Twins Minor League Report (4/23): Extra, Extra... Extra

Continue on to read about the pitchers and the hitter highlights from Saturday’s games.

TRANSACTIONS

On Saturday afternoon, not terribly long before the Red Wings and Twins afternoon starts, we learned that due to a sore back, Ervin Santana will not make his scheduled Sunday start. Instead, Tyler Duffey, who was supposed to start Saturday in Rochester, will come up and start on Sunday in our nation’s capital. Following the Twins game, the move became official. The corresponding move was Jorge Polanco returning to the Red Wings.

Also on Saturday, the Detroit Tigers announced that they had claimed catcher John Hicks from the Twins. This would certainly explain the Twins decision a couple of days ago to promote Carlos Paulino to the Red Wings. The Twins 40-man roster is now at 39.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Buffalo 10

Box Score

With the Duffey news coming so abruptly this morning, the Red Wings had to scramble. They decided to have RHP Loek Van Mil make the start. The right-hander from The Netherlands went the first two innings and gave up five runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out two. Taylor Rogers then gave up four runs on five hits over the next two innings. He walked one and struck out two. Buddy Boshers calmed things down a bit. The left-hander worked three scoreless innings, striking out four. Dan Runzler gave up two hits and hit another batter, but he gave up just one unearned run (on his own error) over two innings.

Offensively, there wasn’t much positive either. The team had just five hits. Reynaldo Rodriguez went 1-3 with a walk and a double. Carlos Paulino made his first Red Wings start of the year and went 1-3 with a double.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 0, Birmingham 6

Box Score

Through six innings, this was quite the pitcher's duel between DJ Baxendale and White Sox first-round pick from 2015, Carson Fulmer. The two right-handers had matching lines. They both worked six shutout innings and gave up four hits. Neither walked a batter and they each struck out six.

With a scoreless game going into the seventh, Alex Wimmers came into the game. He gave up two runs on four hits in the 7th inning which proved to be enough to take the loss. Nick Burdi made his 2016 debut with a perfect inning. He needed just 12 pitches, nine of them strikes, to get three ground balls. Jake Reed came on for the ninth inning and got the first two batters out. He then issued a walk and it was followed by a double. After that, there were a couple of Engelb Vielma errors and a triple, so Reed was charged with four runs but just one was earned.

Offensively the Lookouts had seven hits but were unable to bunch many together. No one had more than one hit, and Dalton Hicks had the only extra base hit, his second double.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 1, Charlotte 0 (11 innings)

Box Score

Through 10 innings, the Miracle had just one hit, a 5th inning single by Nick Gordon. With one out in the 11th, Brian Navarreto singled. He advanced to second on a balk, and Austin Diemer came in to replace him. One batter later, Edgar Corcino singled him in with the winning run.

Just three hits in the game, but a win is a win. The credit goes to the pitchers.

Felix Jorge was terrific again. He came in to the game with a consecutive scoreless inning streak of 8.2 innings. With seven shutout innings tonight, his streak will continue in his next start at 15.2 innings. He gave up just four hits, walked one and struck out four. Unfortunately, he left without any run support.

Trevor Hildenberger came in. He gave up two hits but no runs over the next two innings. Yorman Landa pitched the 10th and 11th innings and was perfect to get the win.

Danny Santana played right field in this game. He led off and got three at-bats. He was 0-3 which means through two rehab games with the Miracle, he is 0-6. He is expected to play third base on Sunday.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Game 1 - Cedar Rapids 1, Clinton 2 (18 innings)

Box Score

As a manager or pitching coach preparing for a doubleheader, even knowing the games are seven innings, the worst possible thing is extra innings. It’s not good at all for the pitching staff. In game one, there was little offense and there were double-digit innings. In fact, the two teams were scheduled to play 14 innings combined in the two games, so when Game 1 went into the 14th inning, I would imagine neither manager was real happy about it.

Lefty Sam Clay got the starting nod in Game 1. He had thrown six innings and five innings of shutout ball in his first two starts. However, in this game, he gave up a sacrifice fly to the third batter of the game to end that scoreless streak. However, he put in another terrific start. Clay went six innings and gave up just the one run on four hits and a walk. He struck out six.

The Kernels managed to tie the game at one in the top of the seventh when Jermaine Palacios singled to score Manuel Guzman. That was it for scoring for a while. The bullpens took over.

Kernels closer Nick Anderson struck out four over the next two innings. Logan Lombana came in for the next four innings. He gave up just one hit and struck out six. Kuo Hua Lo got the next four innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two. Zack Tillery pitched a scoreless 17th inning. He got the first two outs of the 18th as well, but a double was followed by a single and the game was over.

The Kernels had ten hits and seven walks in the 18 innings but just couldn’t get a second run to cross home plate. Jermaine Palacios had three hits and a walk. AJ Murray hit his first three doubles and a walk. Rafael Valera went 2-8 with his fifth double.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Game 2 - Cedar Rapids 0, Clinton 1

Box Score

After a five-hour Game 1, the second game started at about 10:45. Dereck Rodriguez started for the Kernels. He went the first five innings and gave up three runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out seven. John Curtiss came in for the sixth. He struck out the side and now has 16 strikeouts in seven innings this year.

Offensively, the Kernels had just four hits. JJ Fernandez went 3-3 with his first home run of the year.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Felix Jorge, Ft. Myers Miracle

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – AJ Murray, Cedar Rapids Kernels

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Buffalo @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - LHP Pat Dean

Birmingham @ Chattanooga (1:15 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut

Charlotte @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – LHP Randy Rosario

Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (2:00 CST) – RHP Cody Stashak

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