Twins Minor League Report (5/9): Saturday In The Minor League Parks

Here are the scores and highlights from the Twins minor league system on Saturday. By the way, the Twins have now won 17 of their last 24 games since starting the season 1-6. Just seven teams in Major League Baseball have a better record than that Twins’ 18-13 record.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Louisville 10

Box Score

It was another rough outing for starter Alex Meyer. The right-hander gave up one run in the first inning. He pitched a perfect second inning. Then came the third inning. The first batter hit a double down the right field line. He tried to stretch it into a triple but was thrown out. The next six batters got hits. After a strikeout, Meyer gave up a three-run homer to Yorman Rodriguez, and his day was over. He went 2.2 innings and gave up eight runs on nine hits and a walk. He struck out two. He threw a total of 63 pitches and 42 of them were strikes (67%).

Meyer was replaced by fellow Kentucky Wildcat Logan Darnell. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. He struck out three. Stephen Pryor threw two scoreless innings before Caleb Thielbar and Ryan O’Rourke each threw a scoreless frame.

Danny Ortiz went 2-5 and hit a ninth inning grand slam. It was his fifth home run of the year. Aaron Hicks had another strong game. He went 2-3 with two walks and his ninth double. Reynaldo Rodriguez went 2-4 with a walk.

With the loss, the Red Wings are now 16-12 this season.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 7, Jackson 4

Box Score

The Lookouts continued to put up some big offensive numbers and won for the fourth straight game to improve to 16-12 on the year.

Greg Peavey gave his best performance of the season. He gave up one run on five hits and a walk in five innings. Dallas Gallant gave up three runs (on a homer) on three hits and a walk over two innings. Madison Boer pitched a scoreless eighth inning. DJ Johnson got the call for the ninth inning. He gave up a single and a double, but didn’t allow either to score. It was Johnson’s first save of the year.

Miguel Sano might be turning things around. In this game, he went 2-3 with a walk. He hit his fourth double and his sixth home run.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 3, Jupiter 2 (10 innings)

Box Score

I’m sure you’re shocked to learn that the Miracle played another extra-inning game. This time, they were able to finish it with a walk-off win. In the tenth, singles by Alex Swim, Niko Goodrum and Chad Christensen loaded the bases. Marcus Knecht hit a fly ball deep enough to score Swim and give the Miracle the victory.

Knecht led the Miracle offense. Aside from the sacrifice fly, he went 3-4 in the game with his first triple. Alex Swim is now hitting .347 after a 2-5 game.

Brett Lee made the start for the Miracle. Through seven innings, he did not allow a run. He went out for the eighth inning but after one out, he had gave up a run. Brian Gilbert came on and allowed the runner to score and tie the game. Of the two runs Lee gave up, just one was earned. Luke Westphal pitched scoreless frames in the ninth and tenth innings to record his first win in affiliated baseball.

The Miracle won for the fifth straight game to improve to 14-16. Of their first 30 games, 11 of them have gone to extra frames.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Because of rain on Friday night, the Kernels got to play two games on Saturday.

Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 2

Game 1 - Box Score

Michael Cederoth started the first game and went six innings. He recorded his first win of the season. He was charged with two runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out five. Cameron Booser came on and continued his dominance. He recorded his third save with two strikeouts in a perfect inning.

The Kernels scored five runs on just six hits. Zack Larson went 3-3 with an RBI. Max Murphy went 2-3 with his third double. He also stole his third base. Brett Doe had the big hit in the game, a two-run homer in the second inning. Pat Kelly drove in two runs for the Kernels as well.

Cedar Rapids 3, Beloit 2 (9 innings)

Game 2 - Box Score

The Kernels needed nine innings to win the second game of the day. Of course, in the minor leagues, doubleheader games are seven innings, so this was an extra-innings game. Felix Jorge made the start and was very good through the first six innings. He gave up one run on three hits. He didn’t walk any batters and struck out five.

Max Murphy got the team a lead when he hit a two-run homer, his first long ball of the season. He was 2-4 in this game as well. Trey Vavra went 1-2 with two walks. Larson added a hit in this game (4-7 on the day). Pat Kelly provided the game-winning RBI in the ninth inning.

Jorge left the game with a 2-1 lead. Zach Tillery came on to try to get the save. He gave up a run in the seventh to send the game to extra innings. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning. With another one-run lead, Jake Mauer went to Trevor Hildenberger who slammed the door. He struck out two batters in a scoreless inning, dropping his ERA to 0.56 and giving him his third save.

With the doubleheader sweep, the Kernels are now 19-11 on the season.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Brett Lee, Ft. Myers Miracle

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Max Murphy, Cedar Rapids Kernels

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Louisville (1:05 CST) – LHP Jason Wheeler

Jackson @ Chattanooga (1:15 CST) – RHP DJ Baxendale

Ft. Myers – No Game Scheduled

Cedar Rapids – No Game Scheduled

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