Jeremy Nygaard

So here's the deal: I spent the last 90 minutes typing up the minor league report only to have the whole thing vanish when trying to add the picture you see over there. If it was 10:30... fine, I could handle that. But it's not. It's 1:15 am and I just got worked over by my wife TWICE playing Ticket to Ride. Well, not just worked over. Worked over about three hours ago before I started to write my original piece. So instead of getting the full version, you're going to get a slightly expanded Jeremy's Twitter-like Minor League Report. RED WINGS (box scores are linked) Chris Rahl continues to hit well, but the team is starting to feel the effects of the Twins' playing Musical Chairs with their pitchers. They've lost 8 of 10 after tonight's 5-1 loss to Durham. Gilmartin struck out 9. ROCK CATS Tyler Duffey struck out 9 in 7 innings to beat Altoona and Aaron Hicks proves he's a AA baseball player. Rosario drops an 0fer and so does Vargas (sorta). MIRACLE Tomshaw improves to 9-2, but team will need Miracle for Buxton to stay healthy. Good thing they dropped two deuces tonight; Walker and Gonzales double. KERNELS Garver drops bombs like Hiroshima (x3). Hu deals (6 IP, 0 ER, 6 K) in win E-TWINS Max Murphy might be the greatest player ever (three more hits, now .408). Gordon 1-3, BB, K. Gonsalves pretty ordinary (three walks, three runs, three strikeouts, five innings) in E-town win. GCL TWINS Easton/Nordgren struggle, Roberto Gonzalez drives in two on two hits. --- Next week will be better... or at least more normal.

The story on the farm today was... RAIN. Rainouts, specifically. ROCHESTER RED WINGS, NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS, FORT MYERS MIRACLE and GCL TWINS were all postponed. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6, PEORIA CHIEFS 3 Box Score Mike Pelfrey packed his family up in the Cities yesterday and made the trek down to Cedar Rapids for a rehab start today. In six frames, he allowed two runs (one home run) and struck out six. He reportedly feels better and should be back in the Twins rotation on Saturday. Mason Melotakis, who would have started today, picked up a three-inning save. Melotakis allowed four hits and a run. He struck out two. Even with the absence of Byron Buxton reaching eight games (and counting), the Kernels have continued their dominance in the second half. Today marked consecutive victory number eleven. The bats were led by Max Kepler, who tripled and homered, who drove in two and scored twice. Niko Goodrum also tripled. Jonathan Murphy, who joined the Kernels when Jeremias Pineda was placed on the DL, was 0-for-2, but contributed an outfield assist. Jose Berrios will stand atop the mound at Pohlman Field tomorrow in Beloit at 7:00 pm. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 8, KINGSPORT METS 4 Box Score E-Town improved to 10-2 with their victory tonight. Zach Granite, batting leadoff, drew four walks, resulting in three runs scored and two stolen bases. Mitch Garver, who was a cheap senior-sign this year, has hit the ball extremely well (a question coming into the draft) and added two more tonight (his fourth multi-hit game out of seven). Dereck Rodriguez doubled. The team as a whole combined to draw 11 walks. Tanner Mendonca made his second start for the defending Appy League Champs. Mendonca struck out six in three innings. He allowed four hits and two runs, but didn't walk anyone. Tim Shibuya came in as a reliever again and pitched three strong innings to pick up his third win. When there is a need in Cedar Rapids, you have to believe Shibuya will move up. Brian Gilbert struck out the side in his inning of relief. E-Town takes on Johnson City tomorrow at 7 pm ET. Leave your questions and/or comment below. The International signing period opens tomorrow... check the site for updates.

Join Seth and me tonight as we discuss the last week of action in Twins Territory. We'll be sure to discuss the latest roster moves as well as the recent decision by Aaron Hicks to give up switch-hitting. What's this latest losing streak mean? We'll talk about that too. If you have questions, please leave them below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quEHYQQNrMU

Merry Gibsmas! Kyle Gibson made his Major League debut this afternoon in front of a nearly-packed house. If you're waiting to get home to watch Gibson's start on DVR, I won't ruin it for you. ROCHESTER RED WINGS 0, SYRACUSE CHIEFS 1 Box Score Offensively, the Red Wings just didn't get it done. Doug Bernier and Jeff Clement both doubled and, throw in a Bernier single, that's all the hits they accounted for today. Aaron Hicks struck out twice in an 0-for-4 day. He played all nine innings and will soon be activated from the disabled list. Where will he go then? It's being discussed in this thread. As you'd expect in any game where a team only scored one run, the pitching was very good. Pedro Hernandez pitched a complete game for the Wings. In eight innings of work, Pedro allowed only five hits and two walks. He struck out three and gave up the only run in the game. His 96-pitch effort still is labeled with a "loss", but it definitely wasn't Hernandez who lost this game. It will be interesting to see what plays out with the Red Wings and Twins pitching staffs. Hernandez has been a fully-capable fill-in and has pitched well even though he's been flipping between a bullpen and starting role. By no means is Hernandez a long-term answer in the rotation, but he's definitely a guy that should be able to be counted on as a LOOGY or as a long-lefty out of the bullpen. Liam Hendriks starts at Syracuse at 4pm tomorrow afternoon. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 5, READING FIGHTIN PHILS 0 Box Score There were no Miguel Sano fireworks tonight. Though there was a double off Philly's Jesse Biddle. Sano struck out twice too. Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks was in attendance all weekend. He tweeted numerous times about Sano. Most tweets included either #rig or #want, two of Parks' "catch-tags". In a nutshell, Parks loves Sano's power. He loves his arm. He thinks he's a good overall hitter. He thinks he's fast for a big man. And he was very impressed with Sano's defense at 3B. After hearing his perspective, Sano will stick at 3B without a doubt. (That's "flashing all five tools at times in games" if you're scoring at home.) Parks earlier this week called Buxton the top prospect in the game. I guess the Twins view top prospects in the same way Taylor Swift does. #want Nate Hanson, Josmil Pinto, Kyle Knudson and Angel Morales all had two-hit games. Pinto drove in three runs. Eddie Rosario got the night off and A.J. Pettersen filled in a shortstop, walking twice and getting a hit. The story of the night, however, was the pitching performance of Pat Dean. Before tonight, Dean was 3-8 and somewhere in the realm of "lousy" on the season. Tonight, he was the exact opposite. He struck out five in a complete-game, five-hit, two-walk shutout. He did it in exactly 100 pitches. Dean is a lefty - and breathing - so he'll be given every opportunity, but it's refreshing for him to throw a gem tonight. Matt Summers will make his second start for the Rock Cats tomorrow afternoon at 12:35 pm. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 12, ST. LUCIE METS 2 Box Scores Jhon Goncalves had a pretty memorial game for the Miracle today. He was 4-for-4 with three doubles, five RBI and two runs scored. He reached base by walk in his other plate appearance and also stole a base. (Maybe he wasn't ready to just hand over center field to some 19-year-old punk...?) Goncalves scores a run against St. Lucie in 2010. Speaking of, Byron Buxton singled twice to raise his average to .222. He struck out once but drove in and scored a run. Aderlin Mejia, Matt Koch, Stephen Wickens and Levi Michael all had two-hit games too. Keeping in line with pitching gems today, Matt Tomshaw pitched eight innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks. He struck out three. Nelvin Fuentes struck out the side in the ninth. CEDER RAPIDS KERNELS 2, PEORIA CHIEFS 1 (10 innings) Box Score Brett Lee got a no-decision, but might have had the best start in the system today. He went eight innings and struck out nine. He didn't walk a batter, but allowed four hits. The lone run allowed was unearned, the result of an error by Jorge Polanco. Caleb Brewster pitched two innings and got the win, striking out and walking three. ABW2, who has cooled off since a great first month, was good today going 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two walks. Max Kepler doubled in a run. The Kernels won, in extra innings, after Adam Walker singled and stole second. Kepler walked to make it first and second. Tyler Grimes sacrificed the runners over. Michael Quesada came up and a pitching change was made. The new pitcher, Zach Russell, came in and promptly threw a wild pitch. Game over. Kernels improve to 100-0 in the 2nd half of the season. (Ok, sorry... it's 9-0.) Tim Atherton will make his first start of the year tomorrow at 2:05 pm. Mike Pelfrey will be pitching for the Kernels on Monday. Yahtzee! ELIZABETHTON TWINS 4, KINGSPORT METS 5 Box Score E-town dropped their second game of the year (8-2) after scoring the game's first runs (4) in the top of the 8th. Kelvin Ortiz doubled in two runs and Bryan Haar came up a home-run short of the cycle. Zach Granite stole two bases. Hein Robb struck out four in three innings. Carson Goldsmith followed that up with two strikeouts in a inning. Andre Martinez allowed two runs in the eighth. Dallas Gallant cleaned up that mess, stranding both of Martinez's guys. However, Gallant got himself into his own mess in the ninth, which Luis Nunez couldn't get out of. With two outs in the ninth, Nunez allowed a walk-off hit. E-town will try to get back in the left-hand column tomorrow at 5 pm. GCL TWINS 3, GCL RED SOX 4 Box Score Another good start wasted. Kyle Davis, rehabbing from a shoulder injury, pitched five innings of shutout baseball. He struck out seven. Fernando Romero blew the save giving up three runs (two earned) in two innings. Markus Solbach gets handed the loss. The winning run scored on an error by the shortstop. Solbach didn't do himself any favors by balking and walking a batter after allowing the winning run to reach base with a single. Zach Larson (double), Lance Ray and Jorge Fernandez (two doubles) all had two-hit games. Amaurys Minier was 1-for-3 with an RBI (and no strikeouts). The GCL will rest on the Seventh Day. Comment or questions? Leave them below!

The Twins spring schedule kicks off tomorrow. I know many are looking forward to it, even without the belief that the Twins will be competing for an AL Central crown this fall. That doesn't make this spring any less interesting. So with that in mind, I'm going on record and making predictions... some bold, some not. (www.examiner.com) TEAM *The Twins will finish in last place in the AL Central. They'll win between 69-72 games. *The Twins will be sellers at the deadline. Justin Morneau, Josh Willingham and Mike Pelfrey will bid farewell before the end of July. HITTERS *The battle to start in CF is already over. After trading Span and Revere, we've been led to believe Darrin Mastroianni, Aaron Hicks and Joe Benson are in a three-way battle to be the everyday centerfielder. Benson, who is far removed from a successful minor league year and not as far removed from microfracture surgery, has no shot at being the Opening Day Centerfielder. Hicks, for both service reasons and having taken zero at-bats at AAA, will get sent down until a) he absolutely proves he's ready or Mastroianni proves he absolutely isn't the answer. *The opening-day 4th OF will be a guy not currently on the 40-man roster. Clete Thomas, who blew our mind for about two at-bats last year, before making us want to blow our brains out, is the likely frontrunner. (I think the bigger question is, when Thomas gets DFA'd and clears waivers, does he accept his assignment to Rochester or elect free agency?) *Chris Parmelee will be the everyday Right-Fielder... until it's Oswaldo Arcia. It's going to be an interesting first couple of months. Parmelee isn't best-suited to play the outfield. He's likely good enough to keep the seat warm for Arcia, and that's likely - hopefully, in the Twins mind - going to happen when Morneau is traded away and Parmelee moves to First Base. But what happens if Parmelee can't get it done offensively or defensively? Who knows... *Oswaldo Arcia will have more impact on the 2013 Twins than Aaron Hicks. Arcia will hit and play serviceable D. Hicks will play a solid D but struggle to hit. Next year at this time, I see discussions being the same... is Hicks ready to be a leadoff hitter at the major league level? While the RF job is not up-for-grabs in Spring Training (only this time because Arcia has a stranglehold on it). *Chris Colabello will be a major-league player this year. Another guy that just rakes. Sign him up. *Trevor Ploufee will be frustratingly hot-and-cold both offensively and defensively, but TwinsDaily readers will rejoice that he's not Danny Valencia. *Drew Butera will spend less time in the major leagues in 2013 than any season since debuting in 2010... and TwinsDaily readers will still complain! *Jamey Carroll's option will vest with 401 plate appearances despite the Twins making an effort to see that it doesn't happen. *Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier will leave the fanbase wishing for Luis Rivas and Cristian Guzman. Or Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy. Or basically any 2B/SS combination you can think of. *Joe Mauer will be Joe Mauer. Many will be unhappy. PITCHERS *The rotation will be better than last year. Hardly went out on a limb there... *One year from now we'll feel really good about the rotation. 2014 will include Kyle Gibson (who won't compete for ROY, but be solid amid a limited-innings year), Scott Diamond (who will regress, but still be a solid lefty), Vance Worley (who fans will love because he goes after hitters and works quick), Liam Hendriks (who will actually look like he belongs in the major leagues this year) and Kevin Correia (who was signed to be a #5 pitcher). This isn't mentioning any of the prospects who could be knocking on the door. *The bullpen will be good - again. Glen Perkins and Jared Burton will be fantastic in their late-inning roles. *Brian Duensing will continue to strive as a left-handed reliever. *Tim Wood will absolutely be in the Opening Day bullpen. This isn't the second coming of Jeff Gray. Tim Wood signed a $675,000 contract with the Twins. He has less than a year of service. Anthony Swarzak, who has over 2 years of service, got $502,500. No Twin who had their contract renewed got over $530,000. That makes Tim Wood, who has had no MLB success - and almost as little experience - the 12th highest-paid Twins player this year. Crazy? Just a little bit. *Sam Deduno will figure something out this year. Either, "Hey, I do know how to throw it through the zone" or "You know what, this baseball thing isn't for me." *Trevor May makes his September debut coming out of the bullpen. *Ryan Pressly doesn't make the team... and the Red Sox will not be willing to work out a trade, unfortunately. Go ahead, be bold... or not bold.

Monday morning got out to a quick - and good - start when Baseball America released their mid-season Top 50. Byron Buxton was ranked the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Miguel Sano, despite being in a little bit of a funk, checked in only two spots later at #3. It was also nice to see the injured Alex Meyer at #32. Narrowly missing the Top 50 were P Jose Berrios (who pitched for Cedar Rapids today) and New Britain 2B Eddie Rosario. That list is behind the paywall, so no quotes to read. ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, SCRANTON/WB RAILRIDERS 6 Box Score Andrew Albers certainly didn't step up and grab a rotation spot (if one's available). Albers used 98 pitches to get through five innings. On nine hits, he allowed five runs. He walked two and struck out five. Chirs Herrmann hit his first AAA home run. Antoan Richardson had two hits, including a triple. Eric Farris was 3-for-4 with a double. Deibinson had two hits (a double) and an RBI. Pedro Hernandez is tomorrow's scheduled starter, though P.J. Walters is set to join the team tomorrow as well. It will be interesting to see what transpires. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 2, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 1 Box Score It was quite a performance for Rock Cats' starter Virgil Vasquez. Vasquez cruised through eight shutout, one-hit innings this afternoon before allowing three singles and a run in the 9th. He only walked one, while striking out nine. Vasquez, who has bounced between New Britain and Rochester, got his first AA win and dropped his AA ERA to 3.04. Vasquez threw 112 pitches. Danny Ortiz and Jordan Parraz accounted for all the Rock Cats runs on two swings of the bat. In addition to their solo home runs, both men added singles. Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto doubled. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with a K. Manager Jeff Smith was ejected after arguing Sano's 1st inning strikeout. Sano is now batting .195 in his stint with New Britain. The Rock Cats will attempt to get back to .500 on Thursday. The Eastern League All-Star game with be hosted by the Rock Cats on Wednesday night. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 5 Box Score After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, the bullpen counted clean up Jason Wheeler's mess and fell to the Mets. Jason Wheeler lasted 6.1 innings but it was the error to start the inning and what happened after he left that was too much to overcome. Wheeler allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four. Wheeler left the bases loaded for Nelvin Fuentes, who allowed two to score on a single. Zack Jones allowed a run in an inning of work. Aderlin Mejia and Matt Koch both had two hits. Kennys Vargas drove in two runs. Byron Buxton, batting in the 3-hole, went 0-for-3 with a walk. Jhon Goncalves, who spent some time in New Britain before being sent back to Fort Myers, needs to go back up. He's been the hottest hitter in the Twins system over the last handful of weeks (.412/.512/.647 over his last ten games). Tonight he was 1-for-2 with two walks. He stole a base and, though he committed an error in the outfield, also had two assists - one at home and one at second. Goncalves is not a prospect, but a valuable organizational-type guy. ACongratulations to P Matt Summers and OF Mike Kvasnicka, who earlier in the day were named FSL Pitcher and Hitter of the Week. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 3 Box Score The Kernels came from behind to win this one, and despite only getting four hits, they used the help of nine walks to earn the victory. D.J. Hicks drove in two run on two hits, including a double. Jose Berrios wasn't sharp and only lasted four innings. Tonight, he walked four, hit a batter and allowed seven hits. He only had one strikeout and gave up three runs. He did pick two runners off of first base though. The bullpen combo of Steven Gruver and Tyler Jones was fantastic. Over five innings, they allowed only two hits and combined to strike out seven. Gruver got the win and Jones the save. Christian Powell makes the 6:35 pm start tomorrow night. ELIZABETHTON SWEPT BY BURLINGTON ROYALS (4-1 and 2-0) Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score Despite being swept in a two-game set, the E-Town pitchers pitched very solidly. Hein Robb wasn't great in Game 1. He went 4.2 innings giving up four runs. He only struck out one. Brandon Bixler struck out three to get four outs and Dallas Gallant pitched a hitless final frame. In Game 2, the starting pitcher was Randy Rosario, who is making his case to move up prospect lists. He struck out five in five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) to score on three hits and two walks. C.K. Irby made his pro debut and struck out two in an innings. Andrew Ferreira struck out the side in the 7th. Offensively, in two games, there isn't much to speak of. Eight hits TOTAL, including a lone double by Romy Jimenez, led to only one run on the day. It's really not worth talking about, writing about or reading about. It wasn't pretty. GCL TWINS 11, GCL RAYS 4 Box Score The GCL Twins used a 16-hit, 11-run attack to improve to 9-6 on the year. The offensive charge was led by Zach Larson (3-for-4, 2B, R, SB, 4 RBI), Jonatan Hinojosa (3-for-4, 2 3B, 3 R, 4 RBI) and Jorge Hernandez (3-for-5, 2 R). Amaurys Minier, who has been up-and-down all season, was up today. He hit two solo home runs and drew a walk. He did commit his 3rd error today, though. Fan favorite Nick Blackburn made another rehab start today. He lasted five innings, striking out five. He allowed two runs on six hits. Jared Wilson struck out five in two innings, but also allowed two runs. He's credited with a blown save and a win. Chih-Wei Hu allowed two hits with a strikeout in two innings. Any questions or comments? Please leave below.

Monday morning got out to a quick - and good - start when Baseball America released their mid-season Top 50. Byron Buxton was ranked the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Miguel Sano, despite being in a little bit of a funk, checked in only two spots later at #3. It was also nice to see the injured Alex Meyer at #32. Narrowly missing the Top 50 were P Jose Berrios (who pitched for Cedar Rapids today) and New Britain 2B Eddie Rosario. That list is behind the paywall, so no quotes to read. ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, SCRANTON/WB RAILRIDERS 6 Box Score Andrew Albers certainly didn't step up and grab a rotation spot (if one's available). Albers used 98 pitches to get through five innings. On nine hits, he allowed five runs. He walked two and struck out five. Chirs Herrmann hit his first AAA home run. Antoan Richardson had two hits, including a triple. Eric Farris was 3-for-4 with a double. Deibinson had two hits (a double) and an RBI. Pedro Hernandez is tomorrow's scheduled starter, though P.J. Walters is set to join the team tomorrow as well. It will be interesting to see what transpires. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 2, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 1 Box Score It was quite a performance for Rock Cats' starter Virgil Vasquez. Vasquez cruised through eight shutout, one-hit innings this afternoon before allowing three singles and a run in the 9th. He only walked one, while striking out nine. Vasquez, who has bounced between New Britain and Rochester, got his first AA win and dropped his AA ERA to 3.04. Vasquez threw 112 pitches. Danny Ortiz and Jordan Parraz accounted for all the Rock Cats runs on two swings of the bat. In addition to their solo home runs, both men added singles. Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto doubled. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with a K. Manager Jeff Smith was ejected after arguing Sano's 1st inning strikeout. Sano is now batting .195 in his stint with New Britain. The Rock Cats will attempt to get back to .500 on Thursday. The Eastern League All-Star game with be hosted by the Rock Cats on Wednesday night. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 5 Box Score After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, the bullpen counted clean up Jason Wheeler's mess and fell to the Mets. Jason Wheeler lasted 6.1 innings but it was the error to start the inning and what happened after he left that was too much to overcome. Wheeler allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four. Wheeler left the bases loaded for Nelvin Fuentes, who allowed two to score on a single. Zack Jones allowed a run in an inning of work. Aderlin Mejia and Matt Koch both had two hits. Kennys Vargas drove in two runs. Byron Buxton, batting in the 3-hole, went 0-for-3 with a walk. Jhon Goncalves, who spent some time in New Britain before being sent back to Fort Myers, needs to go back up. He's been the hottest hitter in the Twins system over the last handful of weeks (.412/.512/.647 over his last ten games). Tonight he was 1-for-2 with two walks. He stole a base and, though he committed an error in the outfield, also had two assists - one at home and one at second. Goncalves is not a prospect, but a valuable organizational-type guy. ACongratulations to P Matt Summers and OF Mike Kvasnicka, who earlier in the day were named FSL Pitcher and Hitter of the Week. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 3 Box Score The Kernels came from behind to win this one, and despite only getting four hits, they used the help of nine walks to earn the victory. D.J. Hicks drove in two run on two hits, including a double. Jose Berrios wasn't sharp and only lasted four innings. Tonight, he walked four, hit a batter and allowed seven hits. He only had one strikeout and gave up three runs. He did pick two runners off of first base though. The bullpen combo of Steven Gruver and Tyler Jones was fantastic. Over five innings, they allowed only two hits and combined to strike out seven. Gruver got the win and Jones the save. Christian Powell makes the 6:35 pm start tomorrow night. ELIZABETHTON SWEPT BY BURLINGTON ROYALS (4-1 and 2-0) Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score Despite being swept in a two-game set, the E-Town pitchers pitched very solidly. Hein Robb wasn't great in Game 1. He went 4.2 innings giving up four runs. He only struck out one. Brandon Bixler struck out three to get four outs and Dallas Gallant pitched a hitless final frame. In Game 2, the starting pitcher was Randy Rosario, who is making his case to move up prospect lists. He struck out five in five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) to score on three hits and two walks. C.K. Irby made his pro debut and struck out two in an innings. Andrew Ferreira struck out the side in the 7th. Offensively, in two games, there isn't much to speak of. Eight hits TOTAL, including a lone double by Romy Jimenez, led to only one run on the day. It's really not worth talking about, writing about or reading about. It wasn't pretty. GCL TWINS 11, GCL RAYS 4 Box Score The GCL Twins used a 16-hit, 11-run attack to improve to 9-6 on the year. The offensive charge was led by Zach Larson (3-for-4, 2B, R, SB, 4 RBI), Jonatan Hinojosa (3-for-4, 2 3B, 3 R, 4 RBI) and Jorge Hernandez (3-for-5, 2 R). Amaurys Minier, who has been up-and-down all season, was up today. He hit two solo home runs and drew a walk. He did commit his 3rd error today, though. Fan favorite Nick Blackburn made another rehab start today. He lasted five innings, striking out five. He allowed two runs on six hits. Jared Wilson struck out five in two innings, but also allowed two runs. He's credited with a blown save and a win. Chih-Wei Hu allowed two hits with a strikeout in two innings. Any questions or comments? Please leave below.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Lots of drama today. Fortunately, the drama all ended in celebration. (Even for the Minnesota Wild.) The Twins got back to .500 this afternoon after beating the Rangers 7-2. Pedro Hernandez provided a very strong shutout effort (5 IP, 5 H, BB, 3 K). The bullpen continued to shine, preserving the shutout while the offense added a handful of insurance runs. Glen Perkins pitched a very low-leverage ninth. He walked the first two batters before getting the next two guys out. He then gave up a (misjudged by Hicks) double and two runs, before striking out the game's final batter. Josh Willingham's 6th inning home run gave him his 25th Target Field Home Run, eclipsing Jim Thome's mark by one and setting a new Target Field record. Let's take a look around the farm: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 1, BUFFALO BISONS 0 Box Score The spotlight shone on Kyle Gibson today. Gibson, who recorded his first AAA victory since May 29, 2011, pitched 6.2 scoreless innings. He struck out seven. He walked two and allowed two hits. Caleb Thielbar struck out three of the four batters he faced. Tim Wood made yet another impressive rehab appearance. He retired all three batters he faced on 11 pitches, recording his first AAA save of the season. During the AAA-portion of his rehab, opposing hitters are 1-for-16 against Wood in the five innings he has pitched. The offense only managed four hits: Evan Bigley and Joe Benson had consecutive singles in the 3rd inning, but were stranded. Bigley had a leadoff double in the 5th, moved on a sacrifice bunt and later scored on an Eric Farris sacrifice fly. Nate Hanson added a leadoff single in the 7th before being forced out at second to end the inning. Fortunately, that little bit of offense was enough to get the win. The victory gives the Red Wings their first four-game winning streak since the four-game period from July 29 to August 5, 2012. Liam Hendriks (0-1, 4.63) will be on the mound tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 ET looking to help the Red Wings win their second game in this four-game wraparound series. At 9-14, the Red Wings have climbed out of the cellar. In addition to that, De Vries, Wood and Deduno (whether it's those three or someone else) will benefit the Red Wings as they return to health. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 4, RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS 2 Box Score Despite being out-hit (13-9) and committing three errors, the Rock Cats escaped with a victory. After a 2nd inning James Beresford double scored Danny Ortiz to give the Rock Cats a 1-0 lead, they added to that lead in the 3rd on a Josmil Pinto 3-run home run. Those four runs proved to be enough for victory. B.J. Hermsen made his second start of the year. He lasted 4.2 innings, allowing nine hits and a run. He walked one and struck out two. Not his most effective outing, but he did throw 92 pitches, so that's a good sign. Jose Gonzalez (who got the win) was able to get it to the 8th. Edgar Ibarra made a mess and Michael Tonkin cleaned it up for the save. Pat Dean (0-2, 4.35) up next for the Rock Cats tomorrow at 1:35 ET. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 2, CHARLOTTE STONE CRABS 1 Box Score Walk-offs are exciting when you're the winning team. A walk-off walk is less exciting, but, hey, it's still exciting. Much like the Rock Cats, the Miracle managed minimal offense. Three hits to be exact. (Yeah, A.J.'s hit-streak is over.) Drew Leachman singled in the 5th, but was caught stealing third to end the inning. Matt Koch singled to lead off the 8th, was replaced by Stephen Wickens as a pinch-runner and scored on Angel Morales' double. So there are your three hits. But wait there's more... (the recap from milb.com) Fort Myers Bottom of the 9th Pitching Change: Jacob Partridge replaces Lenny Linsky. Miguel Sano walks. Drew Leachman flies out to left fielder Jeff Malm. Kennys Vargas walks. Miguel Sano to 2nd. Kyle Knudson walks. Miguel Sano to 3rd. Kennys Vargas to 2nd. Andy Leer strikes out swinging. Angel Morales walks. Miguel Sano scores. Kennys Vargas to 3rd. Kyle Knudson to 2nd. So there you have it. Literally, a walk-around-the-bases walkoff. The pitchers got it done. Matt Summers went seven strong innings. He struck out three and gave up a run on five hits. No walks. Taylor Rogers gave up a hit in an inning pitched. Cole Johnson gets the win for his scoreless inning pitched. The Miracle have now improved to 18-4. Tomorrow's scheduled starter, Taylor Rogers, pitched an inning tonight. I believe Tom Stuifbergen missed a start due to illness, so he may be the guy that takes the ball tomorrow at 1 ET. (Rinaldi Photos) CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 8, GREAT LAKES LOONS 7 Box Score Walk-offs are exciting when you're the winning team. The walk-off in this game is of the most-exciting variety. Let's get you up to speed... Mason Melotakis had a rough five innings. He allowed five hits and gave out four free passes. He struck out seven and left the game down 4-3. Manuel Soliman went 2.1 innings, allowing three runs on two hits and a walk. He struck out four. In the 8th inning, Tim Atherton comes in to a 7-4 game. He gets the Kernels out of the inning and also retires the side in the 9th. Turning the page to offense... Byron Buxton walked and scored on a Jorge Polanco double. In the 4th, Tyler Grimes doubled Adam Walked home (who had walked) and a Buxton sacrifice fly drove Grimes in. In the 9th inning, down three, Niko Goodrum walked. DJ Hicks hit a groundball that the Loon shortstop booted. Up walks Adam Walker, the tying run, trying to extend his home-run-streak to four games. And he did. Walker now leads the MWL with six home runs and 25 RBI. I wrote this about him in the Prospect Handbook: He is proving it every night. Atherton continued on the mound, finishing with five Ks in 3.1 inning. David Hurlbut got a flyball out to finish the top half of the 11th. The excitement picked up in the bottom half. Goodrum led off the inning with a single. Polanco bunted him over before Hicks hit a single that advanced Goodrum to third. Adam Walker came up again, but was intentionally walked to load the bases. Mauer decided to go to the bench and have Travis Harrison hit for Tyler Grimes. Hit he did. Harrison turned a pitch around and it cleared the fence. The Kernels win by WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM! Right? Well, after further review, the players went nuts and Hicks and Walker never advanced. Goodrum scored the winning run and, officially, Harrison gets an RBI single. Exciting, yes; but less exciting than a walk-off grand slam... or even a solo grand slam. Here's a good write-up on Adam Walker after last night's game. Josh Burris joined the Kernels. Chris Mazza headed back to EST. That opens up a spot on the roster. Luke Bard tweeted about his flight, but the destination is unknown. Could he be flying into Cedar Rapids or the Cities? Tyler Duffey (2-1, 2.29) will be on mound at 2:05 CT tomorrow

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.

Back to write-up for tonight: ROCHESTER RED WINGS 3, PAWTUCKET RED SOX 2 (10 innings) Box Score Another night with very little offense, but, more importantly, another win for the Red Wings. Tonight's win was their 5th consecutive and, impressively, gets them over .500 on the season. I remember there being lots of panic and disappointment when they started the season 2-11. People questioning why Rochester re-upped with the Twins. People saying the Twins wouldn't support them now that they got them signed for two more seasons. To you people, well... you can finish that sentence for yourselves. Tonight's win came courtesy of a walk-off error. Eric Farris hit a routine groundball to the second baseman, who booted it. Brian Dinkelman scored. Game over. There wasn't many offense highlights to speak of... Ray Olmedo had the team's only extra-base hit (of five hits): a double. Eric Farris stole two bases. Logan Darnell made his second AAA start. The southpaw went seven innings, striking out four. He scattered five hits and two walks, only allowing one run. Luis Perdomo recorded four outs and was credited with the win, despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the 10th inning. Cole De Vries was placed on the DL before the game with a right elbow strain. Vance Worley will pitch tomorrow at 1:05 ET. NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS 9, PORTLAND SEA DOGS 4 Box Score The Rock Cats have climbed back to one game within .500 and are in the Eastern League playoff mix (currently only two games behind Portland for the Wild Card spot). The biggest hit of the game was delivered in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Danny Santana lined a ball off of pitcher Matt Barnes' hand and forced him to leave the game. That set the tone early as the Rock Cats clawed their way to a 9-0 lead before giving up four runs late. The top four batters in the order combined to go 8-for-19. All four batters - Santana, Eddie Rosario, Nate Hanson and Josmil Pinto, had two hits and each doubled. Rosario and Pinto homered. It was Rosario's 1st in AA; Pinto's 13th. Miguel Sano went 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and a walk. D.J. Baxendale made his AA return and was excellent. He was clearly on a pitch-limit (he threw 55), but you wouldn't know it based on the fact that he completed five innings. He only allowed three hits and struck out one. This was the pitcher the Rock Cats expected to get, not the one they saw before getting shut down with a shoulder issue. B.J. Hermsen gave up four runs (three earned) in two innings. Last year's organizational pitcher of the year will probably find himself left off the 40-man roster this winter. Edgar Ibarra finished the game off. He allowed a hit in two innings. Ibarra was named a replacement for the Eastern League All-Star Game (presumably for A.J. Achter, who was promoted to AAA). The Rock Cats have not named their starter for tomorrow's 1:00 pm ET game, but it would appear to be Tom Stuifbergen's day. FORT MYERS MIRACLE 3, ST. LUCIE METS 6 Box Score The Miracle dropped the game and dropped to only 25 games over .500 on the season. Levi Michael led the offensive charge tonight. He homered, singled and walked in four plate appearances. Since missing time following an on-field collision, Michael has returned to collect four multi-hit games in the six he's played. Obviously people have been disappointed in the former first-round pick who has battled injuries and put up suspect numbers in a year-plus at Fort Myers. But if you squint hard enough I think you can see a Nick Punto/Brian Dozier love-child in there, and that guy - as messy as it sounds - can be a productive player at the Major League level. Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and watched his batting average drop 25 points (from .400 to .375). Manuel Soliman took his turn in the rotation (which still confuses me) and went 4.1 innings. He had a WHIP of nearly 3 (9 hits, 3 walks) and didn't strike any out on the way to giving up 5 runs. Chad Rogers allowed a homer in 2.2 innings and Adrian Salcedo gave up a hit in an otherwise quiet inning. Matt Summer will make the 1 pm ET start tomorrow. CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 5, CLINTON LUMBERKINGS 6 (11 innings) Box Score The Kernels were aided by a mistake-prone Clinton defense, but the offense only mustered seven hits. Two singles by J.D. Williams and D.J. Hicks and three singles by Joel Licon provided all the offense. Travis Harrison committed his 18th error of the season. Tim Atherton held his own, striking out five in five innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and a walk. Caleb Brewer was a mess. Madison Boer kept the Kernels in the game. Alex Muren got one out before giving up the walk-off winner. (I would think Boer has earned his chance to move back up to Fort Myers.) Lefty Mason Melotakis, fresh off his first save of the season last Monday, will start the 2 pm game. ELIZABETHTON TWINS 3, BLUEFIELD BLUE JAYS 0 Box Score It looks like the Twins just had a thing with shutting the Blue Jays out today. E-Town scored their three runs on 13 hits. Javier Pimentel (2-for-4) doubled and drove in a run. Kelvin Ortiz (3-for-5) doubled. Mitch Garver (1-for-4) tripled. Romy Jimenez and Zach Granite both had two hit games. The team was a collective 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Frustrating. The pitching made up for it, though. Yorman Landa struck out three in five innings and now has an ERA of 0.60. Tim Shibuya and Brian Gilbert combined to complete the shutout. GCL TWINS 8, GCL RED SOX 2 (Completion of 7/5 game: BOX SCORE) Stephen Gonsalves made his professional debut yesterday, but we'll cover it today. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out three in two innings. Adonis Pacheco was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Brian Navaretto had two hits, including a double. Amaurys Minier continued his hot-and-cold season going 0-for-5 with 2 Ks and a throwing error. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RED SOX 5 (8 INNINGS, scheduled for seven: BOX SCORE) Adonis Pacheco, who was hot in game one, stayed hot. He went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. His third the most important, coming as the result of a walk-off home run. Engelb Vielman, who has been the primary SS, is now hitting over .300. He went 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Evan Bigley had two doubles in rehab (can you say ready?) and Will Hurt added two singles. Speaking of Hurt, he got off to a historically poor star last year, getting his first hit in game 10 and starting his career 1-for-33. Nelson Molina, this year's 11th round pick, is giving Hurt a run for his money. Through 8 games, Molina is 0-for-23. Fortunately for Molina, he has only struck out four times. The report I got was that he's hitting the ball hard but "right at guys". That would make sense with a BABIP of .000. That's a number that's got to improve. Lewis Thorpe struck out six in three innings, but gave up two runs on five hits. "The Thorpedo" (as I'll call him) has struck out a ton of batters (20 in 13 innings), but has given up 12 hits. He's only give up two walks, which is extremely encouraging. A guy to watch for sure. The GCL affiliate is off tomorrow.