Twins Minor League Report: Highlights Galore!

Things were pretty tough in the Twins farm system on Wednesday night. However, on Thursday, there were plenty of highlights for each of the four Twins affiliates. There were several great pitching performances. There were a lot of really strong hitting performances with multiple multi-hit games and some big home runs. One team ended one long streak, and another hopes to have started another long streak. A couple of bullpen arms continued their early-season dominance. One pitcher threw six one-hit innings. Another pitcher had a no-hitter through four innings. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Drew Leachman was removed from the Cedar Rapids Disabled List and returned to their lineup. Matt Tomshaw was put on the 7-Day DL for the Kernels. Josue Montanez was sent back to Extended Spring Training. Oh, and it has been verified that J. O. Berrios has been added to the Kernels roster. The Twins had an off day and flew to Chicago to start a weekend series. There is a lot of information today, plenty for those Adopt-A-Prospect forums!

Rochester Red Wings 5, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4

Box Score

It has been a rough and disappointing start to the season for the Rochester Red Wings. Coming into the game, the team was 2-11 and had lost seven straight games. The offense had also not scored a run in 20 innings. The Red Wings got things going in the first inning and were able to hang on for the win.

In the first inning, Eric Farris led off with a single. Chris Herrmann scored him on an opposite field double. Clete Thomas singled in Herrmann. Then Chris Colabello launched a towering, two-run blast, his fifth homer of the season. It gave the Red Wings a 4-0 lead before there was an out recorded. In the third inning, Chris Herrmann scored on a fielder’s choice by Colabello for the final run of the game for the Wings. Of course, the offense pretty much stopped after the first four batters. They had just two more hits the rest of the game. Herrmann was 2-3 with a walk and a double. Even Bigley, in his first game back with the Red Wings, went 1-2 with a walk.

Virgil Vasquez started and went the first five innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on six hits. He walked two and struck out three. Daniel Turpen gave up three hits over the next 1.2 innings while striking out two. Tyler Robertson came on with runners on and two outs in the 7^th. He notched a big strikeout. Luis Perdomo got his first save of the year. He went the final two innings, giving up two solo home runs, but got the final out of the Red Wings third win.

New Britain Rock Cats 17, Portland Sea Dogs 1

Box Score

The goal of any baseball team in any baseball game is to get some runs to support good pitching. Well, in this game, the offense was a bit extreme, and that’s a good thing, but it shouldn’t hide some pretty solid pitching too.

17 runs. 21 hits. 7 walks. The Rock Cats offense came to play. Antoan Richardson went 4-6 with a walk, his second double and his seventh stolen base. James Beresford went 3-3 with three walks and his, you guessed it, third stolen base. Curt Smith went 3-5 with his third double and first home run. Josmil Pinto went 3-6. Reynaldo Rodriguez walked and hit his fourth and fifth doubles. Danny Ortiz went 2-6 with his sixth double. Jhon Goncalves went 2-6 with his first double. All nine Rock Cats batters had at least one hit.

Alex Meyer was a little wild but very effective. The lanky righty went the first six innings without giving up a run. He yielded up one hit, walked four and struck out five. Edgar Ibarra came on and worked the 7^th and 8^th innings. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks. Bobby Lanigan pitched a 1, 2, 3 ninth inning.

Ft. Myers Miracle 11, St. Lucie Mets 8

Box Score

After starting the season with 12 straight wins, the Miracle finally took their first loss of the 2013 season on Wednesday night. On Thursday, they traveled across the state to play the St. Lucie Mets looking to start a new streak. Thanks to their bats and tremendous bullpen work, the Miracle improved to 13-1 on the season.

Things started out well for the Miracle. In the top of the first, AJ Pettersen led off with a double. He came around to score on Miguel Sano’s fifth home run of the year. Pettersen led the offense with three hits. He was 3-5 with his third double and his second stolen base. Sano was 2-4 with a walk and three RBI. Kyle Knudson went 2-5 with his second double. Down 7-6 in the 7^th, Kennys Vargas knocked a two-run double to give the Miracle the lead and they didn’t look back. Vargas was 2-4 and the double was his fourth. Lance Ray went 2-3 with two walks and his third double.

Madison Boer started and gave up seven runs on six hits and four walks in 2.1 innings. He struck out two. Nelvin Fuentes came on and gave up a run on two hits and a walk in 2.2 innings. He struck out three.

Then in the fifth inning the dominant bullpen came in. Ryan O’Rourke has been the guy to come on in close games, often to see the Miracle take the lead. Reflecting this, O’Rourke's record improved to 4-0. He pitched two innings and struck out one. Zack Jones came on and recorded his fifth save by working the final two innings. He walked one and struck out three. Early in the season O’Rourke has pitched nine innings and given up no runs on two hits and a walk while striking out seven. Jones has thrown eight shutout innings. He has allowed one hit, walked two and struck out ten.

Cedar Rapids Kernels 4, Peoria Chiefs 13

Box Score

Things started out so well for the Kernels on this night, but it didn’t take long for things to completely turn around.

The Kernels took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an Adam Walker RBI single. In the second, a Tyler Grimes triple was followed by JD Williams’ first home run of the year.

Taylor Rogers started and through four innings he had given up no hits. However, things went sour in the fifth inning. Rogers gave up eight earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 4.1 innings. Manuel Soliman was called on and was hit for five runs (2 earned) on four hits and two walks. Chris Mazza came on and gave up two runs and struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings.

Byron Buxton went 2-4 with a walk and his fifth stolen base. Niko Goodrum went 2-4 with a walk and his fourth double. Dalton Hicks and Adam Walker were each 2-5 with an RBI.

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