Twins Minor League Report (7/4): Wallner Provides Fireworks on Fourth

[Ted Schwerzler]

In just one of the few Monday’s where there is minor league action this season, Matt Wallner provided all of the fireworks for the Fourth of July. Miguel Sano returned to action on a rehab assignment and runs were hard to come by at other stops on the farm.

Transactions:

• Josh Winder transferred to Minnesota taxi squad
• Trevor Megill returned to Minnesota from MLB rehab with Saints
• Juan Minaya was designated for assignment by Minnesota

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 4, Louisville 1
Box Score

Tonight’s game was supposed to be started by Josh Winder, but he was scratched and sent to Chicago joining the Minnesota Twins taxi squad. Dereck Rodriguez stepped up and filled in admirably. Working four innings of one-run ball, Rodriguez gave up three hits while striking out two. The lone run came on a solo blast.

After getting down in the second inning, it took the Saints some time and good pitching to come back. Caleb Hamilton ripped his 8th homer, a solo blast in the 7th inning, to knot things up. St. Paul then took advantage of bad defense in the 8th inning when Louisville catcher Chris Okey uncorked an errant through trying to nail John Andreoli stealing third base. Andreoli was able to scamper home from there and Elliot Soto moved up to third after stealing second on his own. A wild pitch then gave Soto the opportunity to score, and a Michael Helman single brought in Spencer Steer.

Yennier Cano came on and was the fifth different Saints reliever to work a scoreless outing. Cano got the save, his second of the year. Evan Sisk got his first win for St. Paul while Austin Schfuler got his first hold. It was St. Paul’s pitching that got them to the finish line tonight as the lineup tallied just four hits with Hamilton’s longball being the only extra-base contribution.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Amarillo 3
Box Score

Veteran Daniel Gossett got the start for Wichita tonight and turned in the longest outing on the farm. His five innings saw two runs (one earned) plated one four hits. Gossett punched out seven and walked three. He lowered his Double-A ERA this season to 1.96.

Amarillo started the scoring but scorching hot Matt Wallner quickly erased the lead with his 19th homer of the season. Chris Williams then launched his own dinger, a two-run shot scoring Kyle Schmidt, to make it 3-1.

After Amarillo added a run on a 3rd inning double, Wallner hit his second dinger of the day, and 20th of the season. This one was of the two-run variety plating Leobaldo Cabrera and making it a 5-2 game.

Schmidt allowed a passed ball in the 7th inning to bring Amarillo back within two, 5-3. Steven Cruz came on to slam the door and generate his second save giving the Wind Surge a two-run victory. Wallner was joined by Williams, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Anthony Prato with two hits apiece.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 12, Quad Cities 4
Box Score

Miguel Rodriguez got the start for Cedar Rapids tonight and he went three innings allowing two runs on solo homers. Quad Cities tagged him for three hits while Rodriguez responded with two strikeouts.

Quad Cities broke open the scoring with a pair of homers in the 2nd inning, but Cedar Rapids took things into their hands during the 4th inning. Yunior Severino launched a home run for his third of the season to bring the Kernels within one. In the 5th inning Seth Gray evened things on a single to left that scored Jake Rucker. From there Severino singled to short and both Gray and Alerick Soularie scored on a fielder error. When Quad Cities pitcher Ruben Ramirez uncorked a wild pitch, Severino was able to scamper home and make it a 5-2 game.

The River Bandits tried to make things interesting adding runs in both the 7th and 8th innings, but that’s where the door would get slammed. The Kernels made it a laugher in the bottom of the 8th inning. First Dylan Neuse doubled in Jeferson Morales. Then a Kyler Fedko triple plated Neuse and Rucker. Gray singled in Fedko and Pat Winkel then plated both Gray and Soularie on a single of his own. Wander Javier capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to drive in Severino and make it a 12-4 game.

Gray tallied three hits on the evening while Fedko, Severino, and Winkel each added two of their own.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Tampa 5, Fort Myers 1
Box Score

The Mighty Mussels called on Travis Adams tonight for their Independence Day start and he went two innings while allowing two runs on three hits and striking out two.

This was a forgettable contest for Fort Myers as they posted just a single run on three hits. Tampa put up two in the 1st inning, one in the 4th inning, one in the 6th inning, and one in the 7th inning. Rubel Cespedes clobbered a homer, his second, in the 8th inning to put the Mighty Mussels on the board.

With just three hits, no Fort Myers hitter recorded multiples on the evening. Cespedes' dinger was the only hit for extra-bases.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 4, FCL Braves 1
Box Score

Juan Rojas made the start for the Twins and was great. Across five scoreless innings he allowed just two hits and punched out five. Danny De Andrade picked up another two-hit game, this time recording his first triple of the season. Miguel Sano also began his rehab assignment following knee surgery. He was 0-for-4 but didn’t strike out. His rehab assignment can be a maximum of 20 days and will head to Triple-A St. Paul when he’s deemed ready for the next stage of the process.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 5, DSL Dodgers Bautista 3 (F/6)
Box Score

Jose Rodriguez provided most of the offense in this one as he went 2-for-2 with a pair of homers. Rodriguez scored three times and drove in two runs. Catcher Jesus Peraza also had a two-hit game in the victory. Leonardo Luge got the win, the first of his professional career, working three innings in relief.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – Daniel Gossett (Wichita) - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
Hitter of the Day – Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR(20), K

PROSPECT SUMMARY

We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. 

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

#3 - Jose Miranda (Minnesota) - 0-2, BB
#7 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 0-3, R, BB
#9 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 0-3, BB, K
#15 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR(20), K
#16 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 0-4, 2 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
(No games on Tuesday)
St. Paul @ Louisville (6:05PM CST) - RHP Cole Sands
Amarillo @ Wichita (7:05PM CST) - RHP Louie Varland 
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - TBD
Fort Myers @ Tampa (5:30PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Monday’s games! It sure is exciting to have all four Twins full-season affiliates and the two Complex Season affiliates back and playing.

 

 

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[ashbury]

My son Stashbury was at the game in Louisville tonight.  From the photo he sent, looks like a nice green ballpark.

[h2oface]

Sano who?

[Major League Ready]

Wallner looks like the break-out guy among position players this year.  He started slow but since the middle of May his wRC+ is 182 and his strike outs have come down to a manageable 28.4%.     He is hitting  .317 / slugging .669 and his OPS is 1.137.

 

[roger]

Do the minor league teams play seven games this week?  Or do they not play next Sunday?

Whenever I see a catcher hitting over .300, I take notice.  What do we know about the Olivar kid in the DSL?

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, roger said:

Do the minor league teams play seven games this week?  Or do they not play next Sunday?

Saints are off Tuesday

[jmlease1]

4 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

Wallner looks like the break-out guy among position players this year.  He started slow but since the middle of May his wRC+ is 182 and his strike outs have come down to a manageable 28.4%.     He is hitting  .317 / slugging .669 and his OPS is 1.137.

 

He's done well, I think. I'm still a little worried about the K's (wish he'd be under 25% at AA), but he's also taking more walks this year and his arm makes him more of an asset in the OF than a lot of the "three true outcomes" guys. He took his opportunity in the AFL and ran with it. Do we know anything more about his shaky start to the year? I wonder if he was battling an injury or something? because he has been a different player from late-April on.

[Dman]

With the K rate and sometimes poor contact I didn't think Wallner could sustain this kind of production for more than a streaky few weeks.  He is just a dominating force at AA right now.  Still happy to see he is willing to take some walks.  Guys are going to want to pitch around him and or pitch him tough from here on out.  If this is who he is the Twins found a good one as he has power to all fields. 

[cmoss84]

Wallner's swing reminds me of someone...just can't figure it out. Maybe Carlos Pena?