Twins Minor League Report (6/26): Early Leads Evaporate

To find out how it all went down, keep reading!

TRANSACTIONS

First, there were some significant transactions on Friday.

As reported yesterday, top pitching prospect Alex Meyer was promoted to the Twins to pitch out of their bullpen. The move was made official today and Meyer will be ready to make his major league debut in Milwaukee.

That exciting news was also met with some bad news, as Byron Buxton is headed to the disabled list with a sprained thumb. The Twins recalled Danny Santana in his place.

Also on the move to Rochester, is Aaron Hicks to begin a rehab assignment, and the Red Wings also activated Nate Hanson from their disabled list.

On to the action from Friday night!

RED WINGS REPORT

Charlotte 3, Rochester 1

Box Score

Lefthander Pat Dean was on the hill for Rochester, and was fantastic. In seven innings, he allowed just two runs while scattering seven hits and two walks. He struck out three. Both runs came in the third inning, as a couple of doubles scored one and a single scored the other.

Charlotte’s starter was just as good, however. Erik Johnson bettered Dean with a line of: 7 IP, 4 Hits, 1 Run, 1BB, and 8 K’s. Johnson currently leads with International League with eighty-eight strikeouts, and was the league’s pitcher of the week coming into the game after two shutout performances in his prior two starts.

The Red Wings lone run of the game came in the fifth, when a double from Carlos Paulino brought home Ryan Wheeler who had singled.

As a team Rochester left just four men on base while going 1-4 with runners in scoring position, so their opportunities were very few and far between. James Beresford and Oswaldo Arcia picked up the other two hits. Aaron Hicks was 0-4 with two strikeouts in his first game of rehab.

Lester Oliveros pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing one hit but striking out three. Michael Tonkin allowed one run on three hits in the ninth in his first appearance back with the Red Wings. He struck out one.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 6, Montgomery 7

Box Score

The Montgomery Biscuits handed the Lookouts the 2-0 lead after one inning as Levi Michael led off the game by getting hit with a pitch and stealing second base. Miguel Sano sent a pitch into center field that resulted in a fielding error that scored Michael and put him on second base. Max Kepler followed with an RBI single.

Alex Wimmers was on the mound for Chattanooga coming off a 3-0 stretch in which he had allowed zero runs in seven plus innings each game, pitching 21.2 innings. Over that time he had given up just eight hits and six walks, while striking out twenty three.

He was able to continue this scoreless stretch for four innings, but it was clear he didn’t have the same stuff as Montgomery managed four hits and three walks in those innings. They finally got to him in the fifth.

A triple, sac fly, single, double, single and another sac fly tied the game at three before Wimmers was lifted for Brandon Peterson. He recorded a strikeout to end the inning.

The Lookouts took back the lead in the seventh inning, when the Biscuit’s bullpen came into play. Sano came to the plate with runners on the corners, and put himself into scoring position with an RBI double. Kepler was then intentionally walked to load the bases before Travis Harrison picked up an RBI on a fielder’s choice ground ball.

An RBI single from Michael added another insurance run in the eighth to make the score 6-3, and fireballer Zach Jones came on to pitch. The leadoff man singled before consecutive strikeouts got the Biscuits manager ejected, but it may have sparked his team. Consecutive singles loaded the bases, and exactly what you hope doesn’t happen, did. Leadoff man Joey Rickard’s first home run of the year, in fifty-nine games played, was a grand slam to put Montgomery ahead 7-6.

Sano led off the ninth inning with his third double of the game to put the tying run at second base, but he remained there on a Kepler strikeout, Harrison ground out to the pitcher, and a hit-by-pitch for Heiker Meneses. That brought big moment kingpin Adam Brett Walker to the batters box. In a cruel twist of fate, he drew a walk to load the bases. (They probably weren’t pitching much to him!)

Stuart Turner wouldn’t get a chance to be a hero, as Walker was caught napping with his bases-loaded lead at first base, leading to snap-throw pickoff from Biscuits catcher Justin O’Connor to end the game.

Michael (2-3, 2 R’s, RBI, BB), Sano (3-5, R, 3 2B’s, RBI), Kepler (2-4, 2 RBI, BB), and Niko Goodrum (2-4, R) picked up multiple hits for the Lookouts.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Charlotte 4, Fort Myers 5 (15 innings)

Box Score

Fort Myers also jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning by taking advantage of a couple of walks. Zach Granite led off the game with one, Aderlin Mejia followed with a single and after an Alex Swim fielder’s choice, Marcus Knecht drew a walk to load the bases.

Mitch Garver promptly cleared them with a double to make the score 3-0.

Chih-Wei Hu made the start for the Miracle, and he began by striking out the side in the opening frame, the side including a rehabbing Grady Sizemore of the Philadelphia Phillies as the game’s first hitter. He’d allow a few singles but no runs going into the fourth inning, when the Stone Crabs struck back.

A home run from Mike Marjama would make the score 3-1 after the fourth, and in the fifth two doubles around a Sizemore single tied the game at three.

Hu finished six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, but struck out ten Stone Crabs hitters along the way. Those ten strikeouts matched his season high back on April 17^th.

Brian Gilbert came on for the seventh and started the inning with a walk. That brought up Sizemore who doubled down the right field line to bring in a run, giving Charlotte a 4-3 lead.

The eighth inning marked the professional debut of the Twins 2015 first-round draft pick, lefthander Tyler Jay from the University of Illinois. I checked in to the Fort Myers broadcast to catch the action, and I liked what I heard. The first batter he faced doubled to left field, but Jay worked around it, getting the next three batters, including a strikeout on an 86 MPH, hard breaking slider. He had a brisk pace and utilized a consistent 94-96 MPH fastball, and another one of his sliders registered at 88. Congrats on a successful debut, Tyler!

Todd Van Steensel came on for the top of the ninth, and had a one-two-three inning, including another strikeout of Sizemore.

The Miracle weren’t able to manage much after the first inning. From the second inning through the eighth, they registered just three hits and were unable to string any of them together to add any runs to the scoreboard.

Then they almost walked it off in the ninth.

Down by one, Garver was hit by a pitch and replaced on the bases by Jason Kanzler to start the frame. Bryan Haar followed with a single, and a bunt attempt by Chad Christensen was misplayed on the force play at third, loading the bases with the winning run in scoring position.

The first opportunity went to Logan Wade. His groundball to short with the infield in led to a force out at home for the inning's first out. Engelb Vielma then grounded one to short resulting in the same outcome. Zach Granite was be next.

His line drive single to center field brought in Christensen and Wade was waved around third, but the throw from center field beat him to the plate to end the inning, sending it to extra-innings.

Leftfielder Marcus Knecht was a defensive hero in the tenth, as he made a nice running catch on the first hitter of the frame to rob a base hit, and recorded the final out on a leaping, crashing-into-the-wall catch to rob a potential go-ahead home run. Guess who was coming up the next inning?

Knecht didn’t bring the game-winner home in this at-bat, or his next, but in the fifteenth inning he stepped to the plate again with the bases loaded.

He literally walked it off this time, drawing a free pass to push the game-winning run across the plate. In a strange statistical anomaly, it was the fourth time this season he has picked up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk.

In extra innings, Van Steensel combined with Alex Muren and Matt Summers to keep the Stone Crabs off the scoreboard. Muren went three innings, allowing four hits but no runs because of five strikeouts, and Summers got credited with the win with two perfect innings.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Quad Cities 4, Cedar Rapids 3 (10 innings)

Box Score

As is the theme, the Kernels also took a first inning lead against the first half division winning Quad Cities River Bandits in this one. Top draft pick Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was also making his professional debut for the opposing squad.

Cedar Rapids begin the game with walks to Edgar Corcino and Nick Gordon, and a single from Zack Larson loaded the bases. Alex Real then brought in the first run of the game with another single, and a T.J. White groundout allowed Gordon to scamper home for a 2-0 lead after one inning.

Ethan Mildren made the start for Cedar Rapids and kept Quad Cities off balance all night. He scattered five hits and two walks over six innings while striking out three and allowing no damage to the scoreboard. It was still 2-0 Kernels when he was relieved by Luke Westphal to start the seventh.

A leadoff triple led to a 2-1 game on a groundout to Gordon at shortstop.

The Kernels got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when White lined a double to left field, and went station to station on groundouts from Jorge Fernandez and Brian Navarreto to make the score 3-1.

Trevor Hildenberger came in to pitch the eighth, and was not his usual unhittable self. He picked up a strikeout on his first, fourth, and seventh hitters of the inning, but in between four singles pushed two runs across home plate to tie the game at three. Hildenberger was charged with his first blown save of the year. He would come back out for the ninth inning, and although he escaped with no further damage, he was struck with two more base hits.

Out to pitch in extra innings, was the also recently unhittable Randy LeBlanc, who brought with him a twenty-six inning scoreless streak. He made it 26.1 innings to set the season high for the Kernels, but got no further. A triple to the second batter of the inning put the runner is prime scoring position for a sac fly and 4-3 River Bandits lead.

In the bottom half, Cedar Rapids got the tying run in scoring position, but a Gordon fly out and Larson strikeout ended the game in ten.

Alex Real (2-4, RBI) and White (2-4, R, 2B, RBI) picked up multiple hits, and Corcino reached base three times via walk to lead the offense. They were outhit thirteen to five as a team.

E-TOWN E-NOTES

Pulaski 1, Elizabethton 4

Box Score

Like their big-brother affiliates, the Elizabethton Twins also struck in the first frame for an early lead. Fortunately for them, they were able to hang onto that lead, and were never really threatened.

Their three runs in the first came on a three-run home run from Tyler Kuresa, his second in three games.

It was more than enough as Twins starting pitcher Andro Cutura allowed just three hits to Pulaski in five innings. He walked two and struck out six. Relievers Anthony Mciver, Alex Robinson, and Jose Abreu did not allow any other hits to finish the game.

Mciver struck out two in two perfect innings. Robinson hit a batter and walked two to load the bases for Abreu, who then hit a batter to bring in Pulaski’s only run. He retired the next three hitters to escape the inning and worked a perfect ninth, striking out the final hitter of the game to pick up the save.

Elizabethton’s fourth run scored on a Kamron Young single in the seventh to score Nelson Molina. Lamonte Wade was only hitter in the lineup to record multiple hits, going 2-4. A.J. Murray added a double.

GCL TWINS TAKES

Twins 1, Red Sox 5

Box Score

There was little offense for the Twins in this one, as they managed just four hits, leaving six men on base, and were 1-4 with runners in scoring position. Two of those four hits came from fourth-round draft choice Trey Cabbage, who played third base in this contest. He also picked up their only RBI by driving in catcher Brian Olson, who had tripled in front of him in the ninth inning. Leadoff man Luis Martinez added a double.

Luis Hernandez started the game for the Twins, and was roughed up to the tune of six runs (five earned) on six hits and two walks in just 2.1 innings. He did strike out three. Moises Gomez, Callan Pearce and Brandon Poulson combined to finish the final 5.2 innings, allowing no runs on five hits and one walk. Poulson struck out two in the eighth inning after the first man up reached base on a Cabbage throwing error from third.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher of the Day – Chih-Wei Hu, Fort Myers Miracle (6 IP, 8 H’s, 3 ER’s, 0 BB’s, 10 K’s)

Hitter of the Day – Miguel Sano, Chattanooga Lookouts (3-5, R, 3 2B’s, RBI)

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Charlotte @ Rochester (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Tyler Duffey (2-4, 3.35 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Montgomery (6:35 PM CST) – LHP Brett Lee (0-1, 5.09 ERA)

Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 PM CST) – TBD

Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Keaton Steele (2-2, 3.16 ERA)

Pulaski @ Elizabethton (5:00 PM CST) – RHP Cody Stashak (0-0, -.-- ERA, 13^th Round Pick out of St. Johns)

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (9:00 AM CST) – TBD

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