Twins Minor League Report (6/16): Wallner Blasts on Tough Night for Twins Farm

Transactions:

• C Jair Camargo placed on IL by Wichita
• RHP Daniel Gossett assigned to Wichita from St. Paul

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Columbus 10, St. Paul 1
Box Score

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Josh Winder was making another rehab start for the Saints this afternoon. He worked three innings allowing one run on two hits and a walk. Winder threw 46 pitches in this one, so another rehab start to stretch him back out could be on tap.

Columbus scored first grabbing a run in the 1st inning, but St. Paul answered in the second when Jermaine Palacios drove in Michael Helman with a single to left field. The Clippers took back the lead with another run in the 4th inning and that’s where things sat until the 7th inning.

What was a close game going into the final few frames wound up being a blowout. A trio of St. Paul pitchers including Jordan Balazovic, Jake Petricka, and Drew Strotman all gave up multiple runs. Columbus tacked on three in the 7th inning before putting up a five-spot in the 8th inning.

St. Paul couldn’t rally in the 9th inning and they wound up with just five hits on the day, with extra-base hits coming in the form of Jake Cave and Curtis Terry doubles.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Tulsa 5, Wichita 3
Box Score

Sawyer Gipson-Long made his Double-A debut tonight for the Wind Surge and it was a tough one. Lasting just 4 2/3 innings, he gave up five runs on six hits. The silver lining was just one walk while punching out five. The damage came predominantly on two homers.

Down 4-0 after the 2nd inning, Wichita got on the board when Matt Wallner blasted his 13th dinger of the year in the 4th inning. Tulsa wiped that run with a 5th inning homer, but the Wind Surge went back to work in the 6th inning.

Anthony Prato drove in DaShawn Keirsey Jr. before Leobaldo Cabrera roped his 5th homer of the season. Down to their last raps in the 9th inning, Wichita made things interesting. Edouard Julien scored on a wild pitch and then Daniel Ozoria advanced to 3rd base on another wild pitch. Down just one with the tying run 90 feet away, Andrew Bechtold stuck out swinging on a 2-2 count. He was the only Wind Surge batter to record two hits on the evening.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Dayton 10, Cedar Rapids 7
Box Score

The Kernels gave the ball to Brent Headrick tonight but it was an abbreviated outing after four runs scored on five hits. Headrick struck out one and walked one but a three-run blast did him in.

By the bottom of the 2nd inning, Cedar Rapids trailed 5-0. Dylan Neuse got the good guys on the board with a single to score Seth Gray, but that was the lone production from the inning. Gray continued to drive the ball in the 3rd inning though, with a two-run homer for his 7th on the campaign.

Dayton stretched the lead to seven by the 8th inning, but the Kernels mounted a rally. In the bottom half, Yunior Severino drove in Aaron Sabato with a single. Neuse then plated Severino before an error on a Will Holland ball scored Pat Winkel.

Cutting the lead to four entering the 9th inning, Kyler Fedko took advantage of another error on Gray’s groundout that put the Kernels within three. Unfortunately, that’s where things ended and Cedar Rapids was on the short end of the stick.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Neuse were the lone Kernels with multi-hit efforts on the evening.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Bradenton 12, Fort Myers 8
Box Score

Travis Adams got the ball tonight for the Mighty Mussels and worked four innings. He gave up four runs on seven hits while striking out five and walking none. It was a tougher outing that raised his ERA to 2.94 on the season.

Fort Myers scored first when LaRon Smith roped his first double of the season to score Rubel Cespedes and Keoni Cavaco. The Marauders quickly wiped that out, however, when they added three of their own in the 3rd inning.

It was 4-2 entering the bottom of the 4th inning and the Mighty Mussels flexed some scoring power. Luis Baez scored Smith despite the ball being grounded back to the pitcher. Mikey Perez then tallied his 14th double to score both Nelson Roberto and Baez. A Cespedes single came in before the inning was done and Perez touched home. When the dust settled, Fort Myers led by a 6-4 tally.

From there Bradenton went to work. They added one in the 5th inning, two in the 6th inning, one in the 7th inning, and four in the 8th inning. By the time Fort Myers batted in the bottom of the 8th inning, it was a 12-6 game. Cespedes did come through with a single to score Baez, and then Baez doubled in the 9th inning to score Smith. Despite the answers, it wasn’t enough to close the gap.

Fort Myers recorded 10 hits on the day, five shy of Bradenton, but they got multi-hit efforts from Cespedes (3), Cavaco (2), Smith (2), and Baez (2).

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 5, FCL Braves 2 (F/7)
Box Score

Saints utility man Daniel Robertson continues to rehab with the FCL team. Today he was 2-for-4 with a double and his second homer. Ricardo Olivar also had a two-hit day in the win. Jonathan Lavallee worked three innings of scoreless relief and picked up his first professional win as a result.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Giants Orange 5, DSL Twins 2 (F/7)
Box Score
Junior Marino and Luis Rodriguez both contributed a pair of hits apiece for the Twins DSL club today. Despite picking up nine hits, the Twins never recorded one of the extra-base variety. Eduardo Soriano made the start and pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up one run on one hit and a pair of walks. He struck out four.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Andrew Cabezas (Wichita) - 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Hitter of the Day – Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, R, 2 2B

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:

#2 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 1-5, 2 K
#4 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 2.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, K
#7 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 0-4, K
#15 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 1-4, R, RBI, HR(13), BB, K
#16 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 1-2, R, 3 BB
#18 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, R, 2 2B

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (6:05PM CST) - RHP Ariel Jurado
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:05PM CST) - LHP Blayne Enlow
Dayton @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - RHP Aaron Rozek
Bradenton @ Fort Myers (6:00PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl

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