Minor League Report (6/18): Late Drama Across the System

SAINTS SENTINEL

Iowa 6, St. Paul 5

Box Score

The Saints got out to a 5-1 lead in this one, but ugly bullpen performances and an even uglier tenth inning led to a brutal 6-5 loss.

Tomás Telis got the night started for the Saints with a first-inning shot into the bullpen in left field, his sixth homer of the year. Iowa answered with a solo homer of their own in the second.

The Saints struck with two more in the fourth. The first came when Damek Tomscha doubled and later scored on a David Bañuelos double. Two wild pitches later, Bañuelos scored himself to make the game 3-1. 

The bats stayed hot for St. Paul in the fifth, as J.T. Riddle and Tomscha both ripped solo homers off reliever Ryan Meisinger. The homers were the fifth of the year for both hitters and gave the Saints a 5-1 lead.

While the Saints' bats were raking, Andrew Albers was dealing on the mound for St. Paul. Albers allowed only four hits and the one run on the big fly in six full innings. Albers has never been a huge strikeout guy, but he got four in this one and pitched to contact effectively throughout the outing.

Unfortunately, Robinson Leyer wasn’t as effective, and allowed a three-run home run to Tony Wolters in the first post-Albers inning of the game. Thankfully, Danny Coulombe got out the seventh and spun a scoreless eighth.

But, there was more trouble in the ninth. 

With two outs and only a man on first, Abiatal Avelino lined a single to left. Then, with men on the corners, Derek Law, who came in for the save, booted a dribbler up the line allowing Wolters to reach safely and the runner to score from third to extend the game.

St. Paul couldn’t manage any runs in their half of the ninth, and Juan Minaya took the mound to start extras. After a sacrifice and a strikeout, Minaya bounced one to the backstop, allowing the free runner to score from third to give the Cubs their first lead of the game.

In the bottom of the tenth, a lead-off single from Tomscha and a beautifully-worked walk from Daniel Descalso loaded the bases with no outs and put the winning run on second. Then the beauty ended. Bañuelos struck out, Sherman Johnson struck out, and Drew Maggi popped out weakly to second. The Saints stranded all three runners and lost an absolute heartbreaker, 6-5.

Telis and Tomscha had the only two multi-hit games for the Saints.

WIND SURGE WISDOM

Springfield 3, Wichita 1

Box Score

This game looked set to be a pitcher’s duel before it started as both Wichita starter Josh Winder and Springfield starter Andre Pallante came into this one in the Top 5 in in the Double-A Central ERA rankings. Neither pitcher disappointed.

The Surge did touch Pallante early for a couple hits and a run in the first, though they got help from an error by the Cardinals center fielder. Jose Miranda, who singled and advanced on the error, scored on this Ernie De La Trinidad single.

Even with the rocky start, Pallante was as advertised. The Springfield ace allowed only two hits after the first, struck out seven Wind Surge batters, and exited after six with only that first inning run on the board for Wichita. Unfortunately for Pallante, Winder was just as good, going six himself and also only allowing one run. Winder literally one-upped his counterpart in the strikeout column, tallying eight. 

The Cardinals' one run against Winder came in the fifth and fit the definition of “scratching one across.” Delvin Perez singled with one out in the inning, advanced to second on a bunt single, then stole third and home to tie the game for Springfield. It was the first steal of home plate in Riverfront Stadium history.

Despite a bases-loaded opportunity for Wichita in the seventh, the game remained tied at one until the ninth. After a single and a double to start the inning, Springfield scored one when Roy Morales mishandled a throw to the plate on an Ivan Morales ground ball. Then, Alec Burleson singled home Delvin Perez to bring the score to 3-1.

The Wichita bats went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth and the Surge fell in a tough one, 3-1.

After Winder, Adam Lau went 1.2 scoreless in the seventh and eighth. Alex Phillips got the last out in the eighth, but allowed the two runs in the ninth and gets saddled with the loss. Only Ernie De La Trinidad managed a multi-hit game for the Surge tonight.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, South Bend 2

Box Score

Cedar Rapids pitching was effective all night and the offense flashed late to give the Kernels the only comfortable win of the night.

The first runs in this one came in the third, when Cedar Rapids grabbed a 3-0 lead. The Kernels scored on three straight at-bats: a Seth Gray single, a Wander Javier RBI forceout (in which he beat out the double play), and Trey Cabbage double.

South Bend got one back in the fourth when they put a couple men on base and got a run on a double from Caleb Knight. Then, partially thanks to an Alex Isola throwing error on a stolen base attempt, the Cubs grabbed another on an RBI groundout from Tyler Durna.

The Kernels bats answered back in the seventh and eighth innings, though. Wander Javier brought in one with a single in the seventh and a Seth Gray bases-loaded single scored two more in the eighth to bring the Cedar Rapids lead to the eventual final score of 6-2.

Ben Gross started the game for Cedar Rapids and pitched five full innings, allowing only two unearned runs. Melvi Acosta delivered two scoreless in the sixth and seventh and Zach Featherstone got a scoreless and hitless six out save.

Four Kernels hitters had multi-hit games: Spencer Steer, Seth Gray, Trey Cabbage, and Gabriel Maciel. 

MUSSEL MATTERS

Fort Myers 3, Lakeland 2

Box Score

The Mussels had put two runs across before even recording an out in the bottom of the first and ended up striking for three runs in the initial frame that would win them the game.

Misael Urbina led off the game with a single and Edouard Julien followed him with a walk. Then, both men scored on a Yunior Severino double. Severino later scored on a Jeferson Morales sac fly and the Mussels took a 3-0 lead.

Lakeland got one back in the third with a solo homer off the bat of Kingston Liniak, but the game remained mostly offense-free until late thanks to great deliveries from Brent Headrick and a quick recovery from Flying Tigers starter Gio Arriera. Headrick allowed only the one run and three hits, and struck out six in his outing, and Arriera struck out seven in his night and didn’t allow a run or a hit after his rough first inning. Both men pitched six full innings.

The offense finally returned in the top of the eighth, when Lakeland put men on the corners with only one out. They managed to cut the lead to 3-2 on a Gage Workman RBI single, but couldn’t tie the game up.

Lakeland got another chance in the ninth, when a hit batter, a single, and a walk loaded the bases with two outs. Then Danny Woodrow came to bat, facing Juan Pichardo with the game on the line. Pichardo won out for Fort Myers, though, and got Woodrow to ground out to end the game. 

Other than Headrick, Bradley Hanner handled the seventh and eighth, allowing one run and striking out one while effectively limiting damage in the eighth, and Juan Pichardo managed his way through an eventful ninth, allowing no runs and one hit. No Mussels batter managed a multi-hit game.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day- Josh Winder (Wichita) 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Hitter of the Day- Damek Tomscha (Cedar Rapids) 4-for-5, 2 R, RBI, HR

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Alex Kirilloff (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, RBI, BB

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

#3 - Trevor Larnach (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB, 3 K

#4 - Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, 2 RBI, BB, K

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

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – Did not pitch

#7 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – Injured list (concussion)

#8 - Aaron Sabato (Ft. Myers) – 1-for-2, BB, K 

#9 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – Injured list

#10 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – Underwent Tommy John surgery

#11 - Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) – Did not play

#12 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – 0-for-4, BB, 2 K

#13 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – Injured List (Hamate bone)

#14 - Misael Urbina (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, R, K 

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

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

#17 - Ben Rortvedt (Minnesota) – Did not play

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

#19 - Jose Miranda (Wichita) –  1-for-3, R, BB

#20 - Bailey Ober (Minnesota) – Did not pitch

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Iowa @ St. Paul (7:05PM CST) – LHP Charlie Barnes (2-1, 3.53 ERA)

Springfield @ Wichita (6:05PM CST) – RHP Cole Sands (0-0, 2.84 ERA)

South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Cody Laweryson (0-0 2.25 ERA)

Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:00PM CST) – RHP Bobby Milacki (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

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