Twins Minor League Report (7/6):

Back to write-up for tonight:

ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings)

Box Score

Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season.

I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves.

Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over.

There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases.

Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run.

Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning.

Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET.

NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4

Box Score

The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot).

The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late.

The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th.

Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk.

D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue.

B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter.

Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA).

The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day.

FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6

Box Score

The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season.

Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level.

Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375).

Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs.

Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning.

Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings)

Box Score

The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense.

Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season.

Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk.

Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.)

Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game.

ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0

Box Score

It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today.

E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games.

The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating.

The pitching made up for it, though.

Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout.

GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE)

Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings.

Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error.

GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE)

Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run.

Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI.

Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles.

Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve.

Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure.

The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.