Twins Minor League Report (7/21): Wade HR Extends Chattanooga's Hot Streak

Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Friday.

Glen Perkins had a big announcement to share on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/glenperkins/status/888566576152289280

Twins radio man Cory Provus elaborated during the big club's broadcast that Perkins would be pitching in the GCL.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Toledo 0

Box Score

Tim Melville was outstanding, pitching eight shutout innings. He gave up just four hits, all singles, and walked a batter while striking out four. The 27-year-old right-hander now has a 2.63 ERA over six appearances with the Red Wings.

The bottom of the fifth started by three straight singles from ByungHo Park, Tommy Field and Edgar Corcino, who drove in a run on his hit. In the bottom of the sixth, Rochester added another run when Mitch Garver and Niko Goodrum hit back-to-back singles and Kennys Vargas had an RBI ground out.

Alan Busenitz pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save for the Wings. He’s thrown six scoreless innings since being optioned back down from the Twins, tallying seven K's with just one walk and two hits allowed.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 4, Mobile 2

Box Score

LaMonte Wade hit a huge three-run homer in the seventh inning and Dereck Rodriguez continued to impress as the Lookouts improved their second-half record to an insane 22-6. These guys are on some kind of a roll right now.

In his seventh start since making the jump from Fort Myers, Rodriguez threw five shutout innings. He gave up four hits, a walk and struck out six batters. He really cruised through the first five innings, but opened the sixth by giving up a single and a walk.

Rodriguez was lifted after 77 pitches in favor of Ryan Eades, who got out of that sixth inning, but ended up surrendering two runs over 3.1 innings. Nick Anderson recorded the final two outs, both on strikeouts, for his third save.

Andy Wilkins hit his sixth homer and Travis Harrison was 2-for-4 with a double.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Tampa 6, Fort Myers 4

Box Score

Brent Rooker started off his tenure in Fort Myers 0-for10, but he busted out by going 3-for-3 with a walk. Jermaine Palacios and Sean Miller also had three hits each. The Miracle scratched across a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth, but could not complete the comeback effort.

Sean Poppen is in the middle of an excellent season, but he struggled tonight, giving up four runs over five innings. Michael Theofanopoulos gave up another couple of runs over his three innings of work before Andrew Vasquez pitched a scoreless ninth. The big lefty has now thrown 19 scoreless innings for the Miracle.

Brandon Lopez was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Center fielder Tanner English scored three runs, stole his 18th base and threw out a runner at second base.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 7, Great Lakes 4

Box Score

Kernels shortstop Joe Cronin made an appearance on the mound in a blowout loss Thursday night, striking out a couple of batters while giving up a run. Tonight, he made sure nobody would be thinking about converting him to a pitcher. Cronin slugged a pair of homers, his first two home runs for Cedar Rapids.

Starting pitcher Evan Sanders had a very uneven night. The good: He only gave up two hits and struck out seven batters over five innings. The bad: He walked five batters and gave up four runs despite just the two hits.

Colton Davis and Hector Lujan each pitched two scoreless innings out of the pen. Lujan, whose ERA is down to 1.63, picked up his ninth save. Lewin Diaz was 2-for-4 and hit his 27th double of the season. Caleb Hamilton was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Aaron Whitefield stole his 24th base of the year.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Bluefield 8, Elizabethton 5 (13 innings)

Box Score

Akil Baddoo was 2-for-6 with a double, two RBIs and a run in his Appy League debut, but the Twins fell in 13 innings. Bryan Sammons made his second start for E-Town and struck out five batters over six innings, holding the Blue Jays to two runs on four hits.

Third baseman Andrew Bechtold made a costly error, his fourth, that led to two unearned runs in the eighth inning, but he also entered this contest with an OPS over 1.000 and added two more hits. Shortstop Jordan Gore was 3-for-6 with a couple of RBIs and second baseman Carson Crites hit a pair of doubles and scored three runs.

Venezuelan product Jose Martinez was a stud out of the pen, throwing 4.1 shutout innings. The 20-year-old right-hander has only surrendered three runs over 18.1 innings (1.83 ERA) while striking out 16 batters and walking just three.

GCL TWINS TAKES

Twins at Red Sox, Postponed

Just to fuel trade speculation, the Twins didn’t take just one regular out of the lineup, but they managed to postpone the entire game. No word on whether any of the players were hugging in the dugout.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Tim Melville, Rochester (8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Joe Cronin, Cedar Rapids (2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI)

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester vs. Toledo, 5:05 pm CT, David Hurlbut (3.56 ERA, 1.37 WHIP)

Chattanooga at Mobile, 7:05 pm CT, Fernando Romero (2.82 ERA, 1.28 WHIP)

Fort Myers vs. Tampa, 5:05 pm CT, TBD

Cedar Rapids vs. Lansing, 6:35 pm CT, Griffin Jax (2.29 ERA, 0.92 WHIP)

Elizabethton vs. Bluefield, 5:00 pm CT, Edwar Colina (2.70 ERA, 1.13 WHIP)

GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT, TBD

GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, Game 2, TBD

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games.