Twins Minor League Report (5/11): Smeltzer Ya Later!

TRANSACTIONS

INF Miguel Sanó transferred from AA to AAA for his MLB rehab assignment

RHP Kohl Stewart recalled by Minnesota

RHP Tyler Duffey recalled by Minnesota (26th man for the DH)

Update: Following the game, Stewart and Fernando Romero were optioned to Rochester. Martine Perez was actvated from the paternity list. Willians Astudillo will be activated from the Injured List on Sunday morning. Also, as the 26th man, Tyler Duffey was sent back to Rochester, as well.

RED WINGS REPORT

Red Wings 0, Durham 1

Box Score

Devin Smeltzer: 8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 68% strikes (68 of 100 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

The talk so far about AAA has been the offensive explosion that seems to have come as a result of the MLB ball being implemented at the AAA level. Evidently, no one told Devin Smeltzer that this is an offense-heavy environment because he fired off eight impressive shutout innings to continue his absolute tear through the minors to start the season. So far, he has surrendered just two earned runs through his forty-five innings of work at AA and AAA combined. He may be at the majors sooner rather than later if this keeps up.

Unfortunately for the Red Wings, the Bulls pitching was just as good and were able to hold the Red Wings to two hits on the day. Old friend Oliver Drake served as the opener for Durham (they are the affiliate for the Rays after all, they have to get crafty somewhere) and in total, all but two outs thrown by the Bulls came from pitchers with major league experience.

Miguel Sanó went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts in his first AAA rehab game but played some nifty defense in the process.

https://twitter.com/MorrieSilver8/status/1127366401805770753

https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1127324773602795525

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola 1, Chattanooga 5 (5 innings, ended due to rain)

Box Score

Sean Poppen: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 49.2% strikes (29 of 59 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

While the Miracle had to finish game that started the day before due to rain, the Blue Wahoos saw their game cut short for the same reason. Someone needs to find whatever voodoo doll or prayer would finally allow the teams to play games without unnecessary comments from Mother Nature.

No Blue Wahoos hitter reached base twice, but Jordan Gore was the only one who saw more than two plate appearances in the game.

Despite only playing five innings, the basepaths were an active highway as there were five stolen base attempts combined in the game. The Blue Wahoos only attempt was unsuccessful while the Lookouts were successful on three with a single caught stealing.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Game one:

Ft. Myers 2, Tampa 5 (continued from yesterday, 7 innings)

Box Score

Tyler Watson: 4 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 61.7% strikes (58 of 94 pitches)

HR: Lewin Diaz (3), Ryan Costello (4)

Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (2-for-4), Royce Lewis (2-for-4, 2B)

This game was suspended yesterday due to heavy rain because Mother Nature’s wrath on the Twins minor league teams refuses to end. Because of this, they started in the bottom of the fifth inning and would play until the end of the seventh.

Fort Myers flexed their muscles as Lewin Diaz launched another home run and Ryan Costello decided to join in on the fun and hit his own homer in the fifth.

Royce Lewis added another multi-hit game to his season total, a good sign as he struggled to start the year but appears to be turning it around. More strong hitting performances will punch his ticket to Pensacola eventually.

There were no runs scored today after play was resumed and despite out hitting the Tarpons, the Miracle eventually lost.

https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1126956368462741505

https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1126951322794778624

Game two:

Ft. Myers 3, Tampa 4 (7 innings)

Box Score

Charlie Barnes: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 53.3% strikes (8 of 15 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games:Jose Miranda (2-for-4, RBI), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-3, R, BB), Trey Cabbage (2-for-3, 2B, RBI)

The second game of the doubleheader proved to be quite the match as it came down to the wire in the bottom of the seventh. The Miracle were able to put up some runs in the sixth thanks to an RBI double from Trey Cabbage and some wild pitch shenanigans. A Jose Miranda single in the seventh plated Royce Lewis and brought the game within a run, but Lewin Diaz and Ryan Jeffers both flew out to end the game.

The Miracle ran with somewhat of a bullpen game as Charlie Barnes only went for an inning before Hector Lujan, Joe Record, and Johan Quezada combined afterwards to end the game.

Trey Cabbage continued to sting the ball as his 2-for-3 effort raised his A+ average to .350 and his OPS to .909 (that’s high-A average to be clear, but a .350 is also worth an A plus so I guess it works).

The Miracle out-hit the Tarpons again but the team went 2-for-14 with RISP and that proved to be part of their downfall for the game.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 4, West Michigan 7

Box Score

Cole Sands: 5 ⅓ IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 65.0% strikes (63 of 97 pitches)

HR: Gabe Snyder (2)

Multi-hit games: Gabe Snyder (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI), Yeltsin Encarnacion (2-for-4, RBI)

A game that was played in full without any rain interference? I didn’t know that was allowed.

Anyways, despite getting hit for four runs in his start, Cole Sands was encouraging by punching out eight hitters while only walking a single batter, some better luck will result in a cleaner line eventually.

Gabe Snyder hit his second homer of the season and is now holding an OPS of .930 at A ball. Some more games like the one today will put his name in the conversation for a promotion.

The Kernels as a whole struck out fourteen Whitecaps despite only throwing eight innings today, an impressive total indeed.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Devin Smeltzer

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gabe Snyder

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 3-for-8, 2 2B, R, 2 K (2 games)

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 0-for-2

#3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Did not pitch

#4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B, 3 BB (2 games)

#5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started

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

#7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch

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

#9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Did not pitch

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-7, BB, 3 K (2 games)

#11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 1-for-4, 2 K

#12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list

#13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-3, R, BB

#14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3

#15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list

#16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, R, BB

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

#18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 0-for-4, K

#19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch

#20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-6, RBI, K (2 games)

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Durham @ Rochester (12:05 P.M.) -

Pensacola @ Chattanooga (1:15 P.M.) - RHP Jorge Alcala

(The other leagues are off for Mother’s Day, which is in fact tomorrow)

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