Twins Minor League Report (4/4): Opening Night

Find out everything that happened in the Twins system on Thursday, starting with the Transactions of the day.

TRANSACTIONS

There were no transactions in the Twins system on Thursday. Maybe some of you saw that in the past week a couple of Twins minor league pitchers, Colton Davis and Anthony Marzi, chose to retire.

Here are the Opening Day Roster Previews for each of the Twins full-season affiliates, in case you missed them on Monday.

• Rochester Red Wings
  
• Pensacola Blue Wahoos
  
• Ft. Myers Miracle
  
• Cedar Rapids Kernels
  

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 4, Lehigh Valley 2

Box Score

Ronald Torreyes knows how to start a season. He was the Red Wings second batter in the first inning, and he launched a long home run. It was the first hit in the organization in 2019, the first home run, the first run and the first RBI.

Kohl Stewart got the Opening Night call for the Red Wings. Things didn’t go well early for the right-hander. He went walk, strikeout, walk, strikeout with the first four batters of the first inning. He then gave up a bloop single to score run. Then a wild pitch scored a second run. He needed 34 pitches to complete the first frame.

The Twins have a rule that if a pitcher throws 35 or more pitches in an inning, he will be done for the night. Stewart was one pitch from being done. He went on to throw four zeroes on the scoreboard and earned the Win in this contest. In his five innings, he gave up the two runs (1 earned) on just three hits. He walked two, hit one and struck out eight batters.

Ryan Eades came on and struck out four over two perfect innings. He needed just 18 pitches. Then Tyler Duffey came on and earned the save with two scoreless innings. He struck out four as well, though he did hit one batter.

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1113977187953258496

LaMonte Wade led the offense. He went 3-for-4 with a walk in the game. Wilin Rosario went 2-for-5 with a home run. Randy Cesar had a walk and a big, two-run homer that gave the Red Wings the two-run lead late in the game.

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola , Mobile

Box Score

Opening Night was pushed back a day as rains came to Mobile. For Mobile, it means that they will get to face Jorge Alcala and Brusdar Graterol on Friday!

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 11, Charlotte 3

Box Score

Hard to believe that in the sixth inning, Jeff Smith’s Charlotte squad tied the game at three. The potent Miracle took off at that point, led by the return of Lewin Diaz.

Diaz played half of last season with the Miracle but unfortunately needed wrist surgery and missed the rest of the season. He continued his body transformation in the offseason and his work paid off on Opening Night. The now-slender slugger went 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI to lead the offense.

Bryan Sammons gave up an unearned run in the first inning, but he was able to escape danger several times. He gave up just the unearned run on seven hits and two walks over just 4 1/3 innings. He left the game with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. Anthony Vizcaya came on and struck out the fourth and fifth batters of Charlotte. It was Vizcaya’s first game with an affiliated team since 2014.

The Miracle got on the board in the 2nd inning when Lewin Diaz doubled off of the wall in right field to score Travis Blankenhorn. Ben Rortvedt followed with a single to right that scored Diaz.

Following the Vizcaya strikeouts in the top of the 5th, the Miracle got back on the board in the bottom of the inning. Akil Baddoo homered to the berm in left field for the first Miracle homer of the season.

But as mentioned, the Stone Crabs tied it up in the sixth. The Miracle regained the lead 4-3 and then Royce Lewis put together a long at-bat that culminated in a two-run single that broke the game open. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Miracle really broke things open with a five-run inning.

https://twitter.com/HalOstrow/status/1113966209307901954

The loaded Miracle lineup got production from more than just Lewin Diaz. Ben Rortvedt went 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI singles. Akil Baddoo added a triple late in the game to go with his homer. Travis Blankenhorn had a walk and a double, and he scored three runs.

Vizcaya was clutch to end the fifth inning, but he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk the next inning. Alex Phillips came on and struck out four batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. He was hitting 95 and 96 mph consistently. Johan Quezada pitched a scoreless ninth frame, and he was hitting 97 a couple of times in the inning.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 10

Box Score

Blayne Enlow returned to the Kernels after a solid showing in his first full pro season in 2018. He earned the Opening Night call for the team this year. Things went all right the first couple of innings. He gave up leadoff walks in the first two innings, but neither came back to hurt him. He did give up a solo homer in the second inning. But then came the third inning. Enlow faced seven batters. He walked one and the other six got hits, the final was a double. Austin Schulfer came on and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. However, he then struck out the next three batters to end the inning.

Schulfer was good. He struck out five batters over three scoreless, two-hit innings. Jose Martinez came on next and was charged with four runs on six hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. Carlos Suniaga got the final seven outs for the Kernels.He gave up two hits and struck out three.

There wasn’t much offense for the Kernels. The team scored two runs in the sixth inning, on RBI singles from Andrew Bechtold and David Banuelos. Yunior Severino led the team with a 2-for-4 game.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day –Ryan Eades, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Lewin Diaz, Ft. Myers Miracle (hat tip to LaMonte Wade - Red Wings - as well)

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 1-3, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured List

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - No Game

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-4, SF, RBI, K

#5 - Wander Javier (EST) - No Game

#6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 0-4, BB, 3 K

#7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Pitches Friday

#8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch

#9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - 2.0 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 2-5, 3B, HR, 2 K

#11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured List

#12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured List

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-3, BB, 2B, K, R, 2 RBI,

#14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 K

#15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, R

#16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, K

#17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Did not pitch

#18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 3-4, BB,

#19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Rained out.

#20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 0-2, 2 BB, HBP, R, K

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (6:05 CST) - RHP Chase De Jong

Pensacola @ Mobile (DH starting at 4:05 CST) - RHP, Jorge Alcala, RHP Brusdar Graterol

Charlotte @ Ft. Myers (5:30 CST) - RHP Jhoan Duran

Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday’s games.