Twins Minor League Report (6/24): Davis Delivers For Red Wings

Find out everything that happened happened in the Twins system on Thursday, starting with the transactions of the day.

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Kohl Stewart returned to Rochester.
  
• OF Jimmy Kerrigan returned to Pensacola.
  
• LHP Andrew Vasquez and LHP Lachlan Wells began rehab assignments with the GCL Twins.
  
• Cody Allen will be assigned to Double-A Pensacola to start his minor league assignment. (he appears on the Blue Wahoos roster)
  
• In the GCL, Landon Leach and Seth Pinkerton were added to the 7 Day IL. Also, Zach Featherstone, Danny Moreno, Luis Gomez, Michael Montero, Sean Mooney, Jon Olsen and Fredderi Soto were placed on the 60 Day IL.
  
• RHP and 2019 draft pick Tyler Beck returned to the GCL Twins after his one appearance with the Ft. Myers Miracle.
  
• 11th-round pick Tanner Brubaker has signed. That means that the Twins have signed 16 of their first 17 draft picks so far. Darren Wolfson tweeted that fifth-round pick Will Holland (Auburn) is expected to come to Target Field this week and sign. For more on the Twins draft pick signings, click here.
  

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/1143274767471935488

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 8, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 6

Box Score

The score was tied 3-3 after six innings, and then 5-5 after seven innings. Jaylin Davis came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with two runners on and knocked his first AAA home run to give the team an 8-5 lead. Ian Krol came on for the ninth inning and gave up a solo homer but recorded his second save since joining the Red Wings.

https://twitter.com/MorrieSilver8/status/1143343716754763776

Davis also threw out a runner at home.

https://twitter.com/RocRedWings/status/1143331831913361408

Davis wasn’t the only Red Wings player to hit his first AAA home run on Monday night. Brian Schales hit his homer an inning earlier. Earlier in the game, Wilin Rosario hit his eighth home run of the season.

Zander Wiel went 2-for-4. Schales was 2-for-3 with a walk. Wynston Sawyer went 3-for-4 with his 11th double.

Sean Poppen made his first start for the Red Wings since his MLB debut last week. He struck out seven batters over 5 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks. Adam Bray came on and gave up two runs on four hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings. DJ Baxendale struck out two batters in his inning. Krol gave up the solo homer and a walk in the ninth.

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola 2, Jacksonville 4

Box Score

Griffin Jax put together arguably his best start of the season, but on this night the bullpen was unable to hold the lead.

Jax started and threw seven shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out five. He needed just 72 pitches to go seven innings and 56 of them were strikes.

In the eighth inning, Jeff Ames came on. He faced three batters and gave up two hits and a walk. Still leading 2-1, Sam Clay was brought in with two runners on. Three hits later, the two inherited runners and one more scored.

The Blue Wahoos were not able to generate much offense. Mark Contreras hit a fifth-inning homer, his third of the year. Travis Blankenhorn led off the game with his 13th home run with the Blue Wahoos, and 14th overall. Blankenhorn now has hits in 18 of his last 19 games.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers

Box Score

The Miracle had the day off.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids

Box Score

No game scheduled for the Kernels.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

E-Twins

Box Score

Elizabethton had their first day off since their season began a week ago.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 3, GCL Pirates 4

Box Score

There are a lot of storylines in the GCL Twins opening game to their 2019 season. So let’s start with the game itself. The Twins fell behind 4-0. They attempted a comeback in the top of the ninth inning, but it fell just short.

One big story is the return of LHP Lachlan wells to a game mound. It was the first time he has pitched in a regular season game since September 2, 2017. He had Tommy John surgery last May. In this game, he started with four scoreless innings, but he was charged with three runs in the fifth inning. He gave up six hits, walked none and struck out nine batters.

Following the game, the still-22-year-old Wells told Twins Daily, “It felt awesome to be back out there competing again. Can’t wait for the rest of the season.”

After Wells’ day was done, LHP Andrew Vasquez came on. He has been on the IL since June 4th with a left shoulder strain. He worked two hitless innings. He walked one and struck out six batters.

German right-hander Niklas Rimmel pitched the eighth inning. He gave up one run on one hit and one walk.

The other big story of the game was the professional debut of Keoni Cavaco. He played shortstop and batted second in the order. He flew out to center field the first two times to bat. He then grounded out to third base. In his final at bat, he singled to left.

Bryon Gandy, the Twins 32nd-round pick out of Lurleen B Wallace St JC this year, went 2-for-3 in the game. Parker Phillips (27th round, Austin Peay) had a single and an RBI. Jake Hirabayashi (39th round, UCLA) also had a single and an RBI. For each, the hits were their first in pro baseball.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Griffin Jax, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jaylin Davis, Rochester Red Wings

PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

#2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 1-4, 3K

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

#11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 0-5, R, K

#18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - 1-4, 2B(10), R, RBI, K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ Rochester (11:35 am CST) - RHP Kohl Stewart (5-3, 4.76 ERA)

Biloxi @ Pensacola (6:35 CST) - LHP Bryan Sammons (1-1, 5.70 ERA)

Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (5:30 CST) - RHP Jhoan Duran (1-6, 3.15 ERA)

Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - RHP Kai-Wei Teng (2-0, 2.57 ERA)

Bristol @ Elizabethton (5:30 CST) - TBD

GCL Pirates @ GCL Twins (11:00 CST) - TBD

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Monday games or any other minor league topics you would like.