitch strikes on 18 of 25 (batters) and as along as you can get ahead, that's the name of the game. The guy I got behind was the home run.”

 

Gonsalves left the game with a 4-2 lead and some very good relievers coming in behind him. Michael Tonkin got the eighth inning. He gave up one run on three hits. John Curtiss got the ninth, trying to protect a now-one-run lead. Norfolk tied the game at four when the first three batters reached base. Somehow, Curtiss escaped the ninth inning with the game tied. He pitched a scoreless tenth inning. Drew Rucinski pitched a scoreless 11th inning, but he gave up two runs in the 12th inning to take the loss.

 

The Red Wings had plenty of base runners and plenty of opportunities. However, they stranded 17 players on base. The eight and nine hitters each had two hits. So did the lineup’s first five batters. Zack Granite went 2-6 with a double. Mitch Garver was 2-6 with a walk and his 25th double. Daniel Palka went 2-6 with a walk. Matt Hague went 2-6 with his 24th double. Byungho Park went 2-5 with a walk. JB Shuck went 2-5 with a walk. Leonardo Reginnato went 2-5 with a walk. He had a two-strike, two-out single to give the Red Wings a 4-2 lead.

 

The Rochester Plates promotion was successful. Over 13,000 fans in the stands for the game and the special jersey giveaway. It was so successful, they’re going to do it again… every home game in 2018!

 

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 4, Birmingham 7

Box Score

 

Kohl Stewart was on the mound for the Lookouts on Thursday night. The right-hander walked just one and struck out six over five innings. Those are certainly encouraging numbers, so maybe let’s just not mention the five runs on seven hits that were also in his line score. However, if Stewart has control and command of his pitches, that walk/strikeout rate could be a thing.

 

Glen Perkins made his Lookouts debut in the sixth inning. He gave up a hit, but that’s it, in one inning. Then DJ Baxendale made his return to Chattanooga. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits in an inning. Gabriel Moya pitched one inning and struck out the side.

 

Edgar Corcino went 2-4 with a walk. Max Murphy was 2-4 and included his third triple. TJ White was also 2-4. Carlos Paulino went 1-3 with a walk and two RBI.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers , Dunedin

Box Score

 

Rain postponed another Miracle game on Thursday night. The two teams will play two seven-inning games on Friday.

 

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 7

Box Score

 

The Kernels fell behind early and tried to come back but fell just short. Tyler Watson was back on the mound for his second Kernels start since coming from the Nationals organization in the Brandon Kintzler trade. He gave up one run through three innings, but he was charged with two runs in the fourth and the fifth innings. He gave up five runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out one.

 

Logan Lombana came on and gave up two unearned runs on three hits and a walk in two innings. Patrick McGuff struck out one over two scoreless innings.

 

Jimmy Kerrigan had a big game. The recently-signed outfielder went 3-4 with a walk, his first triple and his second home run. Caleb Hamilton and Ben Rortvedt each had a single and two walks in the game. Christian Cavaness hit his sixth home run of the season and stole his ninth base.

 

 

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton 2, Greeneville 5

Box Score

 

Brusdar Graterol had a tough start and the Twins were unable to make a comeback. The flame-throwing right-hander was charged with four runs on five hits over just 2.2 innings. He walked two and struck out four. He needed 69 pitches (just 43 were strikes). Randy Dobnak came on and needed just 64 pitches to work through the final 6.1 innings. He gave up one run on one hit and struck out four.

 

Akil Baddoo went 2-4 from the leadoff spot. Carson Crites hit his third home run. Mark Contreras went 1-3 with a walk.

 

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 4, GCL Orioles 6

Box Score

 

The Twins got a lead, but the bullpen was unable to hold it late. Michael Kohn started again on his rehab stint. He walked one and struck one out in his inning. Blayne Enlow came on and threw four shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out four. His ERA dropped to 1.29. Zack Featherstone threw two scoreless innings.

 

Then came the eighth inning. Kevin Marnon gave up two unearned runs on two hits and a walk in that inning. Joe Rosenstein started the ninth inning. He gave up three runs on three walks and recorded just one out. Amilcar Cruz got the final two outs, but not before giving up one of his own runs and walking three. He did strike out two.

 

Royce Lewis had an interesting line in the box score. He went 0-4 with a run and a walk and three stolen bases. In MLB history, that’s happened just four times! (Special note, one of the stolen bases was home.)

 

 

Jared Akins went 2-4 with three RBI. He knocked his first professional home run and fourth stolen base. Alex Robles went 2-4 with his sixth stolen base. Ricky De La Torre was 1-2 with two walks.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Stephen Gonsalves, Rochester Red Wings.

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jimmy Kerrigan, Cedar Rapids Kernels

 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Norfolk @ Rochester (6:05 CST) - LHP David Hurlbut

Chattanooga @ Birmingham (7:05 CST) - RHP Zack Littell

Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (DH @ 4:00 CST) - RHP Randy LeBlanc, RHP Sean Poppen

Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - RHP Clark Beeker

Greeneville @ Elizabethton (DH at 4:05 CST) - LHP Ryley Widell

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (11:00 am) - TBD

 

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

 

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[AlwaysinModeration]

Nice report. Great AAA start for Gonsalves. Three notes:

-Video footage of Lewis stealing home?

-Given your track record, we may need to ban you from doing minor league reports, Seth

-The "Red Wings Report" needs to be the "Plates Dish" on Thursday's, obviously

[big dog]

Nick Gordon had two 0-4's  and now hasn't played in a couple of days.  Do you know if he's got anything wrong?

[MN_ExPat]

Great write up Seth but...

 

I second the motion of the Honorable AlwaysinModeration, and move that the ban be emplaced immediately to prevent further harm to the minor league system (and it's players - geez, we don't need Gonzo getting hurt).  

[rdehring]

Did we ever find out what the future considerations were, in addition to Watson, in the Kinzler trade?

 

Nice first AAA start for Gonsalves. What do you think the odds are, Seth, of his getting added to the 40-man after Sept. 1 and called up? Or if he does well the next 3 times out, could they add him on August 31 to be eligible for post season?

 

Is it less than 50-50 that Stewart gets added to the 40-man in November? Put me on record saying he will not (I've been wrong before).

[Tibs]

Seth, for the love of our minor league affiliates, stop writing these minor league reports! Some of them have playoffs to make!

[Mike Sixel]

Great writeup Seth, I say you keep writing them. Gotta work thru this slump, and not give up.

[brvama]

At least the Miracle didn't lose!

[brvama]

Lewis joined some pretty good company last nite. Dare I say he established his potential comps with that feat? Not yet but with his performance so far I'm really encouraged.

[Han Joelo]

I found Wander.  He was DHing last night.  Must of gotten dinged.

 

Learning to win and kicking butt is good, but I like to see some struggles too.  Curtiss for instance.   The win would have been better, but the experience of blowing the save, but also getting out of the inning with the bases loaded and coming back for another; that's good stuff.

 

And Graterol, as much as I want him to be an ultra-dominating monster, it is maybe good to struggle a bit, listen to coaches advice, and then become better in the end. Thats just life.

 

And Lewis making lemonade out of an 0fer, also good to see.

[Vanimal46]

Maybe Seth IS the Bartolo Colon in this rotation of authors..... Just a couple of clunkers lately. But if history tells us anything, the next 2 starts are going to go great! 

[nicksaviking]

I don't know how you couldn't be the #1 prospect in the game if your floor is Tom Goodwin and your ceiling is Rickey Henderson with a mean of Lopes/Knoblauch.

[PDX Twin]

 

Maybe Seth IS the Bartolo Colon in this rotation of authors..... Just a couple of clunkers lately. But if history tells us anything, the next 2 starts are going to go great! 

 

Is Seth that old?

[Seth Stohs]

 

Is Seth that old?

 

I am not (quite) as old as Bartolo... Not even close... well, depending on your definition of close...

[Primetime82]

There's absolutely no point in calling up any younger pitchers with Molitor on the bench!

[clutterheart]

 

I found Wander.  He was DHing last night.  Must of gotten dinged.

 

And Graterol, as much as I want him to be an ultra-dominating monster, it is maybe good to struggle a bit, listen to coaches advice, and then become better in the end. Thats just life.

 

And Lewis making lemonade out of an 0fer, also good to see.

 

Wander's usage has been weird all year.  In July he rarely played 2 games in a row and then he was out for a few days.  Not sure if they are being very careful with him or if he has something bothering him

 

Graterol went from unhitable in the GCL to very hitable in the Appy League.  Strangely he is getting a lot more ground outs since his promotion.  But its only been 3 games and this is first year back from TJ.  So really its about getting used to pitching again and getting his innings.  If the team goes far in the playoffs he really only has 4-5 more starts. 

 

[DJL44]

Hope Perkins is taking care of the minor leaguers

[laloesch]

 

Did we ever find out what the future considerations were, in addition to Watson, in the Kinzler trade?

Nice first AAA start for Gonsalves. What do you think the odds are, Seth, of his getting added to the 40-man after Sept. 1 and called up? Or if he does well the next 3 times out, could they add him on August 31 to be eligible for post season?

Is it less than 50-50 that Stewart gets added to the 40-man in November? Put me on record saying he will not (I've been wrong before).

 

I'd like to see Gonsalves AND Aaron Slegers called up.  

 

Slegers is having a FANTASTIC season in Rochester.

 

13-4, 3.18 era, with 97 strikeouts, 6.7k per 9 over 21 starts.  

 

Gonsalves had an equally impressive season in Chattanooga.

 

8-3, 2.68 era, with 96 strikeouts, 9.9k per 9 over 15 starts. 

 

I know a lot of people doubt Slegers stuff but i think this kid can pitch.

Edited August 16, 2017 by laloesch