Article: Twins Minor League Report (6/9): Ticked Off La Tortuga

[Cody Christie]

Willians Astudillo and Jake Cave both spent time with the Twins this season. It’s also looking more and more like these two are going to try and hit their way back onto the Twins roster. Cave was named the team’s Minor League Hitter of the Week and La Tortuga has been almost impossible to get out since he was sent to Rochester.

 

Would either player help the Red Wings to victory on Sunday?TRANSACTIONS

RHP Cody Stashak promoted to Rochester from Pensacola.

RHP Randy Dobnak transferred to Pensacola from Rochester.

IF Randy Cesar transferred to Pensacola from Rochester.

IF Ryan Costello transferred to Fort Myers from Pensacola.

LHP J.T. Perez promoted to Cedar Rapids from Elizabethton.

RHP Frandy Torres promoted to Cedar Rapids from GCL Twins.

RHP Brian Rapp placed on the 7-day IL (lower back strain).

IF Hunter Lee transferred to Elizabethton from Fort Myers.

RHP Tyler Palm transferred to Elizabethton from Cedar Rapids.

 

AWARDS

The Twins announced their weekly Hitter and Pitcher of the Week:

• Hitter of the Week: Jake Cave, Rochester

Cave played in eight games for the Red Wings this week, hitting .417 (15-for-36) with seven doubles, two triples, one home run and nine RBI, which included a four-double game on Thursday at Syracuse. Since being optioned from Minnesota in mid-May, Cave has played in 27 games for the Red Wings, hitting .294 (32-for-109) with 11 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 21 RBI and a .861 OPS.

• Pitcher of the Week: Sean Poppen, Rochester

Poppen started two games this week for the Red Wings, going 1-0, 0.75 ERA (12.0 IP, 1 ER) with five walks and 13 strikeouts. Poppen, 25, was selected by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Harvard.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Pawtucket 3

Box Score

Rochester fell into an early hole as Chase De Jong allowed a first inning run to the Red Sox. He was able to settle in from there as he didn’t allow another run in his five innings pitched. He struck out one and walked one.

 

The Red Wings offense took a little time to get going. In the third, Drew Maggi singled and Luis Arraez walked to put a runner in scoring position. Willians Astudillo singled to drive in Maggi and Rochester had tied the game at 1-1. Jake Cave wasn’t going to take his award lightly. He cracked his fourth home run of the season in the top of the sixth to put the Red Wings up 2-1.

The eighth inning might have been the most important one for the Red Wings and they did all their damage with two outs. Nick Gordon started the damage with a single to right. La Tortuga stepped to the plate and crushed a two-run bomb. Rochester would win by two and this home run was the difference.

Jake Reed was credited with his second win after he allowed one run, a home run, in two innings. He stuck out one and walked two. In one inning of work, D.J. Baxendale surrendered one run, a solo home run, but he struck out two. Zack Littell earned his first save with a perfect ninth inning where he struck out two.

 

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola 0, Tennessee 8

Box Score

For Jorge Alcala, it was not his day. He allowed four first inning runs as he struggled to make it through three innings of work. Overall, he allowed five runs on five hits with a strikeout and a walk. Anthony Vizcaya took over for Alcala and struggled with his control. He walked three batters in 1 2/3 innings, but he only allowed one hit and he collected a pair of strikeouts.

 

Pensacola had little offense to write home about. The team left eight runners on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The team didn’t collect a walk in the entire game and not a single batter was able to register multiple hits. Jimmy Kerrigan had the only extra-base hit, a double.

 

Williams Ramirez allowed one run in 2/3 of an inning. He struck out one and walked one. Zack Weiss was charged with pitching the final 2 2/3 inning of the game. He allowed two runs on five hits with four strike outs and two walks.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 0, Jupiter 8

Box Score

Fort Myers struggled to find any offense in this one as the club was held to three hits. Michael Helman had the team’s only extra-base hit, a double. Trevor Larnach and Aaron Whitefield both went 1-for-4. With the hit, Larnach extended his hitting streak to eight games. Overall, the club left seven men on base but had only three opportunities to bat with runners in scoring position.

 

Edwar Colina took the loss but he pitched well. In seven innings, he allowed three runs on six hits while striking out eight and walking one. He continued to reach triple digits with his fastball. Calvin Faucher ran into some issues later in the game. He allowed five runs in his two innings on the mound.

Fort Myers currently sits in first place in the Florida State League South Division. The Miracle hold a 1.0 game lead over Bradenton and a 1.5 game lead over Palm Beach.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 7, Peoria 2 (Game 1- 7 Innings)

Box Score

Cedar Rapids scored six runs in the game’s final three innings to come out victorious. Yeltsin Encarnacion went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Wander Javier reached base three times while scoring a run and driving in a run. Andrew Bechtold had an interesting day. He scored two runs without recording a hit because he walked in all four plate appearances.

 

Andrew Cabezas went five innings and didn’t allow an earned run. He struck out five and walked two. Moises Gomez finished the final two innings. He allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

 

Cedar Rapids 1, Peoria 2 (Game 2- 7 Innings)

Box Score

The Kernels couldn’t find the big hit in the second game of the double-header. Cedar Rapids went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Ricky Del La Torre had the team’s only run, a solo home run in the sixth inning. Peoria quickly answered back with the game-winning run in the bottom of the frame.

 

Zach Neff struck out six batters in five innings of work. He limited Peoria to one run on three hits. Frandy Torres took the loss as he allowed the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth. He walked two and struck out one in his inning of work.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

TD Pitcher of the Day- Zach Neff, Cedar Rapids (5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 6 K, 0 BB)

TD Hitter of the Day- Willians Astudillo, Rochester (3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, R)

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

 

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) – 0-4

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) – Injured list

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) – Injured list

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) – 1-3, BB, K

#5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) – 3-6, RBI, R, BB, 2 K

#6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) – 1-3, BB, K

#7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) – Did not pitch

#8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) – Did not pitch

#9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – Did not pitch

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) – Tommy John surgery, out for the year

#11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) – 1-4, R, 2 K

#12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) – Injured list

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) – Did not play

#14 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) – 0-4, K

#15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) – Injured List

#16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) – 1-4, RBI, BB, K

#17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) – 1.0 IP, SV, 2 K

#18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) – 1-4, RBI

#19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) – 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, K, BB

#20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) – 0-3, 3 K, BB

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester – Scheduled Off-Day

Pensacola @ Biloxi (6:35 CST) – RHP Andro Cutura (1-2, 4.45 ERA)

Fort Myers @ Tampa (3:30 CST) – TBD

Fort Myers @ Tampa (Game 2) – TBD

Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (11:05 AM CST) – RHP Kai-Wei Teng (0-0, 4.91 ERA)

 

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

 

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[Monkeypaws]

Willians sporting a modest 1.903 OPS after 2 games in Rochester. 

[etwinsfan]

You might want to check those transactions again. Several are incorrect.

[Kelly Vance]

Isn't the proper name El Tortuga?

 

La is the feminine 

[Danchat]

 

Isn't the proper name El Tortuga?

 

La is the feminine 

The word Tortuga is female - it doesn't matter what the gender of the person/animal is; in Spanish, words have genders. I never quite understood why, as I flunked out of Spanish class back in High School, but that's just how that language works.

[jimbo92107]

The mighty El Cherubo strikes again! Ka-Bonngggg!

[Danchat]

I'd like to see if Cave could continue his hot hitting in the majors, but I suppose there isn't a ton of room for him. He could join the carousel of HR hitting.

 

I'm intrigued by Littell's move to the bullpen. We really do need to try throwing bodies at the bullpen and see if anything sticks. Our two best relievers at the moment (Rogers & May) were starters before having trouble at AAA and converted to relievers.

[Aerodeliria]

 

Isn't the proper name El Tortuga?

 

La is the feminine 

Yup! I lived in Mexico for three years and La Tortuga is correct. It's just a way of classifying nouns as either being feminine of masculine. (It is also true that when words end in 'a,' they tend to be marked with the female article, so 'turtles' whether they are males or females are always marked with the feminine article: la/las.)

[ashbury]

Willians Astudillo and Jake Cave both spent time with the Twins this season. It’s also looking more and more like these two are going to try and hit their way back onto the Twins roster. Cave was named the team’s Minor League Hitter of the Week and La Tortuga has been almost impossible to get out since he was sent to Rochester.

It's the same as when Ted Williams was playing. Opponents would mutter, "it's like he was sent down, from a higher league."

 

Yup! I lived in Mexico for three years and La Tortuga is correct. It's just a way of classifying nouns as either being feminine of masculine. (It is also true that when words end in 'a,' they tend to be marked with the female article, so 'turtles' whether they are males or females are always marked with the feminine article: la/las.)

I thought maybe they would do like with kids (niño, niña) and change the a to an o. But I just checked Google Translate for a different species, and ended up with "empty cow" as my translation back to English.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Edwar Colina is another guy to start watching... It's amazing how those names can be in the system and just not be noticed. He was an international FA. He's 22 in the FSL, so hardly old for teh league. Seems like his numbers have gotten slightly better each year. His K rate is pretty impressive so far for a starter and he's dropped the walk rate significantly in his small sample... giving up too many hits at the moment, but could be another good starter or dominant reliever.

[rdehring]

The Red Wings are 7.5 games out of the league's wild card spot and 8.5 games out of first place of their division.  Keep winnin guys!

 

Meanwhile, Cedar Rapids fell a game and is now 3 games behind Burlington for the second spot in the first half playoffs.  Like Rochester, they have come a long way since their ugly start.  Unfortunately, there are just a handful of games left before the first half of their season ends.

 

The Twins are really set lineup wise with three young, experienced, and competent big league players at Rochester...La Tortuga, Arraez and Cave.  Expect all three will see more time at Target Field in September and earlier should an injury occur.

 

Now the bullpen is another question.  Hopefully, Zach Littel will settle into his new role and run with it...come on Zach! 

[Linus]

Who gets to Target Field first-Lewis or Javier and at what position?

[Blake]

Are Cave, Astudillo and Arraez potential trade bait?

[nokomismod]

 

Are Cave, Astudillo and Arraez potential trade bait?

yes I hope so. I would love to see what it would take to get Bumgarner. The Twins need to trim a few off of the 40 man during the season so sending three or four prospects (a few that are on the 40 man) could maybe get someone like da Bum.

[rdehring]

 

yes I hope so. I would love to see what it would take to get Bumgarner. The Twins need to trim a few off of the 40 man during the season so sending three or four prospects (a few that are on the 40 man) could maybe get someone like da Bum.

Expect you might be right, but really don't want to see Arraez leave the organization.  He brings a touch of Astudillo with his outgoing personality, but could be a special lead off hitter for a long time.  Wouldn't it be great seeing someone get on base as much as he does mixed in with all those guys hitting bombas?

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I'm getting worried about Lewis. Any reports of an injury?

[Blake]

 

Expect you might be right, but really don't want to see Arraez leave the organization.  He brings a touch of Astudillo with his outgoing personality, but could be a special lead off hitter for a long time.  Wouldn't it be great seeing someone get on base as much as he does mixed in with all those guys hitting bombas?

Bumgarner isn't even on my radar. I'm thinking Scherzer.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Dear Tortuga,

 

I'm glad you're ticked off... had you taken more 4 pitch walks like you did when you returned, you'd probably still be collecting a MLB check.