Twins Minor League Report (6/29): Kohl Stewart Returns!

Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Thursday.

Transactions: The Twins sent Ehire Adrianza on rehab assignment in Rochester, LHP Matt Tracy was demoted from Rochester to Chattanooga, RHP Randy LeBlanc demoted from Chattanooga to Fort Myers, Kohl Stewart was activated from the DL in Chattanooga, Andre Jernigan was promoted from Elizabethton to Cedar Rapids, Tyler Wells was placed on the DL with a right elbow strain, and LHP Taylor Clemensia was moved from Elizabethton to the GCL.

And you might be interested in this tidbit from Mariana from Twins Latinos:

https://twitter.com/TwinsLatinos/status/880561615627665408

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5 @ Buffalo 4

Box Score

Rochester took the lead for the third time in the top of the ninth frame, when Zack Granite (who else?!) singled to lead off the inning and scored on a ByungHo Park single four batters later. Then John Curtiss shut down the Bisons in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the win. Granite was 1-4 with a walk and a run scored, and five other players reached base at least two times, led by Matt Hague, who was 2-4 with a double, a walk and a run scored.

ByungHo Park was 2-4 with a TRIPLE(!), an RBI, and a run scored to go along with a pair of strikeouts. Park is hitting .342 over his last 10 games and has struck out just 10 times over that same span.

The Red Wings used five pitchers to get through nine innings after starter Chris Heston did not make it out of the fifth inning, going just 4.2 innings, giving up three runs, five walks, a home run, while striking out just three. Drew Rucinski came in and did damage control with 1.2 scoreless innings. Mason Melotakis pitched 0.2 innings of hitless baseball, and then Ryan Pressly came on for what looked to be a 2-inning save, but gave up a run and was replaced by John Curtiss to start the ninth.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 4 @ Mississippi 1

Box Score

The Lookouts used a three-run third inning to get out in front of the Mississippi Braves. The Lookouts scored three runs with one swing of the bat from T.J. White, as he crushed a homer to left center field and chased the Braves starter, Max Fried. The Lookouts added another run on a solo home run from Travis Harrison in the sixth. In addition to the home run, Harrison also had a double as part of his 2-4 night. Nick Gordon struggled at the plate on Thursday night, 0-4 with three strike outs, and he was charged with his 16^th error of the season in the field.

Kohl Stewart, fresh off of the disabled list, gave the Lookouts 6.0 innings of one run baseball, and that run was unearned. Stewart struck out only two, walked just one, and gave up only four hits. Ryan Eades gave the Lookouts a great bullpen performance, 2.0 innings, facing the minimum and striking out four of the six batters he faced. Luke Bard earned his third save of the year with a 1-2-3 ninth that included a pair of K's.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Clearwater 2 @ Fort Myers 7(Game 1)

Box Score

The Miracle tallied 13 hits in their 7-2 win against Clearwater. The Miracle jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and stretched the lead out from there. Lachlan Wells gave up just one run over 5.0 innings, gave up four hits, a walk and struck out four.

Williams Ramirez gave up one run in the sixth. Then Tom Hackimer, Andrew Vasquez and Sam Clay combined for three scoreless innings in relief.

Max Murphy went 3-5 in the game. Mitchell Kranson, Zander Wiel, Tanner English and Brandon Lopez each had two hits. English hit a double. Lopez and Wiel each drove in two runs. English also stole his eighth and ninth bases.

There isn’t a lot more to tell, but HOO BOY, Tim Tebow (!!!!!!) and the Port Lucie Mets are coming to town on Friday and the Miracle are kicking things off with an informal Tim Tebow (!!!!!!) press conference at 3:25 in the visitors dugout.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Clearwater @ Fort Myers (Game 2)

Postponed due to rain

KERNELS NUGGETS

Burlington 3 @ Cedar Rapids 11

Box Score

The Kernels put up 11 runs on 15 hits, led by shortstop Gorge Munoz who was 4-5 with a home run, a double and five RBI. Hank Morrison had a big game as well, 3-4 with a double, a pair of RBI, and a run scored.

Cedar Rapids also got a big day from starting pitching Sean Poppen who struck out nine Burlington Bees over 7.0 innings. Poppen gave up three runs (all unearned), on five hits. He did not walk a single hitter. Alex Robinson and Hector Lujan each pitched 1-2-3 innings to close out the Kernels blowout.

E-Twins E-Notes

Elizabethton 8 @ Kingsport 7

Box Score

Elizabethton moved to 5-3 on the young season after an 11-inning thriller in Kingsport. The Twins took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10^th inning, but could not contain the Kingsport Mets in the bottom of the inning. Then in the eleventh things got weird as the Twins scored a pair of runs after a two-out double followed by three straight walks and then a HBP. The Twins gave up another run in the bottom of the eleventh but held on for the win. Trey Cabbage had a big night, 2-6 at the plate with a double and a triple. He scored two runs and had two RBI.

Twins starter Huascar Ynoa gave up two runs (both earned) over 4.0 innings. He struck out two, walked three, and gave up six hits. Ynoa was replaced by Jared Finkel who struggled through 2.0 innings, giving up three hits, three earned runs, and two walks. Blair Lakso saved the day with 3.0 scoreless innings to get the Twins to extra innings and Juan Gamez recorded a blown save and got the win, pitching both of the extra frames.

GCL Twins Takes

GCL Twins 1 @ GCL Orioles 0

Box Score

The GCL Twins scored a run in the top of the first inning, and that was the end of the scoring for the Twins and Orioles on Thursday afternoon.

The Twins pitching staff held the Orioles to just three hits, all singles. Starter Pedro Garcia went 6.2 innings and gave up three hits, a walk, and struck out four. He was replaced by Vadim Balan for the remaining seven outs. Balan gave up no hits, no runs, walked two and struck out two.

The Twins had just six hits in the game. Akil Baddoo had two hits including a double.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Sean Poppen, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Gorge Munoz, Cedar Rapids Kernels

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (6:05pm) – Tim Melville (2-0, 3.68)

Chattanooga @ Mississippi (7:00pm) – Dereck Rodriguez (1-0, 4.50)

St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:05pm) – Lewis Thorpe (1-2, 2.05)

Cedar Rapids @ Clinton (6:30pm) – Domenick Carlini (3-6, 5.46)

Elizabethton @ Kingsport (5:30pm) – Moises Gomez (0-0, 27.00)

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (11:00am) – TBD

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday's games.