Tuesday's Trip through the Minors

Even though they are a last place team like the Twins, the pesky Seattle Mariners have seemed to have the Twins number in 2012. For the second night in a row, the Twins couldn't get much offense going and it's tough to win games without scoring runs. The good news is that the Twins are getting closer to getting the second pick in next year's draft. Only the Cubs and the Astros have a worse record than the Twins so this recent stretch of poor play has pushed Minnesota ahead of Colorado.

I spent the evening taking in some Independent League Baseball as the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks returned to Newman Outdoor Field. There was a Bobblelection held as fans had to pick between getting an Obama bobblehead or a Romney bobblehead. The first candidate to run out of bobbleheads would be declared the winner.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] It turns out that the Fort Myers Miracle are having a similar promotion on Thursday evening at their home game.

ROCHESTER 10, BUFFALO 4

The Red Wings used a 5-run top of the ninth inning to separate themselves from the Bisons on Tuesday evening. Buffalo struck early for a couple runs but Rochester slowly pecked away before coming up big in their last at-bat.

Rene Rivera and Tsuyoshi Nishioka each drove in three runs. Rivera had a home run and a double to his credit while Nishioka settled for a three hit night. Brian Dozier continues to struggle since his demotion as he went 0-4 with two strikeouts. Chris Parmelee had a hat trick with three strikeouts in the game.

Shairon Martis picked up his third win of the year in a very strong outing. Over six innings on the mound, he gave up two runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Anthony Slama made things a little more interesting in the ninth by giving up a two-run bomb but he still picked up his 13th save on the year.

NEW BRITAIN 4, TRENTON 7

A big 5-run second inning put the Thunder up big and the Rock Cats couldn't recover on this night. Steve Hirschfeld was roughed up for six runs in less than two innings of work. This made it a long night for the bullpen but Edgar Ibarra, Dakota Watts, Aaron Thompson, and Jose Gonzalez managed to make it through the rest of the game by only allowing one more run. The lone run came on a solo home run so it was a pretty good 6.1 innings from the bullpen forces.

Josmil Pinto went 3-for-4 on the night with his first double since being promoted from Fort Myers. In the fifth inning, Deibinson Romero hit his 19th home run of the year. Nate Hanson also went 2-for-4 in the loss.

FORT MYERS 10, BRADENTON 11 (7 INNINGS)

FORT MYERS 4, BRADENTON 2 (7 INNINGS)

The first game of the night turned into quite the slugfest as the teams combined for 21 runs on 19 hits. The Miracle entered the last inning down by six runs and they would storm back before falling a run short. Steve Liddle hit his third home run of the season and he had three RBI. Most of the dirty work was done by Angel Morales as he hit a grand slam in the final frame to make things interesting. With his RBI from earlier in the game, he finished with five RBI in the contest. Clint Dempster took the loss after giving up six runs in less than an inning on the mound.

Compared to the first game of the night, the second game was a nice, tidy win for the Miracle in their double-header. A couple runs in the third and sixth innings were enough to push the team to a victory. Steve Liddle hit his second home run of the day and his two-run shot turned out to be the difference in the score. Daniel Ortiz was the only member of the Miracle to have more than one hit by going 2-for-4 with his 23rd double. Pat Dean earned his 10th victory by pitching five innings and surrendering two runs with five strikeouts.

BELOIT 0, CEDAR RAPIDS 5

The Snappers put seven hits on the board but the pitching staff for the Kernals kept them from scoring a run in this game. Beloit only had one extra base hit in the game, a double off of the bat of Drew Leachman. Jairo Rodriguez went 2-for-3 and he was the lone player with a multi-hit game. The team left nine men on base and they missed the presence of Miguel Sano who was out of the line-up for the second straight night.

Matt Tomshaw had an okay outing but he was still saddled with his fifth loss of the year. The team had three errors in the game including two from Adam Pettersen trying to fill in for Sano at third base. This meant that Tomshaw only gave up two earned runs during his five innings pitched. It was the third consecutive start that Tomshaw has lost.

ELIZABETHTON 6, PRINCETON 4

A solid offensive outing from the young E-Twins helped the team to the victory on Tuesday evening. Top draft pick Byron Buxton went 2-for-4 with two steals and two runs scored out of the lead-off spot. He was backed up by Niko Goodrum as he was 2-for-4 with a double and a triple in the game. Max Kepler continued to show his power stroke by hitting his 10th home run and stealing a base.

Hein Robb started the game and gave up two earned runs on seven hits in a little less than five innings. Joshua Burris improved to a perfect 7-0 with the victory on this night out of the bullpen. He threw the last two innings and only allowed one man to reach base.

---

Players of the Day for August 28, 2012

Hitter of the Day: Steve Liddle

Pitcher of the Day: Shairon Martis

---

A Look Ahead- Wednesday, August 29th Schedule

Rochester: Off Day

New Britain @ Trenton: LHP Logan Darnell

Fort Myers @ Bradenton: RHP Tom Stuifbergen

Beloit @ Wisconsin: LHP David Hurlbut

Elizabethton @ Danville: RHP JO Berrios

---

If you have any questions or comments on the minor league system, leave them in the comments sections so they can be answered by myself or one of the other readers.