Twins Minor League Report (7/15): Friday NIght Lights

For the details of Friday in the Twins minor leagues, please continue reading.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 8, Norfolk 6

Box Score

Adam Brett Walker came through in the clutch for the Red Wings again. With the score tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the 8th Byung Ho Park recorded his first AAA double. Walker came up and belted his 17th home run of the season. It gave the Red Wings the lead and made them a winner.

Walker led the Red Wings offense. He went 2-3 with a walk and his second triple to go with the home run. Darin Mastroianni was in the leadoff spot. He went 2-4 with two doubles and drove in two runs. Wilfredo Tovar went 2-3 with his 16th double. Logan Schafer went 2-4.

Logan Darnell made his first start of the second half. The lefty gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk over just 3.2 innings. He struck out two as his ERA jumped to 3.53. Nick Greenwood came in and gave up one run on three hits over the next 2.1 innings. Sean Burnett threw an inning. He gave up an unearned run on two hits. Buddy Boshers gave up a hit and walked a batter in 0.2 innings. Alex Wimmers got the final out of the eighth inning and then three outs in the ninth to pick up the win.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 2, Mobile 20

Box Score

It happens to every team, and pretty much every year. Even the best teams have an absolute clunker. On Friday night, Chattanooga had one of those.

Omar Bencomo made the start. He gave up five runs on seven hits and a walk in the first three innings. Ryan Eades came on, and he was charged with eight runs (six earned) on five hits and three walks. Luke Westphal came on and gave up seven runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks. Jake Reed came on and got the final five outs, including two strikeouts. He gave up just one hit.

The Lookouts didn’t have much offense either. They had just four hits. Dalton Hicks went 1-3 with a walk and his 20th double. Shannon Wilkerson went 1-3 with a walk and his eighth double.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 4, Tampa 3 (7 innings)

Box Score

The game was called on account of rain in the seventh inning. Fortunately, the Miracle were winning at the time. Randy LeBlanc had a quality start. He gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Offensively, the Miracle had just six hits. AJ Murray hit his sixth double. Joe Maloney drove in two runs with his fourth double. Logan Wade reached base twice without a hit. He walked and was hit by a pitch. He also stole a base. Nick Gordon added a single to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 6, Lake County 1

Box Score

Dereck Rodriguez had another solid start, and in this one, he even got the win. He improved to 2-10. He had not been the winning pitcher in a game in two months. He gave up one run on six hits over the first six innings. He walked one and struck out four. Anthony McIver gave up one hit over two scoreless relief innings. Michael Cederoth got the final three outs to preserve the win.

Zander Wiel led the Kernels offense. He went 2-3 with a walk, his 17th double and his eighth home run. The other three Kernels RBIs came from Luis Arraez who had an RBI in each of his first three plate appearances. Casey Scoggins led off and went 2-4 with a walk and his third double. Jermaine Palacios is now hitting .224 after going 2-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch in this game. Kevin Garcia went 2-4.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton 6, Danville 8

Box Score

Roberto Gonzalez wasn’t even in the starting lineup on Friday night. For some reason (we’re looking into it), Luis Martinez left the game in the first inning and Gonzalez replaced him. He came into the game hitting just .111, but the powerful outfielder went 4-4 with two doubles and raised his average to .226. That’s the beauty of small sample sizes.

Bryant Hayman had the big hit. He hit his first homer of the season and drove in three runs. Alex Kirilloff went 1-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Shane Carrier went 2-4.

Tyler Wells made the start. He gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits over 3.2 innings. He walked three and struck out five. Quin Grogan came on and worked 2.1 hitless innings. He walked two and struck out three. Johan Quezada struggled. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and two walks and recorded just one out. Colton Davis got the final five outs, three of them on strikeouts.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 0, GCL Red Sox 3

Box Score

Huascar Ynoa started again for the GCL Twins on Friday. The young right-hander gave up three runs on five hits over four innings. All three runs came in the second inning. Ynoa walked three and struck out four. Moises Gomez came on and threw two scoreless innings. He is yet to give up an earned run (and allowed just one unearned run) in 11.1 innings this season. Callan Pearce ran his scoreless inning streak to 10 with two more scoreless innings. He struck out three. Daniel Martinez pitched a clean ninth inning.

Lean Marrero went 2-4 in this game. Jhon Alvarez hit his first double. Twins 2016 second-round picks Jose Miranda and Ben Rortvedt each went 1-3 with a walk.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Dereck Rodriguez, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Roberto Gonzalez, Elizabethton Twins

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Norfolk @ Rochester (5:05 CST) - LHP Andrew Albers

Mobile @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - LHP Tyler Jay

Ft. Myers @ Tampa (5:00 CST) - LHP Sam Clay

Cedar Rapids @ Ft. Wayne (5:35 CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons

Elizabethton @ Princeton (6:00 CST) - RHP Ryan Mason

GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (9:00 am CST) - RHP Brady Anderson

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