Twins Minor League Report (6/24): E-Town Off to Hot Start

The Twins were off Monday. They're in Miami, trick. But there was plenty going on in the minor leagues with both games and transactions. The transactions are all noted below, but essentially the promotion of Kyle Gibson had a trickle-down effect from AA to AAA (Logan Darnell), HighA to AA (Matt Summers) and Byron Buxton filling the Miracle roster spot.

Esmerling Vasquez was released from the Red Wings' disabled list. (Noteworthy mostly because it got me my first mention on MLB Trade Rumors.) [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

ROCHESTER RED WINGS 2, LOUISVILLE BATS 4

Box Score

So after clawing and scratching and kicking their way back to .500, the Red Wings lose tonight and drop one game below the mark.

The offense mustered only eight hits, including an Antoan Richardson double. Jeff Clement drove in both runs with a 2nd-inning single.

Liam Hendriks struck out five in six innings. He allowed ten hits and four runs (three earned). Shairon Martis pitched two scoreless innings.

Chris Herrmann started the game behind the plate and was replaced by Drew Butera for no good (known) reason. It may be nothing. It may be injury. It may foreshadow a move being made by the parent club. Speculate amongst yourselves.

Congrats to Vance Worley, who was named International League Pitcher of the Week.

Filling Kyle Gibson's roster spot will be LHP Logan Darnell, who has spent a long time in New Britain. Darnell was recently named the Eastern League's Pitcher of the Week.

NEW BRITAIN ROCKCATS 6, ALTOONA CURVE 4

Box Score (game 1)

On the strength of one crooked number inning - a six-run second inning - the RockCats were able to win the first game of today's doubleheader.

The highlight of that inning was a three-RBI triple by 2B Eddie Rosario. Rosario added a single to go 2-for-3 and entered game two with a .279 batting average.

Miguel Sano went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, his 3rd AA error and now sits at .158. Also struggling since his promotion, Angel Morales went 0-for-2 and is now batting a Hicksian .086.

Nate Hanson has had a fantastic June. He doubled and is now batting .302.

Pat Dean recorded two outs in the fifth before he was relieved. He allowed 11 hits and four runs. He didn't walk or strike out anyone.

A.J Achter and Edgar Ibarra got the win and save, respectively, going the last 2 1/3 innings, each striking out two.

NEW BRITAIN ROCKCATS 0, ALTOONA CURVE 2

Box Score (game 2)

Well, the offense in game 2 was brutal. It's probably a good thing it only lasted seven innings.

Batting leadoff, Eddie Rosario had a hit and a walk. (He was also picked off first base... Spanam Style, and had a fielding error.) Danny Ortiz had a single. That's it.

Miguel Sano was 0-for-2 and grounded into a double-play. Yeah, this baseball thing is hard. There were some that clamored for Sano to get a few at-bats when Plouffe went down. I think you're witnessing the reason why that was never going to happen.

Pitching-wise, B.J. Hermsen did okay in a spot start. In three innings, he gave up only a run on four hits and a walk. He struck out one.

Daniel Turpen allowed an unearned run in two innings. Cole Johnson pitched a scoreless inning.

Matt Summers has been promoted from Fort Myers to take Darnell Logan's spot in the rotation.

FORT MYERS MIRACLE 2, PALM BEACH CARDINALS 4

Box Score

The Miracle could have used Buxton a day earlier than Tuesday. The offense didn't supply a lot of offense in today's game. In the two-run third inning, Andy Leer (single) and Aderlin Mejia (RBI triple) accounted for half the team's hits. Stephen Wickens drove in the other run on a groudout. Mejia and Wickens added the other two hits.

Matt Tomshaw pitched 6.2 innings and allowed three runs. He struck out five while giving up nine hits and two walks.

Adrian Salcedo threw the other 1.1 innings. He gave up a run on two hits, a walk and a hit batter. He struck out two.

Byron Buxton will make his much-anticipated high-A debut tomorrow at 7:00PM ET. The Miracle had been on a six-man rotation after the addition of Manuel Soliman, so they will not need to add another pitcher at this time.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS - IDLE

The Kernels were given the day off. The people of Cedar Rapids were also told to stay home from work today to mourn the loss of the greatest player they've ever welcomed to Veterans Memorial Stadium.

There has been no corresponding move made yet, though one possibility is the addition of RHP Dallas Gallant. Gallant struck out 14 in 10.2 IP for the Beloit Snappers last year before missing the first part of this year recovering from a nerve relocation procedure. He is currently working out of Elizabethton's bullpen.

ELIZABETHTON TWINS 7, GREENEVILLE ASTROS 2

Box Score

The defending Appy League champs got their 4th win in the first five games of this young season. Tonight's win can be credited a lot to the left arm of young Randy Rosario. Five shutout, two-hit innings with a walk and three strikeouts. Also impressive is the six groundouts to only three flyouts he induced. Rosario has been very good in other short-season leagues and could really show up on the prospect radars with a good showing this season. (Some of you are already high on him... I'm talking of national radars. He wasn't a Top 30 in BA.)

After a strong one-inning debut on Friday, Andre Martinez struggled in his two-inning outing tonight. He allowed two runs, including a home run, and struck out one.

Kuo Hua Lo backed up a strong three-inning performance on Friday with three strikeouts over two innings tonight.

The bats were also active. They connected a bunch (14 hits) and also missed a bunch (13 strikeouts). Five players - Tanner Vavra, Dereck Rodriguez, Stuart Turner, Romy Jimenez and Bo Altobelli - had two-hit games.

Rodriguez had two doubles and drove in two runs to highlight the offense. As you know, Dereck Rodriguez is the son of future Hall-of-Famer Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. The whole family is shown below. (Photo from the Washington Post.)

The E-Twins will need to improve on their batting with runners in scoring position. They went 3-for-20 tonight... and that's not gonna hack it.

GCL TWINS 2, GCL RAYS 5

Box Score

Well, it turns out Amaurys Minier is (at least part) human. He struck out three times in four at-bats. He also drew a walk. The lineup as a whole struck out 13 times.

Brian Navaretto had a good day at the plate (2-for-4) but a poor day behind it (a passed ball and a throwing error).

Jason Kanzler has continued to struggle to hit, but showed his defensive prowess with an outfield assist.

Chad Christensen had two hits and an RBI. Zach Larson drove in the other run.

Sam Gibbons struck out three in four innings, allowing an earned and unearned run on three hits. Miguel Gonzalez struck out two and allowed a run on three hits.

Both Madison Boer and Bruce Pugh made rehab appearances. Boer struck out three, but allowed two unearned runs in two innings. Pugh walked two in his one inning.

Please post questions and/or comments below.