Twins Minor League Report (8/16): Willians Astudillo Homers Again, Bailey Ober Shines in Double-A Debut

TRANSACTIONS

Lewis Thorpe recalled by the Twins to replace Devin Smeltzer on the roster.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 5, Louisville 2

Box Score

Kohl Stewart: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 53.4% strikes (39 of 73 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Wilin Rosario (2-for-4, 2B)

A couple of pitchers on the Twins 40-man roster had encouraging outings. Kohl Stewart wasn’t particularly efficient, but he was effective. The six strikeouts he recorded are the most he’s had in an outing since mid-May. Both runs that scored while Stewart was in the game came in the first inning.

Fernando Romero pitched around a leadoff single to record a scoreless ninth inning, earning his second save for the Red Wings. Of his 13 pitches, 10 were strikes. Between Stewart and Romero was D.J. Baxendale, who hadn’t pitched in more than two weeks. He showed no signs of rust, delivering three shutout innings of one-hit ball.

It was a relatively quiet night for the bats, but they managed to build the 5-2 lead by the top of the third inning. Wilin Rosario had a pair of hits and picked up a two-out RBI in the first inning. Mike Miller, Ian Miller, Zander Wiel and Ronald Torreyes all also drove in runs. Rochester was 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

BLUE WAHOO BITES

Pensacola 4, Chattanooga 1

Box Score

Bailey Ober: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 72.7% strikes (64 of 88 pitches)

HR: Willians Astudillo (2)

Multi-hit games: Astudillo (2-for-4, HR), Caleb Hamilton (2-for-3), Jimmy Kerrigan (2-for-3)

Here is your La Tortuga update:

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1162556745706872832

So that’s two homers in two games for Willians Astudillo on his rehab assignment. He was the designated hitter today, and did appear to be trying to stretch out his oblique, so I’m not sure an activation is coming anytime too soon. Still, really fun to see him back out there playing again and making progress toward a return.

Bailey Ober made his Double-A debut and was outstanding. He surrendered one run on two hits over seven innings pitched. He struck out eight batters, walked one and threw an impressive 72.7% of his pitches for strikes.

Basically, he looked like Bailey Ober. He now has 197 strikeouts and just 20 walks in 164 2/3 innings over his minor league career.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Jupiter 4, Fort Myers 2

Box Score

Jordan Balazovic: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 62.9% strikes (56 of 89 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

Jordan Balazovic continued a trend of alternating between outstanding starts and less stellar outings. He gave up five hits, which isn’t a lot, but his season high is six hits surrendered on the season. Puts into perspective how excellent he’s been this year.

To make matters worse, the Miracle bats could only muster five hits themselves. Gabriel Maciel hit a leadoff triple and scored on a Jacob Pearson sacrifice fly in the first inning. Their only other run came in the ninth inning.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 0

Box Score

Matt Canterino: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 65.3% strikes (47 of 72 pitches)

HR: None

Multi-hit games: Wander Javier (4-for-5, 2 2Bs), Spencer Steer (2-for-5)

Matt Canterino, J.T. Perez and Erik Cha combined to throw a two-hit shutout, striking out 11 batters in the process. The Twins had been limiting Canterino’s workload, allowing him to throw just 10 innings over his first four outings as a professional, but they loosened the reins a bit tonight. Canterino, who the Twins drafted in the second round this June, gave up just one hit over his five innings. He had five strikeouts and zero walks.

Wander Javier was the star at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Yunior Severino hit a big two-run double in the first inning, advanced to third on an error and scored on a groundout. Up 3-0, Cedar Rapids was able to cruise to victory from there, thanks to the impressive pitching performance.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Danville 2, Elizabethton 1

Box Score

Ryley Widell: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K

HR: None

Multi-hit games: None

Tough night for the E-Town bats, as the lineup combined for just four hits. Their only run scored on a Parker Phillips double that scored Matt Wallner.

On the plus side, the pitching was solid. Ryley Widell gave up a pair of runs in the first and the staff combined for a shutout from there. Widell finished his outing with four clean innings, Owen Griffin recorded the next five outs and Tyler Beck the final four outs.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins POSTPONED

STARS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bailey Ober, Pensacola

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Wander Javier, Cedar Rapids

TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY

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

1. Royce Lewis (PNS): 1-for-4, R, K

2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 0-for-4, 2 K

4. Trevor Larnach (PNS): 1-for-4

5. Wander Javier (CR): 4-for-5, 2 2Bs, R, RBI

6. Jordan Balazovic (FM): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 62.9% strikes (56 of 89 pitches)

15. Matt Wallner (ELZ): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K

20. Travis Blankenhorn (PNS): 0-for-4, 2 K

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester at Louisville, 5:30 pm CT (Adam Bray)

Pensacola vs. Chattanooga, 6:05 pm CT (TBD)

Fort Myers at Jupiter, 4:30 pm CT (Chris Vallimont)

Cedar Rapids at Quad Cities, 6:35 pm CT (Tyler Palm)

Elizabethton at Danville, 5:30 pm CT (Tyler Benninghoff)

GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT (TBD)

GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, Game 2 (TBD)

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games.