Minor League Report (6/22): Gray Goes Deep, Winder Continues Return

[David Youngs]

Despite a spread of quality pitching performances, the farm only saw one on Wednesday. Read up on Cedar Rapids' quality victory and much more!

TRANSACTIONS
No transactions today within the Minnesota Twins minor league system!

SAINTS SENTINAL
Buffalo 3, St. Paul 2
Box Score

Leading for eight innings, the Saints fell just short on Wednesday courtesy of a pair of runs in the ninth inning runs by Buffalo. After two solid innings of work, reliever Ariel Jurado gave up a pair of hits and struck a batter to allow the Bison to walk off St. Paul in the final frame of the game.

The Saints scored their two runs in the fourth and seventh innings. With Jake Cave on second base, Mark Contreras laced his 11th double of the season to right field to get the Saints on the board. The red-hot first-baseman now has six hits and four runs in his last three games. Roy Morales followed the trend in the seventh inning with a double (4) to center field that scored Contreras from second. 

Inching his way back to full strength, starting pitcher Josh Winder was excellent for the Saints through four, striking out three while allowing just one run on one hit and two walks. Wednesday was the longest of three starts that Winder has made since returning from the 15-day Injured List with a shoulder injury. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wind Surge 2, San Antonio 1
SUSPENDED IN THE 4TH

Wednesday night's game against San Antonio was suspended due to inclement weather in Wichita. The game will pick up tomorrow as part of a double-header.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, West Michigan 2
Box Score

A third-inning bomba from Seth Gray and a stellar outing from Brent Headrick propelled the Kernels to a 4-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon in Cedar Rapids. 

Already leading 1-0 thanks to an RBI single from Kennie Taylor, Gray took an 0-1 pitch to the moon over the right-field wall in the third innings to give Cedar Rapids a lead that they wouldn't surrender. Gray now has eight homers on the year and is slashing .235/.362/.772. 

The Kernels added an insurance run in the fourth when Alerick Soularie smoked his seventh double of the year to center field, scoring Charles Mack. 

Already off to a blazing start on the season, starting pitcher Brent Headrick continued his dominance, striking out four batters while allowing just one run on three hits through five innings. Headrick is now an impressive 7-2 on the year with a 2.48 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. Pretty darn impressive. Don't be surprised if Headrick gets the call to Kansas in the near future. 

Leading in a tight game, the Kernels' bullpen was rock solid through four innings. Miguel Rodriguez (H, 5) and Cody Lawyerson (S, 1) allowed just one run and were able to work their way out of multiple jams to keep Cedar Rapids afloat. 

The Kernels are now 43-22 on the season. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Lakeland 3, Fort Myers 1
Box Score

The bats ran dry on a cloudy day in Lakeland as the Mussels fell short to the Flying Tigers on Wednesday. Carlos Aguilar drove in the Mussels' only run on a second-inning double that scored Dillon Tatum.

Fort Myers only tallied three hits on the day, two of which were doubles. In addition to Aguilar's double, Tatum also doubled to kick off the second inning. 

Starting pitcher Travis Adams (L. 4-3) allowed three runs on seven hits through four innings while striking out three and walking one. Two of Adams' runs allowed came from a two-out fourth-inning homer. It was only the fourth homer that Adams has surrendered this season and the 23-year-old touts a 3.23 ERA and 0.91 WHIP through 11 starts. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Braves 3, DSL Twins 2 (7 innings)
Box Score

The DSL Twins lost a tight one to the Atlanta Braves' Dominican Summer League team on Wednesday afternoon. The Twins jumped out to an early lead in the second inning when Junior Del Valle launched a two-run homer over the left-field wall. The home run was Del Valle's first of the season and the Venezuelan is now slashing an impressive .345/.429/.946 through 29 at-bats so for this season. Del Valle also lined a single to left in the fourth inning and was the only Twins player to record multiple hits on the day. 

The two runs from Del Valle's bomb would be the only two on the day. Twins starting pitcher Ledwin Taveras was excellent through five innings, allowing only two runs (one earned) on five hits with one walk while striking out three. Through three starts Taveras is 1-0 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.24 WHIP.

Reliever Oscar Paredes was solid in relief, failing to allow a hit and striking out three through two innings. However, Paredes ran into trouble with walks and a throwing error in the seventh that led to the Braves scoring the go-ahead run. 

The DSL Twins are now 6-7 on the year. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day: Seth Gray (Cedar Rapids)- 2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Pitcher of the Day: Brent Headrick (Cedar Rapids) W (7-2), 5 IP, 3 H, R, ER, BB, 4 K

TWINS DAILY PROSPECT SUMMARY
#7 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K
#9 - Noah Miller (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4, K
#18 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 K

THURSDAY'S PROBABLE STARTERS 
St. Paul @ Buffalo (6:05 PM CDT) - RHP Jordan Balazovic (0-2, 7.89 ERA)
San Antonio @ Wichita (7:05 PM CDT) - RHP Blayne Enlow (0-2, 5.31 ERA)
West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (12:05 PM CDT) - LHP Aaron Rozek (6-2, 3.70 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Pierson Ohl (3-3,5.21 ERA)
FCL Pirates @ FCL Twins (12:00 PM CDT) - TBD
DSL Braves @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CDT) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games!

 

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[Alex Schieferdecker]

I'd like to see Winder be a starter with the Twins, and Smeltzer moved to the piggy-back role.

Earlier this year, Winder was better as a starter, and in the past Smeltzer has been just fine coming in as a reliever.

[IndianaTwin]

Twins have a DH on Tuesday. That’ s a logical time to bring Winder back.

[Rosterman]

Smeltzer has proven his worth as a starter. I'm sorry. 

Let Winder start regualrly at St. Paul. Build up innings.

Curious to see who starts in the double-header. Give Winder extra days off, or use him in relief tomorrow or Saturday?