Twins Minor League Report (4/16): Starters Give Games Away

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 7, Pawtucket PawSox 8

Box Score

Despite seven runs on twelve hits, the Red Wings lost to the PawSox in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Pressly, working in his third inning of the evening, gave up a one out home run to Pawtucket's Bryce Brentz. Pressly, who entered the game with two outs in the sixth, was charged with a blown save and a loss. Red Wings' starter Taylor Rogers was lucky to escape without a decision after giving up five runs, all earned, in six innings. Rogers struck out seven, but he also walked three and gave up two long balls. Logan Darnell came on the start the sixth and put two men on base before yielding to Pressly who gave up a double, allowing both inherited runners to score and tagging Darnell with two earned runs.

Twelve hits and seven walks led to plenty of scoring opportunities for the Red Wings, who failed to tally an extra-base hit and left ten runners on base despite going 4-10 with runners in scoring position. Reynaldo Rodriguez was 3-4 with a walk and an RBI to pace Rochester. Eddie Rosario (2-4), Josmil Pinto (2-2, 3BB), and Jose Martinez (2-4) all collected two hits. Pinto is now hitting .417, including six hits in his last seven at-bats, plus those two walks. He has to be wondering how much longer it will be until he is back with the Minnesota Twins.

LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN

Birmingham Barons @ Chattanooga

POSTPONED - Jose Berrios will have an extra day of rest as the Lookouts were rained out tonight in Chattanooga.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Tampa Yankees 7, Fort Myers 6 (10 innings)

Box Score

Down 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth, the Miracle rallied for four runs on a Logan Wade grand slam to send the game into extra innings. Aaron Slegers, Fort Myers' starter, went just 5.2 innings, surrendering six runs, four earned. He walked one batter and struck out five. Madison Boer finished the sixth for Slegers and pitched two more scoreless innings after that to get the Miracle through the eighth. With the game now tied, Todd Van Steensel pitched 1.2 scoreless innings before yielding to Brandon Peterson, with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the tenth. Peterson quickly got ahead of Angelo Gumbs 0-2 on a pair of breaking balls and then balked in a run when he dropped the ball while he was standing on the rubber, before eventually striking out Gumbs to retire the side.

The Miracle were aided by four Tampa errors, but Engelb Vielma and Alex Swim managed to go 0-10 at the top of the order, leaving Fort Myers to manufacture runs without their table setters on base. Logan Wade's grand slam was part of his 2-4 night and was the punctuation mark on the night for the Miracle hitters. Marcus Knecht was the only other Miracle hitter with multiple hits, 2-4 with a double, a walk, and an RBI. Niko Goodrum finished the night 1-4 with a single and two walks. With a runner on second in the bottom of the tenth, Max Kepler was caught looking to end the game. Kepler, DHing on Thursday night, ended 1-5 with a walk and two strike- outs.

KERNELS KORNER

Peoria Chiefs 3, Cedar Rapids 1

Box Score

A quick ballgame on Thursday in Iowa, lasting just two hours and five minutes. Kernels' starter John Curtiss cruised through five innings, but gave up three runs in the sixth inning to take the loss. The Kernels now need a win tomorrow night to avoid being swept at home by the Chiefs. Curtiss scattered ten hits, struck out six and walked just a single batter. His ERA now sits at 4.63 on the young season. Michael Theofanopoulos pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, and C.K. Irby finished the game with an interesting ninth, walking two and striking out two.

There was not a lot of offense for the Kernels against Peoria's Austin Gomber, who struck out eight Cedar Rapids batsmen and yielded just a single run on an RBI single by Zack Larson in the bottom of the third. That Larson RBI gave the Kernels their first lead of the series against the Chiefs, but the Kernels did not have the hits to keep pace. Zach Granite was the bright spot for Cedar Rapids, going 3-4 with a double, raising his season average to .458 while extending his hitting streak to five games.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Hitter of the Day - Josmil Pinto, Rochester Red Wings

Pitcher of the Day - Michael Theofanopoulos, Cedar Rapids Kernels

THURSDAY'S PROBABLES

Rochester @ Pawtucket - Jason Wheeler (0-1, 2.70) vs. Henry Owens (0-0, 1.42)

Birmingham @ Chattanooga - Mike Recchia (0-0, 5.40) vs. Jose Berrios (1-0, 1.42)

St. Lucie @ Fort Myers - Marcos Molina (0-0, 3.) vs. Chih-Wei Hu (0-0 3.60)

Peoria @ Cedar Rapids - Daniel Poncedeleon (1-0, 0.00) vs. Stephen Gonsalves (1-0, 1.50) On the most recent episode of the Talk to Contact podcast, Seth Stohs identified Gonsalves as his pick to be the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.