Twins Minor League Report (6/14): Miracle Get Offensive

Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Saturday night, starting with the transactions of the day.

TRANSACTIONS

Check out the transactions through the minor league system on Wednesday:

• The Red Wings officially announced that Nick Tepesch has been assigned to Rochester where he is on the disabled list (elbow impingement).
  
• Drew Rucinski, DFAd last week, was also re-signed by the Twins and assigned to the Red Wings.
  
• Kevin Chapman, the LHP acquired from Atlanta in the Danny Santana deal, was released.
  
• Dereck Rodriguez was assigned back to Ft. Myers (where he will likely pitch in the FSL All Star game and probably then return to Chattanooga). Randy LeBlanc was promoted back to Chattanooga. Again.
  

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 6

Box Score

Zack Granite has been on fire the last few weeks. On this night, he went 3-5 with two doubles. Over his now 13 game hitting streak, he is 27-55. John Ryan Murphy, Bengie Gonzalez and Engelb Vielma each went 2-4 in the game. Matt Hague went 1-3 with two walks.

David Hurlbut started and gave up four runs on seven hits. In five innings, he walked one and struck out three. Drew Rucinski was perfect for the next two innings. Michael Tonkin came in to protect a one-run lead. Unfortunately, he gets the loss. He gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on two hits and two walks.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 8, Tennessee 1

Box Score

If you want to write up what you would like to see in a game for your favorite team, it might look a lot like this Lookouts win. They got ahead early, got a very strong, lengthy start, added some runs late and win the game.

Nick Gordon got things going in the second when he launched his sixth home run literally out of Smokies Stadium. Gordon went 2-5 in the game. Fellow Southern League All-Stars Edgar Corcino and LaMonte Wade each had 3-5 nights. Jonathan Rodriguez provided some power late. He was 2-4 with his sixth homer. In between, TJ White, who went 2-5 and is now hitting .320 since his return to the lineup, went 2-5 with his second homer.

Fernando Romero got the start and was quite strong. He started with five shutout innings, gave up a run in the sixth and then recovered with a scoreless seventh inning. Romero went seven innings and gave up one run on seven hits. He struck out seven without issuing a walk. Todd Van Steensel closed the door with two scoreless frames.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Game 1 - Ft. Myers 9, Charlotte 3

Box Score

The Miracle used their bats, and didn’t use their bats, on their way to a big win in the first game of a doubleheader. Max Murphy, batting leadoff, went 0-1 but walked four times.Alex Perez was 2-4 with a walk. Trey Vavra went 1-2 with two walks. Sean Miller went 3-4, and Brian Navarreto went 2-4. In total, the Miracle scored nine runs on nine hits and 11 walks.

Lewis Thorpe was back on the mound. The southpaw gave up two runs on four hits. In four innings, he walked just one and struck out eight. He left the game having thrown 68 pitches, 47 for strikes. Michael Theofanopoulos came on and gave up one run on three hits over the next two innings. Andrew Vasquez struck out one in a perfect seventh.

Game 2 - Ft. Myers 4, Charlotte 9

Box Score

The Miracle completed the sweep of this doubleheader with another strong offensive outburst. Max Murphy got on base in Game 1. He drove in the runs in Game 2. The outfielder went 2-3 with two doubles and five RBI. Trey Vavra went 2-3 with a walk. Kevin Garcia was 2-2 with a walk.

Brady Anderson was given the start on the mound. The right-hander gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in five innings. He struck out just one and did not issue a walk. Sam Clay threw two scoreless innings, though he gave up two hits and hit two batters. He also struck out two batters.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 1, Quad Cities 7

Box Score

The Kernels fell behind early and weren’t able to make up the difference. Domenick Carlini gave up five runs on nine hits over five innings. The lefty struck out two and walked four. Patrick McGuff came on in relief and gave up two runs on three hits and two walks over the next two innings. Evan Sanders worked a scoreless eighth frame.

The Kernels had plenty of base runners. They just were not able to score a lot of runs. Nine-hitter Aaron Whitefield went 1-3 with a walk. The first four batters in the lineup (Travis Blankenhorn, Jermaine Palacios, Lewin Diaz and Mitchell Kranson) each had two hits. Blankenhorn hit his fifth triple. Sixth hitter, Brandon Lopez, also went 2-4.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Fernando Romero, Chattanooga

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Max Murphy, Ft. Myers

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes Barre (5:35 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers

Chattanooga @ Tennessee(6:00 CST) - LHP Stephen Gonsalves

Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach (DH at 4:30 CST) - RHPs Cody Stashak, David Fischer

Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:35 CST) - RHP Clark Beeker

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