Twins Minor League Report (5/4): Chattanooga Comebacks

Keep reading to find out more on the night in the Twins minor league system on Friday. And as always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions.

APRIL AWARDS

In case you missed any of the Twins Daily Minor League Awards for April, here they are:

• Relief Pitcher - Nick Anderson, Rochester Red Wings
  
• Starting Pitcher - Aaron Slegers, Rochester Red Wings
  
• Hitter - Zander Wiel, Chattanooga Lookouts
  

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Zack Littell was promoted from Chattanooga to Rochester and will start on Saturday.
  
• LHP Anthony Marzi was promoted from Ft. Myers to Chattanooga.
  
• RHP Nick Brown came off of the disabled list for Cedar Rapids.
  

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 3, Lehigh Valley 11

Box Score

While the folks in Rochester were excited for the return of Trevor Plouffe to Frontier Field, it was another former Red Wings player who really hurt the Twins in this game. The Twins fell behind 6-0 after two innings in large part due to the power of outfielder Danny Ortiz. The Twins fourth-round pick in 2008, who made his major-league debut in 2017 with the Pirates, joined the Phillies organization this offseason. He hit two-run homers in his first two at-bats of this game and now has eight already on the season for the IronPigs. Ortiz had spent the second half of 2014 and all of 2105 with the Red Wings and hit 25 homers for the team.

DJ Baxendale made the start for the Red Wings. He was charged with six runs on six hits and a walk in just 1 2/3 innings. Tyler Duffey came on and gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings. Luke Bard came on for his Red Wings return. He faced six batters and got them all out, two on strikeouts. Mason Melotakis gave up three runs on two hits and two walks over the next two innings. He struck out three. Casey Crosby struck out two in a perfect ninth frame.

The Red Wings had seven hits and six walks but were able to score just three runs. Jake Cave went 2-for-4 with a walk. Wynston Sawyer was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 4, Mobile 2

Box Score

The Lookouts offense did pretty much nothing through the first eight innings in their game tonight, but a four-run rally in the ninth frame gave them another big win. And, Tanner English got to play hero again.

Zack Littell was scheduled to pitch for the Lookouts, but he was promoted to Rochester. So Omar Bencomo stepped in. The right-handed veteran threw five innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He struck out two. Anthony McIver struck out two over the next two innings of scoreless relief. He gave up two hits and a walk. Sam Clay gave up a hit and walked two, but he struck out four over two scoreless innings.

Brian Olson recorded his first hit of the season, and his second, and his third. While one was a double, his third hit got things going in the ninth inning. His single scored Chris Paul to put the Lookouts on the board. It was followed by a two-run triple by Tanner English who then scored on a LaMonte Wade single.

https://twitter.com/SLeagueBaseball/status/992602166522187776

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 8, Jupiter 3

Box Score

The Miracle got out to an early lead, kept adding on and got some good pitching to go with it.

Andro Cutura made the start. In six innings, he gave up two runs on five hits. He struck out four batters without issuing a walk. Lefty Kevin Marnon came on and gave up just one hit over two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Hector Lujan worked the ninth inning. He gave up one run on a hit and three walks. He struck out two.

The first four batters of the Miracle lineup really had a big night. Leadoff man Mark Contreras went 2-4 with a walk. He scored three runs and drove in two. He also stole his third base. Joe Cronin batted second. He went 1-3 with a walk and his second home run. Next up was Luis Arraez. He went 1-2 with two walks. Lewin Diaz was 2-4 with his third home run.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 1, West Michigan 4

Box Score

While it wasn’t hyped as much (here or on Twitter) as his Kernels debut last weekend, Brusdar Graterol was quite impressive again. This time out, the burly right-hander from Venezuela threw five shutout innings. He gave up just three hits. He struck out four without issuing a walk. The Kernels announcers pointed out that he reached 100 mph on several of his pitches. He threw 73 pitches and 46 of them were strikes. And he plays defense too.

https://twitter.com/CRKernels/status/992767118931210240

Rickey Ramirez came on and gave up two runs on three hits over the next two innings. Moises Gomez worked the final two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out two.

The Kernels didn’t get much offense. In fact, they had just three hits in the game. Their run came in the first inning when Akil Baddoo scored from first base on an Alex Kirilloff opposite-field double off the wall. It was Kirilloff’s eighth double and gives him an organization-leading 23 RBI. Royce Lewis went 1-for-3 (to drop his average to .353) with a walk. He stole his seventh and eighth bases.

The Twins photographer (Brace Hemmelgarn) was in Cedar Rapids and posted this photo blog.

STARS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: Brian Olson, Chattanooga Lookouts (3-4, 2B, RBI)

Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Brusdar Graterol, Cedar Rapids Kernels (5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K)

TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#1 - Royce Lewis (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, BB, 2 SB(8)

#3 - Nick Gordon (Chattanooga) - 0-4, BB, K

#5 - Alex Kirilloff (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 2B(8), 2 RBI, 2 K

#9 - Brusdar Graterol (Cedar Rapids) - 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (73 pitches, 46 strikes)

#10 - Akil Baddoo (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, BB, K, R

#13 - Lewin Diaz (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, HR(3), 2 RBI, R

#14 - LaMonte Wade (Chattanooga) - 1-5, RBI, K, SB(3)

#16 - Ben Rortvedt (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, K

#17 - Travis Blankenhorn (Ft. Myers) - 0-4, K

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (12:05 CST) - RHP Zack Littell (AAA debut)

Chattanooga @ Mobile (7:05 CST) - RHP Randy LeBlanc (3-1, 2.22 ERA)

Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (5:00 CST) - RHP Brady Anderson (0-2, 6.75 ERA)

West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - RHP Blayne Enlow (0-1, 5.00 ERA)

Please feel free to ask any questions about Friday’s full schedule of games, or ask any questions you may have.