Twins Minor League Report (6/25): A Dismal Day on the Farm

TRANSACTIONS

• Minnesota Twins place RHP Cody Stashak on the 60-day injured list (back)
• Minnesota Twins place RHP Luke Farrell on the 10-day injured list (right oblique strain)
• Minnesota Twins select the contract of LHP Danny Coulombe from Triple-A St. Paul
• Minnesota Twins and Cedar Rapids Kernels place RHP Andrew Cabezas on 7-day injured list (right shoulder strain)
• Minnesota Twins add C Allante Hall to Double-A Cedar Rapids roster from Twins complex

SAINTS SENTINEL 

Columbus 7, St. Paul 2

Box Score

Saint Paul allowed a crooked number early and never recovered, losing a non-competitive contest, 7-2.

Columbus landed the decisive blows of this one in the second inning. The inning got started with a massive solo homer from Daniel Johnson and continued when the Clippers loaded the bases with two infield singles and a walk, all with no outs. 

Then, a bases-loaded hit batter, an equally bases-loaded walk, and a bases-clearing, three-run double from Andres Gimenez made the score 6-0, just like that.

Columbus added another in the third on a Gavin Collins single.

The Saints got on the board for two in the fourth on a J.T Riddle single, but those would be their only runs. The Saint Paul bats were silenced by the combination of Cam Hill, Francisco Perez, and Kyle Dowdy and the Clippers closed out a comfortable victory. 

Charlie Barnes got the start for St. Paul and allowed all seven runs in his five innings of work. Ian Hamilton and Derek Law took over for the three remaining innings (Hamilton: 6th and 7th, Law: 8th) and did not allow a hit between them. Only Mark Contreras had a multi-hit game for the Saints.

WIND SURGE WISDOM

Midland 4, Wichita 3

Box Score

Twins Daily’s #6 prospect, Jordan Balazovic, took the mound for Wichita tonight and his swing-and-miss stuff was on full display. Balazovic was regularly hitting mid- to high-90s on the gun and mixed in some nasty breaking stuff en route to eight strikeouts in the outing. Unfortunately, Balazovic also allowed nine hits and left the game without completing five innings. Weirdly, of the 24 batters the 22-year-old faced, nine got hits, eight struck out, and (if my math is correct) only seven got out by other means. 

Balazovic only allowed two runs, though, one on a Jermaine Palacios throwing error and the other on a clutch Kyle McCann single, but the Wind Surge offense didn’t back him up much and, when he left in the fifth, he was on the hook for the loss, trailing 2-1.  

That Wichita run came in on a Wilbis Santiago RBI double in the third, scoring David Banuelos.

That run gave the Surge a 1-0 lead, but they fell behind to the two runs scored off Balazovic. However, Wichita made use of two infield singles and an Aaron Whitefield RBI single to tie it up in the seventh at 2-2. 

Midland got the lead back in the bottom of the seventh off an error from the Wichita right fielder, Caleb Hamilton, but the Surge tied it up again in the eighth. B.J. Boyd walked after a battle of an at-bat and moved to third on two straight productive outs. Then Boyd scored on a Peter Mooney single to make it 3-3.

With both teams clearly unable to score more than one run at a time, Midland took a one-run lead again in the bottom of the eighth. This lead would finally be enough and the Wind Surge fell after an uneventful ninth.

Other than Balazovic, Brandon Koch went 1.1 innings with one unearned run and Zach Neff went two and allowed the winning run. Jose Miranda (big surprise) and Santiago had multi-hit games for Wichita.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Lansing 5, Cedar Rapids 2 

Box Score

This game was close until late, when a surge from Lansing cost Cedar Rapids the game, 5-2.

The Kernels fell behind in this game immediately, as Max Schueman took the fifth pitch of the game over the left field wall for a leadoff homer for Lansing. The Lugnuts added another later in the inning on an RBI groundout from Shane Selman. 

Cedar Rapids got a solo homer of their own in the second, a no-doubter off the bat of Jair Camargo. And, in the fifth, Cedar Rapids tied it up due in large part to Gabriel Maciel. Maciel singled and advanced to third on a Spencer Steer base knock. Then, Maciel’s happy feet down the third base line caused pitcher Dalton Sawyer to get happy feet of his own, and Maciel scored on a balk: 2-2. 

After going dormant during innings 2-7, the Lansing offense came back to life in the eighth. They loaded the bases, then scored a run each on a wild pitch, a throwing error and a RBI groundout to take a 5-2 lead that would hold for the remainder of the game. 

Cody Laweryson got the start for Cedar Rapids and, after the first inning, was excellent:

Jonathan Cheshire allowed the other three runs in his 1.1 innings of work, but only one was earned. Both Melvi Acosta (1.2 IP) and Tyler Watson (1.0 IP) had scoreless outings. Only Maciel had a multi-hit game for Cedar Rapids.

MUSSEL MATTERS

Palm Beach 5, Fort Myers 1

Box Score

This game looked set to be a pitcher’s duel early, but Palm Beach took advantage of the Fort Myers bullpen to take this one 5-1.

This game featured a showdown of excellent starting pitching between Fort Myers starter Bobby Milacki and his Palm Beach counterpart, Jose Moreno. Both pitchers went five full innings and they allowed one earned run each. Moreno had Milacki beat in the hits column (3 to 5) but the Mussels’ pitcher had the edge in strikeouts (6 to 5). Most importantly, though each man exited the game with a one in the run column for their team. 

Palm Beach got their run off Milacki with an RBI single from Tommy Jew in the second. That lead lasted until the sixth when Edouard Julien drew a walk off Moreno and chased him from the game. Julien later scored on a Yunior Severino single.

Palm Beach seemed pleased to see Milacki go as they struck for three in their half of the sixth off reliever Carlos Suniaga. Jew drove in two with a triple, then scored on the next pitch on a Franklin Soto single. They then added another in the seventh off a Jacob Buchberger sac fly to extend their lead to 5-1.

Fort Myers couldn’t take advantage of the Palm Beach bullpen in a similar way as their sixth inning run turned out to be their only of the game. Will Guay and Sean Kealey shut down the Mussels bats in the closing innings to finish out the win for the Cardinals.

Suniaga ended up allowing three earned in one inning of work and Denny Bentley went two for Fort Myers, allowing one run and striking out three. Jeferson Morales and Willie Joe Garry Jr. had multi-hit games for the Mussels.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day - Bobby Milacki (Fort Myers)- 5 IP, 5 H,  1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6K

Hitter of the Day - Gabriel Maciel (Cedar Rapids)- 2-for-2, R, BB

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Alex Kirilloff (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

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

#3 - Trevor Larnach (Minnesota) – Did not play

#4 - Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota) – 0-for-4, 2 K

#5 - Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – 7-day IL (elbow strain)

#6 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – 4.2 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

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

#8 - Aaron Sabato (Ft. Myers) – 0-for-4

#9 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – IL (elbow)

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

#11 - Gilberto Celestino (Minnesota) – Did not play

#12 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – 0-for-3, BB, K

#13 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – IL (hamate bone)

#14 - Misael Urbina (Ft. Myers) – 0-for-4

#15 - Cole Sands (Wichita) – 7-day IL (undisclosed)

#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) – 2-for-5, 2 K

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

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

St. Paul @ Columbus (6:05PM CST) – LHP Bryan Sammons (0-1, 7.11 ERA)

Wichita @ Midland (7:00PM CST) – RHP Chris Vallimont (1-3, 4.56 ERA)

Lansing @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Tyler Beck (1-0, 2.63 ERA)

Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30PM CST) – RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long (3-2, 6.37 ERA)

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