Twins Minor League Report (4/15): Meyer Dominant In First Start

TRANSACTIONS

Fernando Abad left the team to be with his family at his grandmother’s funeral in the Dominican Republic. He was put on the Bereavement List. Ryan O’Rourke will likely be summoned from Rochester before Saturday’s game, assuming he gets to the Twin Cities in time.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Buffalo 1

Box Score

The story of the night, without question, was the performance of right-hander Alex Meyer. It was just under a year ago that Meyer - who was one of the International League’s top starting pitcher in 2014 - was moved to the bullpen to work on control and command. 2015 was a tough year for the hard-thrower, but when he was sent down from big league spring training the decision was made to give him another shot as a starter. Then weather postponements delayed his first start of the season, but he worked on Saturday in the Red Wings home opener and recorded the save with four shutout innings following Jose Berrios.

On Friday night, he made his first start and it went quite well. The right-hander threw 6.1 innings of three-hit, shutout baseball. He struck out eight. Maybe the most important thing is that he walked zero. He also hit 99 mph on the radar gun a few times. He threw 87 pitches and 57 of them were strikes. It’s about as well as anyone could have hoped, and it’s certainly something he can build on. In his next start, he’ll be building upon 10.1 scoreless innings to start the year.

He left the game and Ryan O’Rourke ran in to the mound. He threw just one pitch and got the batter to fly out to left field. Loek Van Mil came on to get the final out of the seventh inning. Van Mil gave up a hit to start the eighth inning, and JR Graham came in to replace him. Graham allowed the runner to score on a double but buckled down and got out of the inning with a 2-1 lead. In the ninth, he did not allow a run and recorded his second save.

Jorge Polanco was batting third. With two outs in the first inning, Jorge Polanco hit a solo home run to give the Red Wings the lead. Newcomer David Murphy struck out in his first at-bat, but he hit singles off lefty Wade LeBlanc in his next two at-bats. Following one of his singles, John Hicks crushed a double off the wall in left field to advance Murphy to third base. Wilfredo Tovar came up and hit a slow bouncer down the third base line that hit the bag for a single and allowed the second run to score. Tovar was also 2-3 in the game.

The Red Wings improved to 4-4 on the season. They’ll send Jose Berrios to the mound on Saturday night in Lehigh Valley where we assume Thrylos will be in attendance and provide us with a report.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 3, Jackson 6

Box Score

Aaron Slegers struggled a bit early. The Lookouts fell behind and were unable to quite get back. The lanky right-hander went the first four innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out one. Alex Wimmers came on and gave up two runs on three hits over two innings. He struck out two. Mason Melotakis worked his third game and for the third time allowed at least one run. In this game, he gave up a run on four hits. Brandon Peterson came on and gave up one run on one hit and one walk over two innings.

The Lookouts scored their first run on a ground out from Zach Granite. In the sixth inning, Dalton Hicks hit his team-leading third home runs of the season. Mitch Garver added his first double.

The Lookouts are now 3-6 on the season. Ryan Eades will make his second start on Saturday.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 6, Daytona 5 (10 innings)

Box Score

The Miracle got ahead, then gave back the lead, but they found a way to get a win.

Tyler Jay made his second start of the season. He allowed a solo home run in each of the first two innings, but he settled down after that. In total, he went five innings. He gave up two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out four. 48 of his 73 pitches were strikes.

Jay was replaced by Luke Bard who has been unhittable early this season. It wasn’t his best outing. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk while striking out one. Todd Van Steensel gave up one hit in his scoreless innings. Yorman Landa struck out three in the eighth. He also pitched the ninth inning, looking for the save. Unfortunately, after getting the first two outs, he walked two and gave up a game-tying single before Tanner English threw out a runner at third to end the inning.

When the Miracle grabbed the lead again in the 10th, Trevor Hildenberger came on and recorded his third save of the young season. He gave up a single but struck out two in the inning.

Nick Gordon led the offense. He went 3-5 with a couple of big hits. His two-run homer in the eighth inning gave the Miracle the lead. He also led off the 10th inning with a double and scored on a double off the bat of Trey Vavra. Earlier in the game, Vavra singled to extend his hitting streak to eight games. It was his first multi-hit game. Tanner English extended his hitting streak to five games. He went 2-5 with his first double of the season. Logan Wade had a big RBI triple. Alex Swim added a double and Edgar Corcino walked twice.

The Miracle improved to 6-3 on the season. Keaton Steele goes on Saturday.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 5, Clinton 11

Box Score

For the second straight game, Luis Arraez led off the bottom of the Kernels first inning with a home run. It was his second home run of the season and the second home run of the 19-year-old’s professional career. He went 2-4 with a walk in the game. Zander Wiel went 1-3 with two walks. Max Murphy and LaMonte Wade each had a walk and a double.

Sam Gibbons got off to a tough start. He gave up five runs in the first inning. He stayed in though and was charged with seven runs (four earned) on 11 hits and a walk in 4.2 innings. He struck out five. Mike Theofanopoulos came on and gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. He struck out two. Kuo Hua Lo pitched well. He threw 2.2 scoreless innings and gave up three hits.

Jermaine Palacios committed two more errors and has five on the season already.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Alex Meyer, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Nick Gordon, Ft. Myers Miracle

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (5:35 CST) - RHP Jose Berrios

Jackson @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) – RHP Ryan Eades

Ft. Myers @ Daytona (6:05 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele

Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (4:05 CST) – Sam Clay

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