Twins Minor League Report (5/25): Buxton Leads Wings To Win

NOTE: Seth will be in attendance at the games in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so expect reports and stories from there throughout the weekend. Remember, Cedar Rapids is less than five hours south of the Twin Cities. It’s certainly worth the trip, especially if you’re interested in prospects. Also, the Field of Dreams movie site is less than an hour away. Consider making a trip this summer! You’ll enjoy it! Check the Kernels schedule and get tickets here.

For much more on what happened on Wednesday in the Twins farm system, please continue.

TRANSACTIONS

On Wednesday, there were a few transactions in the Twins system:

• First, the Twins moved LHP Glen Perkins to the 60-Day disabled list. They put OF Darin Mastroianni on the 15-Day disabled list. They purchased the contract of LHP Buddy Boshers and called him up to the big leagues.
  
• Mitch Garver was activated from the DL, but RHP Ryan Eades was placed on the DL.
  
• RHP Hector Lujan was returned to extended spring training. RHP Nick Anderson was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Ft. Myers. RHP Kuo Hua Lo was brought back to the Kernels from extended spring training.
  

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 9, Indianapolis 8

Box Score

Byron Buxton has had a tremendous May with the Red Wings which begs the question, how long will (and should) he remain in AAA before coming back to the Twins? It’s a fair question, to be sure. He led off this game with a double. In his second at-bat, he hit his fifth home run, a long blast to the right of center field. He was intentionally walked the next time up. In his final plate appearance, he lined a single up the middle. Altogether, he was 3-4 with his seventh double, fifth homer and two RBI.

In the first inning, Tommy Field knocked a three-run homer, his third homer in just over a week with the organization. He went 2-3 with a walk and four RBI. Field’s home run was followed by Adam Brett Walker’s tenth home run of the season, a tape-measure shot measured at about 450 feet. Kennys Vargas went 2-4 with a walk. Eddie Rosario went 2-4 with a double. Jorge Polanco added his fifth triple.

Jason Wheeler was good again. He improved to 3-1 with a 1.86 ERA with six solid innings. He gave up two runs in five hits and a walk. He struck out three. David Martinez came on and gave up one run on one hit and two walks in the seventh. He struck out two. Alex Wimmers gave up a hit in a scoreless eighth.

The Red Wings went into the ninth inning with a 9-3 lead. Ryan O’Rourke started the inning. He got two outs, but gave up five runs (two earned) on five hits. JT Chargois came in and gave up a hit, but he then got the final out for his third Red Wings save.

The Red Wings have now won 15 of their last 20 games and are 26-20 on the season.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 6, Tennessee 2

Box Score

Good things come in threes, right? The Lookouts scored three runs in the third inning thanks to two triples. TJ White got things going with a two-run triple. Next up was leadoff man Zach Granite who switched places with him with a triple of his own.

Ryan Walker went 2-4 with his third stolen base. Leonardo Reginnato went 2-3. Daniel Palka added a triple late in the game.

DJ Baxendale started and worked the first 6.2 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits. He also hit a batter. He struck out one. Mason Melotakis came on and get the final out of the 7th inning, on a strikeout. Trevor Hildenberger picked up his fourth save. He struck out three over two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits. Baxendale improved to 4-5 with a 3.06 ERA.

With the win, the Lookouts improved to 20-26 on the season.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 4, Palm Beach 10 (10 innings)

Box Score

Obviously the tenth inning didn’t go well for the Miracle. Nick Gordon’s third triple tied the score at four in the ninth inning. However, in the tenth, the first eight batters reached for the Cardinals and six of them scored.

Keaton Steele started. The right-hander gave up one run on six hits and four walks in five innings. He struck out four. Nick Anderson came on for his Florida State League debut. He gave up an unearned run on one hit and one walk in his inning. The unearned run was due to a throwing error by Anderson himself. He struck out two. Raul Fernandez threw two scoreless innings. John Curtiss gave up two runs in the ninth, but when the Miracle scored two to tie it, he returned for the tenth. All three batters he faced reached base. He was replaced by Brian Gilbert who faced five batters and gave up three hits, a walk, and the next batter reached on an error. He was replaced by Todd Van Steensel who gave up a hit but got the final three outs, two on strikeouts.

Max Murphy and Brian Navarreto each went 3-5 in the game. Tanner Witt went 2-4 with a walk. Edgar Corcino went 2-4 and his fourth home run of the year tied the game at two in the eighth inning. Gordon went 1-3 with two walks and the triple.

The Miracle fell to 24-23 on the season.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Burlington 7

Box Score

Sam Clay had his first rough start of the season. The left-hander gave up seven runs on six hits, five walks and a hit batter in just 2.2 innings. He struck out one. Kuo Hua Lo struck out six over the next 3.1 innings. He gave up two hits and walked two, but no runs. Williams Ramirez then worked two perfect innings, striking out one.

LaMonte Wade got things going for the Kernels with a home run, his fourth, in the first inning. He didn’t take long to increase his streak of consecutive games getting on base to 25. He went 3-5 in the game. Later, Zander Wiel extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a two-run single. Brad Hartong went 2-4 with his first triple. Jermaine Palacios went 2-4 with his third double and two driven in.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Trevor Hildenberger, Chattanooga Lookouts

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Byron Buxton, Rochester Red Wings

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Indianapolis @ Rochester (10:05 a.m. CST) - RHP Jose Berrios

Tennessee @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - LHP Nick Greenwood

Palm Beach @ Ft. Myers (6:00 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge

Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) – RHP Fernando Romero

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