Twins Minor League Report (4/19): Extra! Extra! (Read All About It)

Read on to find out what happened to who in the Minor Leagues on Sunday.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 3, Pawtucket 4

Box Score

The Red Wings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning after Aaron Hicks led off the game with a single, and after an Eddie Rosario fly out and Josmil Pinto strike out, Brock Peterson stepped to the plate. He launched a 2-1 pitch over the center field wall for his fourth home run of the season, which is tied for first in the International League in the early going.

Left-hander Pat Dean was on the mound for Rochester, and though his game started unnaturally as he loaded the bases after three hitters (hit batter, single, walk), he struck out the next two hitters and escape unscathed in the first after a fly ball to Rosario in center field. Dean dominated the rest of the outing, finishing six innings and allowing zero runs on just two hits and one walk, while striking out seven.

Both lineups remained silent until the bottom of the seventh, after Dean had exited the game, when Pawtucket struck for two runs and a tie game after Ryan Presley entered. He struck out the first hitter he faced, but two walks, a Jackie Bradley Jr. single, and a wild pitch evened the scoreboard. Presley finished the inning with a strikeout, but the damage had been done.

Rosario put the Red Wings back in front 3-2 in the top of the eighth, as he led off the inning with a triple and made his way home on a Reynaldo Rodriguez single. But it would not be enough.

Presley came back out for the bottom of the eighth but after recording one out, surrendered two consecutive singles to put runners on first and third. Michael Tonkin was summoned, but unleashed a wild pitch to score the tying run, then an Argenis Diaz fielding error allowed the go-ahead run score.

A 1-2-3 top of the ninth dropped the Red Wings to 5-5 on the year.

Rochester hitters Hicks (2-5), Rosario (2-4, 3B), Rodriguez (2-4), and Danny Oritz (2-4), would each collect multiple hits, but Peterson (1-3, HR, BB) was the only other hitter in the lineup to reach base.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Birmingham, Chattanooga (postponed)

Chattanooga and Birmingham’s game was rained out on Sunday afternoon and will be made up in a future meeting between the two teams.

MIRACLE MATTERS

St. Lucie 2, Fort Myers 3 (11 innings)

Box Score

Starter Ryan Eades was again stellar for the Miracle, giving a quality start effort in six innings. He allowed just one run on six hits and one walk, while striking out three. After two starts in the Florida State League the 2013 second-round pick out of LSU sports a 1-0 record and 0.75 ERA.

Brandon Peterson came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits and three walks, while striking out two. Righty Todd Van Steensel pitched into extra innings, striking out five in 2.1 innings of scoreless ball, before being replaced by J.T. Chargois in the eleventh. Chargois pitch a scoreless inning, allowing a double and a walk to put runners on first and third, before striking out Amed Rosario of the Mets to end the inning.

Fort Myers ended the game in walk-off fashion, giving Chargois his first victory of 2015, after a single from a pinch hitter brought home the winning run from third base. Jason Kanzler started the rally with one out, bunting down the first base line for a single, and Engelb Vielma moved him to third with a single of his own before an intentional walk to load the bases prompted a pitching change from the Mets. Miracle manager Jeff Smith countered with pinch hitter Aderlin Mejia in place of Tanner Vavra, and he lined a one-hopper to the left side of the infield that turned into the game-winning single when it bounced away from a diving shortstops glove, scoring Kanzler.

The offense was led by Kanzler who went 2-4 (GW run), while Mejia (1-1, GW RBI single) Max Kepler (1-5), Marcus Knecht (1-5), Alex Swim (1-5, SB), Chad Christensen (1-3, R, BB) and Vielma (1-4) collected the other six hits.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 1, Burlington 2 (12 innings)

Box Score

The Kernels game against the Burlington Bees went twelve innings on Sunday afternoon, as pitching dominated the scoreboard.

Felix Jorge was on the hill for the Kernels, looking to build off his strong 2015 debut where he shut out the Beloit Snappers for seven innings, collecting ten strikeouts along the way. He wouldn’t reach double digits in K’s, but totaled nine strikeouts in five innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits (all singles) and two walks in five innings.

Cameron Booser came on to pitch two perfect innings, striking out three, and Trevor Hildenberger would bring them into extra innings while allowing just one hit in three innings, striking out four.

Samuel Clay was next up in the bottom of the eleventh, and retired the first four batters he faced before Burlington’s Natanael Delgado lined his forth single of the game in the twelfth. A strikeout and walk put Delgado in scoring position for Miguel Hermosillo to provide the walk-off single.

The Kernels lineup combined for just five hits on the night, with Tyler Kuresa collecting the only extra base hit, a double in the seventh. Zach Larson collected the only RBI of the night on a ground out in the sixth.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pat Dean, Rochester Red Wings (W, 6.0 IP, 0 R’s, 2 H’s, 1 BB, 7 K’s)

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brock Peterson, Rochester Red Wings (1-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB)

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Syracuse (5:35 PM CST) – RHP Alex Meyer (1-0, 8.31 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Mississippi (7:00 AM CST) – RHP Alex Wimmers (Has Not Pitched)

Fort Myers @ Tampa (6:00 PM CST) – LHP Luke Westphal (0-1, 4.15 ERA)

Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Jared Wilson (1-0, 2.84 ERA)

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