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On Sunday afternoon Trevor May went six innings in his second start of the year for the Twins, holding the Cleveland Indians to just one run on four hits and zero walks. He struck out seven. Torii Hunter hit his first home run in a Twins uniform since 2007, a three-run shot in the sixth inning to help the Twins beat the Indians 7-2, closing their first home stand of the year with a 4-2 record and two series wins. Two of the Twins affiliates went into extra innings, with one collecting a walk-off victory and the other suffering a walk-off defeat.Read on to find out what happened to who in the Minor Leagues on Sunday. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Pawtucket 4 Box Score The Red Wings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning after Aaron Hicks led off the game with a single, and after an Eddie Rosario fly out and Josmil Pinto strike out, Brock Peterson stepped to the plate. He launched a 2-1 pitch over the center field wall for his fourth home run of the season, which is tied for first in the International League in the early going. Left-hander Pat Dean was on the mound for Rochester, and though his game started unnaturally as he loaded the bases after three hitters (hit batter, single, walk), he struck out the next two hitters and escape unscathed in the first after a fly ball to Rosario in center field. Dean dominated the rest of the outing, finishing six innings and allowing zero runs on just two hits and one walk, while striking out seven. Both lineups remained silent until the bottom of the seventh, after Dean had exited the game, when Pawtucket struck for two runs and a tie game after Ryan Presley entered. He struck out the first hitter he faced, but two walks, a Jackie Bradley Jr. single, and a wild pitch evened the scoreboard. Presley finished the inning with a strikeout, but the damage had been done. Rosario put the Red Wings back in front 3-2 in the top of the eighth, as he led off the inning with a triple and made his way home on a Reynaldo Rodriguez single. But it would not be enough. Presley came back out for the bottom of the eighth but after recording one out, surrendered two consecutive singles to put runners on first and third. Michael Tonkin was summoned, but unleashed a wild pitch to score the tying run, then an Argenis Diaz fielding error allowed the go-ahead run score. A 1-2-3 top of the ninth dropped the Red Wings to 5-5 on the year. Rochester hitters Hicks (2-5), Rosario (2-4, 3B), Rodriguez (2-4), and Danny Oritz (2-4), would each collect multiple hits, but Peterson (1-3, HR, BB) was the only other hitter in the lineup to reach base. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Birmingham, Chattanooga (postponed) Chattanooga and Birmingham’s game was rained out on Sunday afternoon and will be made up in a future meeting between the two teams. MIRACLE MATTERS St. Lucie 2, Fort Myers 3 (11 innings) Box Score Starter Ryan Eades was again stellar for the Miracle, giving a quality start effort in six innings. He allowed just one run on six hits and one walk, while striking out three. After two starts in the Florida State League the 2013 second-round pick out of LSU sports a 1-0 record and 0.75 ERA. Brandon Peterson came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits and three walks, while striking out two. Righty Todd Van Steensel pitched into extra innings, striking out five in 2.1 innings of scoreless ball, before being replaced by J.T. Chargois in the eleventh. Chargois pitch a scoreless inning, allowing a double and a walk to put runners on first and third, before striking out Amed Rosario of the Mets to end the inning. Fort Myers ended the game in walk-off fashion, giving Chargois his first victory of 2015, after a single from a pinch hitter brought home the winning run from third base. Jason Kanzler started the rally with one out, bunting down the first base line for a single, and Engelb Vielma moved him to third with a single of his own before an intentional walk to load the bases prompted a pitching change from the Mets. Miracle manager Jeff Smith countered with pinch hitter Aderlin Mejia in place of Tanner Vavra, and he lined a one-hopper to the left side of the infield that turned into the game-winning single when it bounced away from a diving shortstops glove, scoring Kanzler. The offense was led by Kanzler who went 2-4 (GW run), while Mejia (1-1, GW RBI single) Max Kepler (1-5), Marcus Knecht (1-5), Alex Swim (1-5, SB), Chad Christensen (1-3, R, BB) and Vielma (1-4) collected the other six hits. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Burlington 2 (12 innings) Box Score The Kernels game against the Burlington Bees went twelve innings on Sunday afternoon, as pitching dominated the scoreboard. Felix Jorge was on the hill for the Kernels, looking to build off his strong 2015 debut where he shut out the Beloit Snappers for seven innings, collecting ten strikeouts along the way. He wouldn’t reach double digits in K’s, but totaled nine strikeouts in five innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits (all singles) and two walks in five innings. Cameron Booser came on to pitch two perfect innings, striking out three, and Trevor Hildenberger would bring them into extra innings while allowing just one hit in three innings, striking out four. Samuel Clay was next up in the bottom of the eleventh, and retired the first four batters he faced before Burlington’s Natanael Delgado lined his forth single of the game in the twelfth. A strikeout and walk put Delgado in scoring position for Miguel Hermosillo to provide the walk-off single. The Kernels lineup combined for just five hits on the night, with Tyler Kuresa collecting the only extra base hit, a double in the seventh. Zach Larson collected the only RBI of the night on a ground out in the sixth. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pat Dean, Rochester Red Wings (W, 6.0 IP, 0 R’s, 2 H’s, 1 BB, 7 K’s) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brock Peterson, Rochester Red Wings (1-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB) MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Syracuse (5:35 PM CST) – RHP Alex Meyer (1-0, 8.31 ERA) Chattanooga @ Mississippi (7:00 AM CST) – RHP Alex Wimmers (Has Not Pitched) Fort Myers @ Tampa (6:00 PM CST) – LHP Luke Westphal (0-1, 4.15 ERA) Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Jared Wilson (1-0, 2.84 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Sunday games. Click here to view the article

The Twins gave their fans little to cheer about in their three-game, season-opening series in Detroit. Hopefully that changes this weekend. In the meantime, Thursday was minor league Opening Day, so the Twins four, full-season affiliates played in their first games of the year. Ironically, all four affiliates began their season on the road. The Twins have a new affiliate this year in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We need a new header for the Lookouts section. I have a couple of options there tonight, but if you would like to vote for one of them or offer up another suggestion, we’ll have one for that section soon. Until then, be sure to make Twins Daily your daily stop for Twins minor league coverage. Every day throughout the season, we’ll provide our readers with scores and highlights from each game.Remember also that there are plenty of Twins minor leaguers available in this year’s Adopt-A-Prospect. As of Friday morning at 9:00 central time, you can adopt a second prospect, if you haven’t already adopted a first prospect. Let’s get to today’s report. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Buffalo 3 Box Score The Rochester Red Wings began their 2015 season by heading west to Buffalo. They saw some familiar faces and came away with a win. The starter for the Bisons was former Twins pitcher Andrew Albers. The Wings touched up Albers for four runs on eight hits and two walks in 4.2 innings. Bobby Korecky pitched the ninth inning for Buffalo and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. At the plate, Chris Colabello batted fourth and went 0-3 with a walk. Much of the offense came from the bats of Aaron Hicks and Brock Peterson. Hicks led off and went 2 for 3 with two walks and a home run. He also made a sprawled-out, diving catch early in the game. Brock Peterson batted cleanup. He went 3 for 4 with a walk, a home run and three RBI. Reynaldo Rodriguez also added two hits. Josmil Pinto added a double. Alex Meyer got the win for the Red Wings on Opening Day, though he would likely tell you it wasn’t his finest outing. The right-hander went five innings and gave up three earned runs on four hits and six walks. He struck out three batters, but clearly, his control was not where it needs to be. Just 44 of his 87 pitches were strikes. He left the game after the first two batters of the 6th inning reached against him. Logan Darnell came on and allowed both runs to score, but he maintained a 4-3 lead. AJ Achter was perfect for the seventh and eighth innings. Michael Tonkin got the save. He struck out two and walked one in the ninth inning. LOOKOUTS LOOK-INS or CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 4 Box Score This was a solid performance for the Lookouts right up until the bottom of the ninth inning. They entered the inning with a 3-0 lead thanks to an insurance, solo home run by Miguel Sano. Nick Burdi came on for the save opportunity. Unfortunately, that’s when things got weird. Burdi walked the first two batters before giving up a single to load the bases. There was hope when Burdi struck out the next two batters. However, he walked the next two men and the lead was cut to 3-2. Cole Johnson was summoned from the bullpen. He gave up a bloop single to center field. Byron Buxton came up throwing, but the winning run scored just ahead of his throw. A 3-0 lead became a 4-3 loss in a hurry. Pitching wins, right? Well, usually, and if that’s true, then Tyler Duffey did a great job of giving his team a good chance to win on Thursday night. The right-hander, who ended the 2014 season with three starts in Rochester, went the first 6.2 innings for the Lookouts. He gave up no runs on four hits. He walked just one and struck out ten batters. Duffey left the game with a runner on third base and two outs. Lefty Ryan O’Rourke was brought into the game to face a lefty, and as he did time and again in 2014, he struck out that batter. O’Rourke got one out in the 8th inning as well, also on a strikeout. That’s when Jake Reed came on. Stuart Turner threw out a would-be base stealer for the second out, and Reed got the third out himself, a strikeout on a nasty slider. That got the team to the ninth inning, and I don’t need to go through that again, do I? Of course, people want to talk about the potential of the Lookouts offense, too. Though it wasn’t a great offensive night for the team, Miguel Sano did hit his first home run of the season, a long blast over the wall. It was his first hit of the game. He had three strikeouts coming into that at-bat. There were a lot of strikeouts. Byron Buxton and Adam Brett Walker each struck out three times, and Mike Gonzales took the golden sombrero, with four strikeouts. On the positive side, Jorge Polanco and Dalton Hicks both had two hits. Hicks had a double and an RBI. Polanco had the other RBI. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 0, Charlotte 2 Box Score The Miracle made the trek north to Charlotte to open their season against the Stone Crabs. The team faced Rays starter Drew Smyly who is on a rehab assignment. Smyly set down the six Miracle batters he faced, and yet, he wasn’t even the best pitcher for the Stone Crabs in this one. Lefty Blake Snell was the Rays’ supplemental first-round pick in 2011 out of high school. He came on and struck out ten Miracle batters in six shutout, three-hit innings. Brad Schreiber (a one-time Twins draft pick – who didn’t sign) made things interesting in the ninth inning, but held the Miracle scoreless for the save. Kohl Stewart was awarded the Opening Day start for the Miracle. He came through with a quality start. The strong-armed right-hander worked six innings and gave up just two runs. He gave up five hits, walked four and struck out five. He had just one perfect inning. He was consistently hitting 94 and 95 mph. Luke Westphal made his affiliated baseball debut. The left-hander from LaCrosse who played independent ball the last two seasons before going to Australia to play this winter worked a perfect seventh inning, striking out one. Minnesotan Madison Boer also worked a perfect inning with a strikeout. Unfortunately, due to some impressive pitching, the Miracle bats were unable to put much together. Niko Goodrum led off. He had two hits in four at-bats. The rest of the lineup added just three more hits. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Kane County 2 Box Score It may be hard to believe when you see that final score, but this was a pitcher’s duel for much of the game. Through four innings, the two teams combined for just one hit. The Kernels took the lead with three runs in the sixth inning and then broke things open with three more in the ninth. Mat Batts was tremendous on the mound, and Nick Gordon had an impressive Midwest League debut. Batts, the left-hander from UNC-Wilmington, gave up just one run on two hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out seven. At one point, he went 14 batters between base runners. Jared Wilson came on and got four outs without any further damage. Wilson is scheduled to start on Tuesday. Cameron Booser came on and threw two innings. He walked one and struck out one in the 8th inning. In the ninth, he gave up a run, though he also had to get four outs when a strikeout went to the backstop and the runner got on base. It is his first save. He struck out three in two innings. Nick Gordon made his Midwest League debut. He got on base his first two plate appearances, a walk and reached on an error. Soon after, he hit a triple down the right field line, and in the ninth, he singled in a run. He was 2-4 with a walk on the day. Zach Larson was 2-4, but he also got hit by a pitch. He stole two bases. Trey Vavra, Jhonatan Hinojosa and Brian Navarreto all went 2-4 as well. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Duffey, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brock Peterson, Rochester Red Wings FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Buffalo (1:05 CST) – LHP Taylor Rogers Chattanooga @ Montgomery (7:05 CST) – RHP JO Berrios Charlotte @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) – RHP Aaron Slegers Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (6:30 CST) – RHP John Curtiss Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Thursday games. Click here to view the article

As you have likely noticed, I enjoy writing about and telling the stories of Twins players and minor leaguers who don’t get many headlines. Sometimes, in my opinion, their stories can be as interesting, or even more interesting, as the big-name headline makers. I had a chance to catch up with Brock Peterson in Ft. Myers and talk to him about his unlikely path to the big leagues and back to the Twins organization.Brock Peterson was drafted out of high school by the Twins 49th round of the 2002 MLB Draft. Rather than go to college, Peterson signed with the Twins and set off on his career. “I think a lot of people get confused and think I was the 49th overall pick. They don’t realize it was the 49th round.” Once he signed, that round didn’t matter to him, and the Twins gave him a shot. “I tried to never let that hold me back. The Twins always did a good job of when I was over here of giving, of treating everybody the same and giving opportunities. I think some people it hangs around on them, but I think I’ve played and established myself long enough that it’s kind of a non-factor now, I hope.” 13 years later, he’s still playing this game. The Washington native began his career with the Elizabethton Twins in 2003. In 2004, he moved up to Quad Cities in the Midwest League. He spent 2005 and 2006 in Ft. Myers with the Miracle. 2007 and 2008 were spent with Double-A New Britain though he ended the 2008 season with Rochester. He played 2009 and 2010 with the Red Wings. As a player in the Twins organization, Peterson never put up earth-shattering numbers, but he was always a consistent contributor for his team. He was very solid all-around, defensively and with the bat. He said of his offense, “I take pride in trying to be a complete hitter. I try to hit for average. My goal every year is to hit .300 with 20. That’s what I think I should honestly be able to do every year.” Following the 2010 season, Peterson became a free agent again and the Twins did not bring him back. In fact, he actually spent two seasons playing independent baseball for Bridgeport in the Atlantic league. However, late in the 2012 season, the St. Louis Cardinals signed him and sent him to Triple-A Memphis where he played the final 21 games. As a 29-year-old during the 2013 season, Peterson hit .296/.364/.531 (.895) with 30 doubles and 25 RBI. In mid-July, Matt Holliday went on the disabled list and to the surprise of many, including Peterson, he received his first big league promotion. On July 20, in the bottom of the 5th inning, Peterson came on to pinch hit for Lance Lynn. He grounded out to shortstop off of Edinson Volquez, but it drove in a run to give the Cardinals a lead. A day later, he was in the Cardinals lineup, playing left field, a position he hadn’t played more than a dozen times in his career. He acknowledged later that he only had to field ground balls out there in that debut. Four days later, Peterson pinch hit for Matt Adams and recorded his first big league hit, a single off of Jake Diekman. His other hit came against JJ Hoover of the Cincinnati Reds. Peterson was up with the big league club for three weeks, sent down, and then he was promoted for the month of September. He had a front row seat for the 2013 NL Central champion Cardinals. His MLB time with the Cardinals was short-lived, but very memorable. He had just two hits in 26 plate appearances for the team, but he got the opportunity and that’s all he’s ever wanted. “I had just accepted that I was just a minor league guy. I was just trying to have fun playing the game and hopefully they would let me keep playing. When I got the call up, I couldn’t believe it. Really. I hadn’t thought about it in a long time. I was just out there playing and having fun. I think that was maybe the key to the success.” Following the 2013 season, he was removed from the Cardinals’ roster and became a free agent. The Washington Nationals signed him in December. He was let go in June, but the Dodgers quickly signed him. Both of these minor league stints were in AAA. Overall, he hit .301/.378/.480 (.858) with 26 doubles and 15 home runs. He again became a free agent following the season. This past offseason, Peterson had several offers, but it didn’t take long for him to realize where he wanted to sign. When Chris Colabello was removed from the 40-man roster and claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays, the Twins became a viable organization for Peterson. Peterson acknowledged, “It really was (an easy decision). Once my agent said the Twins might have some interest, I gave Brad (Steil) a call and talked to him. Within the first minute of the conversation, I knew this is where I was going to come back to.” He continued, “(This organization) is very familiar to me, even though everything’s changed and nothing looks the same. A lot of the same coaches are here. A lot of the guys I played with are coaching now which actually is kind of a weird situation because they’re on the other side of the line now. It was a pretty easy decision really once I had the conversation with Brad. He’s always been straight-forward with me and I feel like I trust him and trust the organization. Come out here and try to help the organization whether it’s helping young guys or hopefully getting a chance to go up to the big leagues and helping them win some games.” (Peterson was a teammate of Cedar Rapids manager Jake Mauer and their hitting coach Tommy Watkins. He also was a teammate of new GCL hitting coach Brian Dinkelman.) Steil is very happy to have Peterson back in the fold as well, for several reasons. “We’re very happy to have him back in the organization. He was a good fit for us, because we were looking to add some depth at 1B and some power to the middle of the lineup in Rochester. On top of that, he’s a high character guy, good in the clubhouse, and obviously we know him very well from his first seven years in the organization. ” For some, the grind of spring training, especially on the minor league side, can be difficult. However, Peterson is enjoying each moment. He relayed the following exchange he had with a younger Twins minor leaguer. “I was talking to a kid the other day. I said, ‘Man, this is fun!’ He said, ‘Fun!?’ I said, “How many years do you got?’ He goes, ‘Three.’ ‘Well, talk to me in about six more, and you’ll start having fun.’ The moral of that story for Peterson is this, “I think you just realize that you’re very privileged to play the game. I’m very lucky, after 13 years, to still get to be running around out here with all the kids, telling stories and just having a good time with them, trying to compete. I just feel very privileged to get to be out here having a good time.” Peterson is smart and understands the game itself doesn’t change a lot, but that he needs to continually change and improve. “I’m still learning. It’s fun to learn in this game, and every year, I feel like I’m learning new stuff that’s helping me progress ever further. I’m just hoping to keep playing, keep learning and have a good time.” Steil and the Twins front office and coaches encourage the minor leaguers to set goals and to strive for success. Peterson said that he has set several goals for himself in 2015. “Absolutely. The goal every year is, I just want to play as well as I think I can. Whatever happens after that, I’d love to be back in the big leagues. That’s why I play. That’s always the carrot hanging in front of your face is the big leagues. I’d love to get back there and help the team any way I can, but I just want to come out here, play, feel like I’ve improved and play to my potential.” Brock Peterson overcame a lot of tough odds. He was drafted in the 49th round out of high school. He worked his way up the Twins farm system, and spent over two years at the Triple-A level where he was successful. After the Twins let him go, he went to the independent leagues and continued to work on his craft. Eventually, the St. Louis Cardinals organization gave him a shot. He was able to achieve the ultimate goal of anyone who has ever put on a glove and played catch, he got to play in the big leagues. He contributed to a National League championship team, and he has the ring to prove it. Now he is back with the organization that gave him his first opportunity almost 14 years ago, the Minnesota Twins. He didn’t get the big league invitation to spring training, but he can be found on the minor league side, usually with a smile on his face as he continues that dream. He hopes to get back to the big leagues with the Twins, but if he doesn’t, he’s going to be a good mentor for the younger players. That said, what a story it would be if he does get one more shot and one more promotion, this time with the Minnesota Twins! Click here to view the article