Jeremy Nygaard

RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 8, Pawtucket 4 Box Score The Red Wings scored eight runs on 17 hits. The offense was led by Oswaldo Arcia’s 4-for-5 night that included a home run and three RBIs. Aaron Hicks had three singles and Reynaldo Rodriguez added three hits of his own, including a double, a stolen base and three RBI. Pat Dean picked up his sixth win of the year, going 5.1 innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) on three walks and five hits. He struck out three. Cole Johnson (two innings) and Ryan O’Rourke (two outs) combined to pitch 2.2 hitless and scoreless innings. Mark Hamburger allowed a couple of hard hit balls including a long double, but got out of the inning surrendering only one run. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga vs Birmingham Wednesday’s game was postponed due to wet grounds. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Thursday. Vargas will see plenty of time at first base. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Palm Beach 2 Box Score The Miracle used a six-hit, four-run third inning to propel themselves to victory on Wednesday night. After Engelb Vielma doubled to lead off the inning, Alex Swim and Marcus Knecht singled. After a Mitch Garver strikeout, Aderling Mejia, Bryan Haar and Chad Christensen singled and that gave the Miracle a five-run lead. They tacked on a sixth run in the ninth inning. Swim led the offense with three hits and three RBI. Vielma and Mejia added two hits apiece. Aaron Slegers pitched a phenomenal game. He went seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits and zero walks. He struck out seven. Reports from the game is that Slegers was sitting 90-92 and had a nasty slider working for him. Brian Gilbert pitched a scoreless eighth inning before turning it over to first-round pick Tyler Jay. Jay sent the Cardinals down in 1-2-3 order, coaxing a ground out back to the pitcher and a fly out before ending the game with a swinging strikeout. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Wisconsin 2 Box Score The Kernels had a strong start from Felix Jorge and brought a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning before coughing it up. Luckily they were able to score a run in the top of the ninth and held on for a 3-2 win. Jorge pitched six innings on 86 pitches (62 strikes), allowing four hits and a walk. He struck out three and sports a 2.20 ERA on the season. Michael Theofanopoulos allowed two runs in his second inning of work. He gave up two hits and walked two. He struck out four. Trevor Hildenburger retired the side in the ninth for the save. Offensively, Alex Real led the team with three hits. His final hit came in the ninth inning before he was lifted for a pinch-runner, Tanner English. English scored on a Rafael Valera single to left field. There probably would have been a close play at home if not for a misplay by the left fielder. Max Murphy added an RBI triple. Nick Gordon had a first-inning single, but backed that up with three straight strikeouts. E-TOWN E-NOTES Elizabethton 7, Bristol 4 (13 innings) Box Score The E-Twins got a strong start from Miles Nordgren. Nordgren allowed eight hits and three walks, but only two runs. He struck out six. Logan Lombana pitched two scoreless. Anthony McIver added a scoreless inning before falling apart in the ninth inning. He ended up allowing three runs on five hits. Daniel Kihle was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Ariel Montesino was 2-for-4 with a double, walk and a run scored. Leadoff hitter Manuel Guzman drove in two with a single and also stole a base. In the ninth inning, Tyler Kuresa opened up the frame with a walk. (He was lifted for pinch-runner Austin Diemer.) Rainis Silva followed with a double that moved Diemer to third base. After a Kamran Young groundout, Amaurys Minier came through with a pinch-hit single to score Diemer and tie the game. He advanced to second on the throw and the E-Twins had runners on second and third with one out. Pinch-hitter Nelson Molina hit a ground ball to the second baseman who started a play that saw Minier thrown out at third while the runner at third did not score. After a Montesino walk, Manuel Guzman grounded out for the final out of the inning. Kuo Hua Lo pitched four innings of near-perfect baseball, striking out six while only allowing a walk and a hit. It all came to an end in the 13th inning, Silva and Kamran Young opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Minier walked it off with a 3-run blast. His second since joining the E-Twins five days ago. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 8, GCL Rays 10 Box Score The rookie-league affiliate was able to bust out offensively and take a big lead, unfortuately the bullpen was unable to protect the big lead and the GCL Twins dropped to 5-4 on the year. Trey Cabbage drove in his first two runs of the game during a five-run second inning. Cabbage’s single followed a walk and a error. Three more singles - one each by Robert Molina, Roberto Gonzalez and Luis Martinez - led to the final three runs. Cabbage came back up in the third inning with runners on and drove in another run. Robert Molina followed that hit with an RBI single for himself. Cabbage rounded out the scoring in the eighth inning when he reached on an error. He finished his day 2-for-5 with four RBI, a strikeout and a run scored. Jermaine Palacios and Molina also had two hits. The team combined for 11 hits - all singles. Eduardo Del Rosario got the start and gave up five runs (four earned) in four innings. He allowed six hits and a walk. He struck out five. Hector Lujan struck out two. Brandon Poulson walked one and struck out one. Max Cordy, making his pro debut, also walked one and struck out one. They all pitched one inning. Rich Condeelis pitched to four batters in the eighth inning. All four reached and all four scored. Condeelis took the loss. Yorman Landa came in to pick up Condeelis’s mess - with the bases loaded - and allowed all three runners to cross the plate. Landa was charged with a blown save. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers, Fort Myers Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Oswaldo Arcia, Rochester (Runner-Up - Amaurys Minier, Elizabethton) THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Lehigh Valley (6:05 CST) – RHP Greg Peavey Chattanooga vs Birmingham (4:15 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Chattanooga vs Birmingham (Game 2) – RHP Alex Wimmers Ft. Myers at Palm Beach (5:35 CST) – RHP Chih-Wei Hu Cedar Rapids at Burlington (6:35 CST) – RHP Ethan Mildren Elizabethton at Greeneville (6:00 CST) - RHP Andro Cutura GCL Twins vs GCL Rays (11:00 CST) - LHP Lachlan Wells Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!

RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Pawtucket 3 (11 innings) Box Score Taylor Rogers gave up only one run in his first six innings, but left in trouble in the seventh. He gave up five hits, two runs and struck out three in 6.1 innings. Alex Meyer relieved Rogers with runners on second and third and one out. He induced a weak ground ball to third base, but Rusney Castillo was able to beat the tag to score and give the PawSox a 2-1 lead. Meyer then got a called third strike and help from Wilkin Ramirez on a diving catch. The broadcast didn’t have a gun, but Meyer’s stuff looked crisp. Could he be making his Twins debut this weekend? A.J. Achter pitched a clean eighth, striking out two. The offense did nothing for the first eight innings. Through 26 outs, the team only had two hits. In fact, they didn’t get their third hit until they were down to their final strike. But then Reynaldo Rodriguez, Danny Ortiz and Jose Ramirez all singled and the game was tied at two. The next two innings were pretty anti-climactic. The excitement picked back up in the bottom of the 11th. After a leadoff single, a bunt single and a groundout, there was one out and runners on the corners. The PawSox pulled off the safety squeeze and Lester Oliveros couldn’t get the ball home in time. Pawtucket wins in walk-off fashion. Caleb Thielbar took the loss. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Southern League All-Star Break Chattanooga gets back to it on Thursday. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Palm Beach 3 (11 innings) Box Score The Miracle won in wild walk-off fashion on Wednesday afternoon. That’s wild pitch walk-off fashion as an errant pitch to Ryan Walker allowed Zach Granite, who doubled to lead off the inning as a pinch-hitter, to score. Seven Miracle batters contributed one hit each to the cause. Chad Christensen’s two-run double in the sixth was their most damaging hit of the day. Bryan Haar also drove in a run. Stephen Gonsalves started today and only gave up three hits in five innings. Unfortunately, he walked four and allowed two runs to score. He struck out two. After Todd Van Steensel gave up a run in his inning of work, the bullpen went into shutdown mode. Matt Summers, Alex Muren and Brian Gilbert combined to pitch five innings of three-hit, three-strikeout, shutout baseball. KERNELS NUGGETS Midwest League All-Star Break The Kernels get Brandon Bixler back from the disabled list and Luke Westphal from Fort Myers to fill out their roster. E-TOWN E-NOTES Elizabethton 4, Bluefield 5 Box Score Alexis Tapia, who pitched for Fort Myers earlier this season, made his Appy League debut. He had quite a performance. In five innings, he gave up six hits and a walk. He struck out five and only gave up one unearned run. Sam Clay struck out six in 2.2 innings, but allowed two runs. After Onesimo Hernandez struck out a batter to end the eighth inning, Tyler Stirewalt was asked to close the game. He recorded two outs, allowing two hits, walking three and giving up the tying and the winning run. It was Stirewalt’s first appearance after Tommy John surgery. Austin Diemer led the offense (again) with two hits and stole a base. LaMonte Wade tripled for the second time in two games and Tyler Kuresa doubled. Rainis Silva, who’s had the reputation of being a good defensive catcher had three more passed balls tonight and now has seven through two games. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 8, GCL Orioles 5 (11 innings) Box Score Robert Molina signed with the Twins for $300,000 last summer from Venezuela and made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League. He didn’t hit any home runs. He decided that Wednesday would be the day he would hit his first professional home run and he did it in grand fashion: A three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Amaurys Minier had two hits as he continues to rehab a wrist injury before heading to Elizabethton. He was replaced at first base by Travis Blankenhorn. In his four innings, Blankenhorn, doubled, was intentionally walked, stole a base and scored a run. Roberto Gonzalez added two singles. John Hayman tripled. Trey Cabbage was 0-4 with an RBI, walk and two strikeouts in his pro debut. Eduardo Del Rosario got the start and pitched into the fifth. His final line - 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R (1 ER), 5 K - wasn’t helped by the fact that Brandon Poulson allowed both of his inherited runners to score. Poulson walked three and struck out three. In addition to the two inherited runners he allowed to score, he was charged with two other runs as well. Andrew Vasquez struck out two before turning the ball over to Matz Schutte. Schutte, from the Netherlands, struck out two and allowed only two hits in four innings of work. Yorman Landa, who is rehabbing from Cedar Rapids, pitched a scoreless inning and got the victory. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Matz Schutte, GCL Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Travis Blankenhorn, GCL (There are no available picture of either… hence the Alex Meyer photo.) THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Pawtucket (6:05 CST) – RHP Ervin Santana Chattanooga at Montgomery (7:05 CST) – TBD Ft. Myers at Charlotte (6:00 CST) – RHP Aaron Slegers Cedar Rapids vs Quad Cities (6:35 CST) – RHP Felix Jorge Elizabethton at Bluefield (6:05 CST) - TBD GCL Twins at GCL Orioles (11:00 CST) - TBD Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!

Age: 21 (DOB: 4/19/1994) 2015 Stats (Illinois): 66.2 IP, 5-2, 1.08 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 76/7 K/BB ETA: 2016 2015 Preseason Ranking: NA What’s To Like Where do you want to start? How about striking out over a batter an inning? Or barely walking anyone? Statistically, it’s all to like. But let’s get behind those stats and look at the stuff. Jay has what Keith Law calls “plus-plus control.” He throws his fastball in the mid-90s and has both a wipeout slider and a power curve ball. His change-up is his worst pitch, but has shown flashes of brilliance. All told, there’s nothing not to like about Jay’s left arm and what he can do with a baseball. That repertoire has been dominant in the bullpen - both in college and for Team USA - but you don’t invest the sixth overall pick and nearly four million dollars into a relief pitcher. What’s Left To Work On It’s not so much that Jay has things “left to work on,” but more so that Jay has a few things he’ll need to prove. First, Jay does not have a typical pitcher-build. He’s only 6’ 1”. He’ll need to prove that he can get downhill plane on his fastball. Second, for Jay to reach his ceiling as a top-of-the-rotation starter, he’ll need to prove first that he’s a starter. He hasn’t done that much in college and the game he did start against Vanderbilt was the least successful outing of his college career. Typically the transition from a starter to a reliever is difficult. Pitchers don’t know how to prepare themselves to be ready to pitch every day. For Jay it’s going to the be opposite, learning how to pitch every five days. Of course, this year the plan is for Jay to work exclusively out of the bullpen, with the transition happening this fall and next spring. What's Next Tyler Jay agreed to terms with the Twins and signed quickly for $3,889,500, exactly slot for pick #6. In his press conference, Terry Ryan talked about how he would be used in a relief role and would start out with the Fort Myers Miracle (High A-ball). Jay’s name was included in the initial GCL Twins roster on Monday, but was officially promoted to Fort Myers on Tuesday. The next step for Tyler Jay: his professional debut. So what happens after that debut? "We don't want to get too carried away with innings," Terry Ryan told the media at Jay’s press conference. "I'm not going to give you a number. We're certainly going to monitor it. Because I know that I'm going to hear from you guys if I give you a number and he goes 1/3 over it. I'm going to keep it at that. We'll monitor his innings." There have been many Brandon Finnegan comparisons. For those unaware, Finnegan went from pitching for TCU last spring to pitching for the Royals in the World Series. That would be the ultimate fast-track. Could Jay help the Twins down the stretch if necessary? Sure. Would that change their long-term plan for him? Absolutely not. Would there be implications service time-wise and with his options? Minimal. If he’s up for September and the playoffs, he’d get 30 days of service - and we already know he’d start next year in the minors to stretch out - so his free agency wouldn’t be affected. If he’s in the minors, he’d be on an optional assignment. That also wouldn’t matter because, in the event his three options are used in the next three years, he’d qualify for the special fourth option because he wouldn’t have five years in yet as a professional. Regardless of what happens for the rest of this season, the Twins finally have a left-handed pitcher who isn’t too far from helping the major league club. TD Top Prospect #10 - Alex Meyer TD Top Prospect #9 - Max Kepler TD Top Prospect #8 - Eddie Rosario TD Top Prospect #7 - Nick Gordon TD Top Prospect #6 - Stephen Gonsalves

Since then, you’ve done the same thing each and every holiday season, building this collection and randomly looking back to see names you’ve long since forgotten. Fortunately, I was asked to come on board a few years ago to help Seth with what had become an enormous project. What was once a job that outgrew one guy soon seemed like a boatload of work for three guys. But it was just so much fun. At one point while compiling the 2015 Prospect Handboo I started to mess around with some formatting things. You know, trying to make it a little more pleasing to the eye. I realized quickly that making modifications to such a huge project mid-project was a silly idea. But I kept the file that I had started and made up a fake profile for Kolby Allard, who, at the time, was one of the top prep pitchers in the nation. Lightbulb. ----- DRAFTBOOK AVAILABLE NOW ----- I got to thinking about our Handbook and how we wrote up nearly 200 prospects, but when June rolls around and the short seasons get ready to begin, our Prospect Handbook doesn’t serve the purpose that we intended it to do when we wrote it: To give you the most informative, in-depth breakdown of all the prospects in the system. We fall two teams short of doing that. While it would be impossible to give you accurate information about the players that are graduating from the DSL and starting their careers in the GCL, we certainly could fill your plates with our breakdown of the recent draft picks. The Twins typically sign 22-27 of them. And then it became a question of when. When would be the best time to present this flood of information? At first, I settled on the July signing deadline. We’d all know who signed, where they’re playing and what they’re about. But by then, it’s too late. As the “arrival” time kept getting earlier and earlier, it was obvious: This supplement to the Prospect Handbook—known simply as the 2015 Twins Draftbook—needed to come out as soon as humanly possible after the draft came to a conclusion. And it needed to include all the draft picks. Because, well… we include everyone from the GCL and up in the Prospect Handbook, so we need to include all 40 draft picks. ----- DRAFTBOOK AVAILABLE NOW FOR ONLY $2.99 ----- So that’s what this is. Information overload on 40 guys. Some won’t sign with the Twins. Some won’t be in the organization for long. But all deserve a chance to earn you as a fan. And some, who don’t sign, will get drafted again– maybe by the Twins– and this is your chance to get a head start. You may be asking yourself, “Can’t you just dump this information on Twins Daily?” The simple answer, “Sure. I could.” But then it gets lost with all the articles, updates and other things that are uploaded every day. These players that were drafted deserve something of their own. And this is it. We hope you enjoy. Here it is, the first-ever Twins Draftbook. We've also slashed prices on the 2015 Prospect Handbook and the e-book.

Age: 19 (DOB: 10/24/1995) 2015 Stats (Cedar Rapids): .250/.325/.301 (.626) with 8-2B, 8-3B, 0-HR, 15-SB. ETA: 2018 2015 Preseason Ranking: #6 This is what Seth wrote about Gordon in January. It couldn’t be more accurate. But Gordon did suffer a broken finger late in the year and missed offseason instructional league. He reported to spring training with full health and was assigned his initial full-season assignment, heading north to cold-weather Cedar Rapids. What’s To Like It’s been mentioned plenty, but Gordon has major league-ability in his genes. His dad, Tom, played for every team in his 30 year career. (Yes, that is hyperbole.) And his older half-brother, Dee, is an All-Star second baseman who currently is the only player in MLB with more than 100 hits. (He has 101. Jason Kipnis is next with 91.) “You value the gene,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ Vice President of Player Personnel, last July. “When you come from a major league gene, that’s what it is all about. There’s a great value at the beginning of their careers and a feeling that they won’t be overmatched.” Yet both dad and brother would tell you that Nick is the most athletic of the trio. So there is still plenty to project of the young 19-year-old, who is acclimating himself to a full year’s worth of playing baseball. But what does he do on the field? As the 5th-youngest primary shortstop in the 16-team Midwest League, Gordon ranks seventh in range factor (with 4.07 putouts/game) and second in fielding percentage (.960). The combination of those numbers means when he’s getting to the ball, he’s making a play. His 10 errors shouldn’t be alarming, as it is in the middle of pack in his league. Can he grow in that position? Absolutely. But it’s a fine start. What’s Left To Work On After he was drafted, Twins scouting director Deron Johnson said the organization liked Gordon’s “ability to play shortstop. We think he’s offensive. He’s got a really good swing. I think he’s going to have power down the road. He’s going to stay at shortstop, in my mind. He’s got great work ethic. Great kid. Big league bloodlines with his brother and his dad. We expect big things from him.” So far, though, while Gordon has held his own defensively, he hasn’t quieted some of the questions about him, specifically his bat. The Twins thought Gordon was offensive. His OPS so far is only .626 as he’s hit for literally zero power (two April triples among his ten extra base hit. No home runs.) Gordon has really struggled against left-handed pitchers. His slash line is .196/.274/.214 (.488) and he’s struck out 19 times in 56 at-bats. Of his 11 hits, 10 are singles and he’s drawn only one walk. Hopefully, part of the batting troubles can be attributed to the early-season weather in Iowa. June has been much kinder to Gordon. In 15 games, he’s hitting .310/.385/.362 (.747). So the Twins hope that as we hit the hot summer months, Gordon can continue to heat up. What's Next Gordon needs to figure out low A-ball. He’s still a work in progress as a defender - and going in the right direction - but offensively he’ll need to get a lot better. Aaron Hicks was the last high-profile draft pick to repeat low A. (At the time, I read an article about the low success rate of players who have to repeat the level, though I’m unable to find it now. The memory of reading that article is vivid every time I watch Aaron Hicks struggle.) Gordon still has plenty of time to prove that he will be able to move forward to Fort Myers next year. But as you can obviously see from his preseason rank (#6) to his current rank (#7), his prospect arrow isn’t pointing up right now. TD Top Prospect #10 - Alex Meyer TD Top Prospect #9 - Max Kepler TD Top Prospect #8 - Eddie Rosario

RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4 Box Score Tyler Duffey got his first Triple-A win of the season and did it in impressive fashion. Entering Wednesday’s game with an 0-4 Triple-A record, Duffey dominated. In eight innings, he allowed six hits (one double) and a walk. He struck out nine. Caleb Thielbar allowed the lone run in the ninth, surrendering three hits and striking out one. James Beresford led the offense with three hits - including an RBI triple - and two RBI. Danny Santana and Oswaldo Arcia each contributed doubles in their two-hit games. Arcia drove in a run. All told, the Red Wings accumulated 12 hits. The Red Wings improved to 33-31 and remain a couple games out of the playoff picture. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 4, Jacksonville 8 Box Score Max Kepler is becoming an offensive force on a team that has lots of options to be the offensive force. On Wednesday, Kepler played first base and went 4-5 with a triple and two two-out RBIs. He also stole his 9th base. Travis Harrison had two singles. Adam Brett Walker drove in his 55th run of the season. Miguel Sano committed his 14th error. Brett Lee pitched ok through 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out two. Nick Burdi, on the other hand, didn’t. After pitching so well over the last month, Burdi was a disaster. He faced five batters and they all scored. Three hits, two walks, a blown save and a loss. Brandon Peterson pitched a no-hit inning in his Double-A debut. The Lookouts will try to secure a playoff spot again on Thursday. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 9, Daytona 5 Box Score Kohl Stewart made the start tonight and, again, left a lot to be desired. In four innings, Stewart walked two batters and allowed four hits. That equaled four earned runs. He struck out two. Corey Williams gave up a run in two innings of work. Luke Westphal earned the win striking out the side in the seventh. (He also walked two.) FSL All-Star Snub Todd Van Steensel picked up his eighth save with two shutout innings. Offensively, the Miracle produced nine runs on eight hits. Logan Wade led the charge with a solo home run and a two-out two-RBI single. Zach Granite went 0-2, but managed to drive in two runs. Nine free passes obviously was plenty helpful, given that Fort Myers only managed the one extra base hit. At 34-32, Fort Myers have been eliminated from first-half postseason contention. They have a handful of games left before gearing up for the second half of the season, likely with first-round pick Tyler Jay in their bullpen. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Burlington 0 Box Score Two first inning runs for the Kernels and a tidy game, finishing in two hours and fifteen minutes, is in the books at Perfect Game Field. Ethan Mildren, pitching for the Kernels after being activated off of Fort Myers’ disabled list, pitched 5.2 scoreless innings. He struck out eight, allowed two hits and walked three. He probably won’t be in Cedar Rapids for long. Randy LeBlanc continued the shutout, retiring seven batters, before Cameron Booser finished it off, striking out two to earn the save. Nick Gordon paced the lineup, going 3-4 with a double. Alex Real added two hits. Edgar Corcino drove in both runs with a two-out first-inning double. The 6-9 batter combined to go 0-11 with two strikeouts. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Duffey, Rochester Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Max Kepler, Chattanooga THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (6:05 CST) – TBD Chattanooga vs Jacksonville (6:15 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Ft. Myers vs Daytona (6:05 CST) – RHP Aaron Slegers Cedar Rapids vs Burlington (6:35 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!

RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Indianapolis 5 Box Score After a two-hour and thirty-seven minute rain delay, the Red Wings didn’t get a ton of offense. The offense that they did get, however, all came from the recently demoted Danny Santana. Santana, who had only played 24 AAA games before this season, went 4-for-5 with a double, his second in as many nights. (Do you think someone told him that Polanco was promoted and was playing in his spot at Target Field?) Oswaldo Arcia was 1-for-4 and had an RBI double. He’s batting a AAA-season high .175. Pat Dean cruised through four innings before allowing two runs in each of the fifth and sixth frames. He struck out four and allowed two walks and seven hits in his six innings of work. He took the loss to drop to 5-4. Alex Meyer worked an inning and gave up a run. He walked one and struck out one. A.J. Achter abandoned Meyer’s runner and struck out two batters while getting the last six outs. Rochester has dropped a game and a half behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Jackson 2 Box Score The lineup looked a little different sans Polanco, but the result was the same: A win. Byron Buxton was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Travis Harrison moved into Polanco’s two-hole and tripled. Miguel Sano was 2-for-5 from the five-spot. He doubled and also committed his 13th error. Heiker Meneses - playing shortstop in Polanco’s absence - had three hits (including a triple), two runs scored and three RBI. Greg Peavey went six strong innings, allowing only two hits. He struck out three and walked one. Nick Burdi relieved Peavey and struck out four of the seven batters he faced in two innings of work. He’s lowered his ERA to a season-low 4.44, mostly due to being dominant over the last month. D.J. Johnson gave up the only two runs Jackson scored in the bottom of the ninth. The Lookouts are now 35-23 and have extended their Southern League lead to 3.5 games thanks to its current six-game winning streak. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Lakeland 0 (5 innings) Box Score Instead of a double-header, the Miracle played more like a half-header, having their game cut short due to rain. Fort Myers scored four runs in the first two innings to secure the lead and the win. Chad Christensen led the offense going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI. Despite most batters only getting two plate appearances, six of the nine batters recorded at least one hit. Mat Batts gets credit for a complete-game shutout, striking out one, walking one and allowing four hits. The Miracle, who will play two games tomorrow, are 28-30 and one game away from being eliminated from first-half playoff contention. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Great Lakes 2 Box Score Not a lot of offense on either side of the ball on Wednesday, with the teams accumulating for only 10 hits. The Kernels had six of those, but unfortunately, those hits led to only one run. Edgar Corcino, who had hit safely in all nine of his games this year, was moved to the top of the lineup recently. Today, he failed to hit safely. Nick Gordon was 0-for-4 in the two-spot. Brian Navarreto had two hits and the catching duo of Alex Real and Brett Doe each had a double. Felix Jorge went eight strong innings striking out four and allowing only four hits and a walk. He allowed a home run. Cameron Booser walked one and struck out two in a relatively clean ninth. (Aside from the walk and balk.) Cedar Rapids remains 3.5 games behind Quad Cities. The DSL affiliate won this morning. Bonus baby Huascar Ynoa pitched four innings of no-hit ball. He’s yet to give up a run in his seven innings of work. He walked three and struck out two today. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Felix Jorge, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Danny Santana, Rochester THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (6:05 CST) – TBD Chattanooga at Birmingham (7:05 CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Ft. Myers at Lakeland (4:00 CST) – RHP Ryan Eades Ft. Myers at Lakeland (after Game One) – TBD Cedar Rapids vs Great Lakes (6:35 CST) – RHP Dereck Rodriguez Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!