Minor League Report 5/29 A No Hitter* and a Walk-Off

TRANSACTIONS

OF Trey Cabbage transferred from AA Wichita to A+ Cedar Rapids

RHP Juan Minaya selected by the Twins (from AAA St. Paul)

RHP Cody Stashak optioned by Twins to AAA St. Paul

Saints Sentinel

St. Paul 6, Iowa 5

Box Score

Chandler Shepherd: 3 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

HR: Ben Rortvedt (1), Damek Tomscha (2, 3)

Multi-hit games: Drew Maggi (2-for-5, 3B, R), J.T. Riddle (2-for-4, R), Damek Tomscha (4-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)

The Saints played an interesting game on Saturday.

They held a comfortable lead heading into the 9th. The reason for this lead? Two homers by Damek Tomscha and another by Ben Rortvedt. Well, there were other reasons but those were the major ones.

A combination of arms led by Robinson Leyer and Danny Coulombe kept the Iowa offense in check after Chandler Shepherd’s start. Leyer and Coulombe combined to punch out seven batters over four innings of work. 

Their lead looked safe with Andrew Vasquez coming in to close the game in the 9th but things went awry. He walked the bases loaded and walked one more batter for good measure before Derek Law relieved him. While Law allowed another run, that would be it for Iowa and the Saints were able to walk away victorious. 

Wind Surge Wisdom

Wichita 10, Springfield 9

Box Score

Josh Winder: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

HR: Jose Miranda (6), Gilberto Celestino (2)

Multi-hit games: Jose Miranda (2-for-5, HR, R, 4 RBI), B.J. Boyd (4-for-4, 2 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI)

The Wind Surge played an absolute slugfest on Saturday.

Josh Winder stopped Springfield cold in their tracks for the first five innings. He struck out seven while just walking one batter and somehow actually raised his ERA 1.48. He may find himself in St. Paul much sooner than later.

The Wind Surge offense supported Winder early. B.J. Boyd and Jose Miranda dropped back-to-back knocks to plate two runs quickly in the 3rd inning.

The offense was not finished, though. A 4th inning attack again led by Boyd and Miranda plated five more runs to give Wichita a cool 7-0 lead. 

This would not last. The Cardinals chipped away at this lead over the next handful of innings before taking the outright lead in the top of the 9th thanks to a two-run bomb by Juan Yepez. 

It seemed like this was set to be the end of the night for Wichita. Their 7-0 lead had been lost to the sands of time and the Cardinals had successfully completed an impressive comeback against all odds.

Yet it was not the end. Boyd singled to top off his perfect night at the plate before Jose Miranda blasted a game-tying two-run shot. Unsatisfied with just a tie game, Gilberto Celestino stepped to the plate and sent a ball deep into right field to end the game and send the Wind Surge home with a hard-earned W in the books. 

Kernels Nuggets

Game one:

Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 8

Box Score

Andrew Cabezas: 4 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

The Kernels were no-hit* by Wisconsin in game one of their doubleheader. 

*Apparently MLB has decided that while 7 inning games count, 7 inning no-hitters do not

Oddly enough, the Kernels actually held the lead first in this game. A Jair Camargo groundout scored Michael Helman thanks to some walks and a previous Wander Javier groundball that moved Helman to 3rd base.

This lead did not last long. The Timber Rattlers jumped all over Andrew Cabezas in the 5th inning thanks to four straight hits. A duo of singles followed by a David Hamilton triple gave the Timber Rattlers the outright lead. 

This would not be the last time Wisconsin scored. The following inning saw an even bigger ambush, this time of Derek Molina who walked away with five earned runs on his ledger. 

Game two:

Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 5

Box Score

Jon Olsen: 3 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

HR: Trey Cabbage (3)

Multi-hit games: None

Well if game one could be considered an offensive struggle, game two was not much better. 

Kernels finally broke their hitless streak thanks to a 6th inning single by Seth Gray. I have to imagine that the hit was met with a large sarcastic applause by the Cedar Rapids faithful.

Trey Cabbage decided that two straight shutouts was unacceptable and launched a solo shot in the 7th inning to save the team from this fate. 

Maybe there is some sort of sacrifice the Kernels could make in order to get their hits to actually fall in. I don’t know but at this point they should look into all options. 

Mussel Matters

Fort Myers 1, Lakeland 2

Box Score

Casey Legumina: 4 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

The Mighty Mussels lost a close one on Saturday.

Casey Legumina navigated the first three innings of the game to perfection as a few baserunners were never allowed to come in to score. The luck broke in the 4th inning as a bases loaded ground-rule double scored the only two runs that would be needed to win the game.

The Mighty Mussels offense only put up three hits in the game but that is somewhat misleading. Fort Myers hitters walked five times to add up to eight times in which a Mighty Mussels batter reached base safely. The offense was simply not able to score a run outside of a bases loaded walk by Charles Mack. 

Sean Mooney replaced Legumina as the first reliever out of the bullpen and continued to dominate. He struck out six over three innings while only allowing a single hit. His ERA is now down to 1.17 on the season.  

If there is such a thing as a “quality loss” in baseball, this game may best qualify for it. Fort Myers pitchers struck out 11 batters while only walking one with just two earned runs allowed. The offense gave themselves chances but were just unable to push across the runs needed to win the game.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Josh Winder

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – B.J. Boyd

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Alex Kirilloff (Minnesota) – 1-3, 3 K

#2 - Royce Lewis (Rehab) - Out for Season (torn ACL)

#3 - Trevor Larnach (Minnesota) – 1-2, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB

#4 - Ryan Jeffers (St. Paul) – 0-3, BB, R, K

#5 - Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – Did not pitch

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – Injured List (back)

#7 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – Did not play

#8 - Aaron Sabato (Ft. Myers) – 0-4, 2 K

#9 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – Did not pitch

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

#11 - Gilberto Celestino (Wichita) – 1-5, HR, R, RBI, 2 K

#12 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – 1-4, 3 K

#13 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – Did not play

#14 - Misael Urbina (Ft. Myers) – Did not play

#15 - Cole Sands (Wichita) – Did not pitch

#16 - Edwar Colina (Rehab) - 60-Day IL (elbow)

#17 - Ben Rortvedt (St. Paul) – 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI

#18 - Alerick Soularie (Complex) – N/A

#19 - Jose Miranda (Wichita) – 2-4, HR, R, 4 RBI, K

#20 - Bailey Ober (St. Paul) – Did not pitch

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Fort Myers @ Lakeland (11:00 AM) - RHP Hunter McMahon 

Springfield @ Wichita (12:05 PM) - LHP Bryan Sammons

St. Paul @ Iowa (12:08 PM) - RHP Bailey Ober

Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM) - RHP Ben Gross