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Trademarked as a relief pitcher, Derek Law diced through the first three innings for the Saints on Thursday night against Toledo. Add in a timely homer and a lights-out bullpen performance and there was nothing the Mud Hens could do. MINOR LEAGUE END OF THE YEAR AWARDS There have been quite a few bright spots around the Twins' farm system throughout the 2021 season. Yet through all the ups, downs, wins, and losses there were a number of players who distinguished themselves as crowned jewels. Congrats to all of our 2021 Minor League Award winners! Twins Daily 2021 Minor League Hitter of the Year: Jose Miranda Twins Daily 2021 Starting Pitching of the Year: Louie Varland Twins Daily 2021 Relief Pitcher of the Year: Jovani Moran Short Season Awards Twins Daily 2021 Short Season Hitter of the Year: Kala'i Rosario Twins Daily 2021 Short Season Pitcher of the Year: Samuel Perez TRANSACTIONS The Saints placed catcher Ben Rortvedt on the IL with a concussion. SAINTS SENTINAL St. Paul 2, Toledo 0 Box Score A late-inning blast and dominant pitching led to a gutsy win for the Saints on Thursday night at Fifth Third Field. After six innings of a stalemate, the Saints struck the scoreboard in the top of the seventh. Leadoff man Jose Miranda reached on a hit by pitch and eventually moved his way to third on a groundout and wild pitch. He may as well stayed at first. Moments later, Mark Contreras launched a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall to give the Saints a 2-0 lead. The blast was Contreras' 18th on the year and fifth in September. Starting pitcher Derek Law was rock solid on the night, tossing three innings of scoreless ball. Law allowed three hits and two walks while striking out four. And while Law kicked off the party, the guest of honor title belonged to the St. Paul bullpen. The duo of Chandler Shepherd and Yennier Cano rattled off six innings of scoreless ball to hold the lead for the Saints. Shepherd was nearly perfect through four innings, giving up one hit, zero walks, and striking out three. Cano entered in the eighth and put the nail in the coffin for St. Paul. After a smooth eighth, Cano gave up a one-out double to Mud Hen shortstop Ryan Kreidler. It didn't matter. Cano regained the momentum and struck out the next two batters to seal the deal for the Saints. The Mud Hens outhit St. Paul 5-2, with a Jose Miranda single playing as the only other hit for the Saints in addition to Contreras' blast. Yet when it came to crunch time, Toledo couldn't convert, going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The Saints are now 5-2 in the Final Stretch of the season. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day: Mark Contreras (St. Paul)- 1-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, K Pitcher of the Day: Chandler Shepherd (St. Paul)- W, 4.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, H, 5 K PROSPECT SUMMARY #6- Jose Miranda (St. Paul)- 1-for-3, R #7- Joe Ryan (Minnesota)- Game in progress #13- Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul)- 0-for-4, K #16 - Brent Rooker (Minnesota)- Game in progress FRIDAY'S PROBABLE STARTER St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05PM CST) RHP Beau Burrows (4-5, 5.16 ERA) View full article

While the Kernels and Wind Surge spent the day traveling and resting between playoff games, the St. Paul Saints claimed an incredible come-from-behind victory in Lowertown. Get a rundown of the Saints' electric win and previews of tomorrow's playoff games here! SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Iowa 5 Box Score After trailing early in the ballgame, the St. Paul Saints came roaring back, using the longball and solid relief pitching to earn a confidence-building victory over the Cubs. The I-Cubs jumped out to an early lead, plating four runs in the first three frames off of starting pitcher Bryan Sammons. In what looked to be a runaway game, B.J. Boyd ignited a flame for the Saints in the bottom of the third by crushing a line drive solo homer over the left field wall. St. Paul decreased the lead to one in the fifth when Jimmy Kerrigan led off with a triple that was followed up with a Ben Rortvedt homer in the next at-bat. Momentum continued to sway towards the Saints in the sixth. Jose Miranda led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball in the next at-bat. That at-bat belonged to Tomas Telis, who connected on a 2-2 pitch to punch an RBI single to center that scored Miranda and tied the game at 4. The draw wouldn't last for long. With Telis on base, Mark Contreras rocked a 3-1 pitch over the right field wall to give the Saints a 6-4 lead. The monumental home run was Contreras' 17th on the season. His 17 blasts trail only Brent Rooker (20) and Jimmy Kerrigan (19) for the Saints this season. Contreras leads the Saints with 58 runs and 59 RBI. After using the long ball early the Saints relied on small ball to scrap another run across in the sixth. B.J. Boyd led the inning off with a single and followed up by swiping second base. Drew Stankiewicz punched a fly ball deep enough to move Boyd to third in the next at-bat. After Jose Miranda reached on a hit-by-pitch Tomas Telis knocked an RBI single past the infield to score Boyd. After Sammons' rocky start Chandler Shepherd came in and dominated, pitching 3 2/3 innings of one-hit, scoreless ball, striking out four and walking one. Yennier Cano followed Shepherd with 1 1/3 innings of one-run, one-hit ball while striking out two, Cano faced adversity in the eighth after walking the first two batters and giving up a run. Yet with runners on base, Cano struck out the final batter to get out of the jam. Ryan Mason came into the game to shut the door in the ninth. After giving up a leadoff single to Ian Miller Mason diced, delivering with a strikeout, pop fly, and another strikeout to earn his seventh save of the season. St. Paul's win was sweet, yet the fact that the team tallied three home runs is even sweeter. On Wednesday the Saints announced that $50 would be donated to ACES4KIDS every time a Saints player hits a home run in the final ten games of the season. ACES (Athletes Committed to Educating Students) is a Twin Cities non-profit dedicated to tackling the academic opportunity gap and preparing young learners to succeed in school, career, and community. Tonight's three homers are the first for the Saints on the campaign, tallying $150. The partnership is part of the Triple-A "Homers that Help" initiative and MLB will donate an additional $5,000 to the charity of choice for whatever participating team hits the most homers in the stretch. WIND SURGE WISDOM Travel Day After dropping the first two games against NW Arkansas in a best-of-five series, the Surge head back to Wichita for game three of the Double-A Central Championship Series. Friday night's game will feature Austin Schulfer (6-8, 4.34 ERA) on the bump pitching against Drew Parrish (6-4, 2.83 ERA) of the Naturals. Parrish has faced the Surge three times this season, going 0-1 with a 5.27 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. In that span he gave up 15 hits and seven earned runs while striking up 24 and walking four. Likewise, Schulfer has faced the Naturals three times this season, going 1-1 with a 22.22 ERA in 10 2.3 innings. The Plover, Wisconsin native has given up 13 hits and 11 runs to NW Arkansas while striking out 15 and walking nine. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm CST. Tickets are still available and the game can be viewed on Milb.com. KERNELS NUGGETS Travel Day After winning game one thanks to a Jair Camargo homer the Kernels dropped game two at Quad Cities and come home for game three of the High-A Central Championship Series. Casey Legumina (4-2, 3.28 ERA, mostly in Ft. Myers) of Cedar Rapids will face off against Dante Biasi (5-2, 377 ERA) of Quad Cities. Legumina's start will be his first against the River Bandits after being called up to High-A from Ft. Myers on September 13th. Biasi has been a staple for Quad Cities all season and has faced the Kernels five times, going 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA. He's given up 11 hits and seven earned runs against Cedar Rapids while striking out 13 and walking 11. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30pm CST. Tickets are still available and the game can be viewed on Milb.com. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day: Chandler Shepherd (St. Paul)- 3.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, BB, 4 K Pitcher of the Day: B.J Boyd (St. Paul)- 3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, SB PROSPECT SUMMARY #6 - Jose Miranda (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, R #13 - Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, 2 K #16 - Brent Rooker (Minnesota) - 1-for-3, 2B, 2 R, BB, 2 K FRIDAY'S PROBABLE STARTERS Iowa @ St. Paul (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Charlie (6-4, 3.88 ERA) NW Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Austin Schulfer (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - RHP Casey Legumina (0-0, 0.00 ERA) View full article

All four full-season clubs collected wins at home tonight, and the FCL Twins haven't lost yet, so come celebrate by reading tonight's Minor League Report! TRANSACTIONS No transactions today. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 1, Louisville 0 Box Score The Saints’ pitchers were untouchable tonight and the Louisville arms were only a little bit less untouchable in this pitchers duel. Saint Paul gets Louisville back for last night, winning this one 1-0. Chandler Shepherd was nothing short of dominant in his start tonight. The St. Paul starter went six full innings and didn’t allow a run. Unfortunately for the Saints, Shepherd’s Louisville counterpart, Michael Mariot, matched his every move (literally) and when Shepherd gave way to Yennier Cano to start the seventh, both starters had allowed four hits and no runs. Mariot was taken out after the seventh and Sherman Johnson, for one, was happy to see him go. Johnson gave the Saints the first lead of the ballgame in the eighth with a clutch solo shot to right center. In contrast to their opponents, the Saints bullpen did not let them down tonight. Cano walked his first two batters in the seventh but struck out a couple to get out of the inning unscathed. Then, Kyle Barraclough hurled a hitless eighth and Nick Vincent closed the game with a strong ninth. One run was all the Saints needed in this one. Thomas Telis and home run hero Sherman Johnson had the only multi-hit games for the St. Paul. Winder Shut Down Saints starter and Twins Daily’s #8 prospect Josh Winder will be shut down for the following few weeks with shoulder fatigue. Winder hasn’t pitched since July 21st and the Twins have decided to protect their asset by resting him an additional two or three weeks. Thorpe Finishes Rehab Stint In positive news, Lewis Thorpe finished his rehab stint with the FCL Twins and is set to start for the Saints on Sunday. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 11, Midland 4 Box Score Trey Cabbage led the Wind Surge bats to a big night and Chris Vallimont was an exciting watch on the mound. It was a good night for Wichita as they take this one in blowout fashion. The best way to start a ballgame is to put a crooked number up in the first, and that’s exactly what the Wind Surge did tonight. Wichita put up four in the opening frame, with an RBI each coming on Cabbage and Jermaine Palacios singles and two runs scoring on Andrew Bechtold’s double. After giving up a four spot to hard-hit Wichita liners, Midland got one back in the third off a weak infield single from Devin Foyle. However, Cabbage responded with two more RBI on a deep blast to right that extended the Wichita lead to 6-1. Midland got an additional run back in the fourth, but Cabbage had another two-run shot up his sleeve in the fifth, giving him his fourth and fifth RBI of the night. While Cabbage and the Surge were mashing, Vallimont was dealing on the mound. He struggled a bit with walks (he had four, two came around to score), but his swing-and-miss stuff was on full display as he had eight strikeouts over five innings. Just check out the Rock Hounds’ facial expressions for confirmation for how filthy he was tonight: Midland got a two-run homer of their own in the seventh, but, like they did all night, the Wichita bats had an answer. Austin Martin drove in two with a double in the eighth, and this one ended 11-4 in Wichita’s favor. After Vallimont left the ballgame, Alex Phillips allowed two earned runs over two innings and Jordan Gore took care of the eighth and ninth without allowing a baserunner. Cabbage's big night was the only multi-hit showing for Wichita. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Quad Cities 2 Box Score The Kernels jumped in front early and held on for the rest of the game, taking a tight one tonight, 4-2. The Kernels’ first trip to the plate was quite a productive one, as they sent eight men to bat and pushed three runs across. The big hit came in the form of a two-run Yunior Severino single, and Seth Gray also notched an RBI on a groundout. Matt Wallner helped Cedar Rapids add on in the second, with an RBI single of his own. Quad Cities finally got on the board in the fifth, using a Maikel Garcia triple to score Gavin Stupienski from first for their first run. Then, in the sixth, Jake Means doubled and drove in another run to cut the Cedar Rapids lead to 4-2. Kernels’ starter Louie Varland left the ballgame shortly after. At the end of his outing Varland had gone 5 ⅔ innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five. The bullpen took over from there for Cedar Rapids. Melvi Acosta grabbed the last out of the sixth and pitched a hitless seventh, and Zach Featherstone allowed the bases to fill in the eighth, but got out of the inning without allowing a run. Then, Featherstone shut down the River Bandits one more time, securing the 4-2 win for Cedar Rapids. Alex Isola and Severino had multi-hit games for the Kernels tonight. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Dunedin 3 Box Score This one looked to be headed towards slugfest territory after the first inning, but in what turned out to be a quiet offensive game, the Mussels edge out the Blue Jays, 4-3 Dunedin got two runs right away in the top of the first, with RBI coming on a Jesus Feliz fielding error and a P.K. Morris sac fly. But, Fort Myers had a first-inning run of their own, on a Charles Mack RBI groundout that scored Misael Urbina. The score stayed at 2-1 until the fourth, when the Mussels grabbed a run to tie it up. Urbina was involved again, this time driving in a run on a sac fly. After the rocky first inning, Mussel’s starter Bobby Milacki settled down well and allowed no runs over the next three innings, and when Matthew Swain took over in the fifth, he dominated the Blue Jays bats with three hitless innings and five strikeouts. The solid pitching paid off in the seventh, when Fort Myers took their first lead of the ballgame. Jeferson Morales hit his seventh bomb of the year, driving in himself and Charles Mack to give the Mussels a two-run advantage. However, that lead got cut in half in the eighth, after a Miguel Hiraldo sacrifice fly scored Dunedin’s third run of the game. Dunedin got two baserunners on in the ninth, but they couldn’t bring them across. Denny Bentley gets credit for the six-out save and the Mussels win 4-3. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Red Sox 5, FCL Twins 5 (Suspended/7) Box Score Today’s game between the Twins’ and Red Sox’ Complex League sides was suspended due to lightning with no outs and one man on in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the score tied at five runs apiece. Of note in this one, is that Alerick Soularie made his pro debut for the FCL Twins. So far, he is 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. The game will be resumed tomorrow, so check back in tomorrow’s report for a full recap! TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day - Chandler Shepherd (St. Paul) 6 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 K Hitter of the Day - Trey Cabbage (Wichita) 3-for-4, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR (9), SO PROSPECT SUMMARY Take note that we have finished our midseason update, so there is a new list! Here is a look at how the Twins Daily Midseason Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Royce Lewis (Rehab) – Out for season (torn ACL) #2 – Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – Injured List (elbow strain) #3 – Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – Did not pitch #4 – Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – Injured List (right elbow strain) #5 – Jose Miranda (St. Paul) – 1-for-4 #6 – Keoni Cavaco (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, K #7 – Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) – 1-for-3 #8 – Josh Winder (St. Paul) – Did not pitch #9 – Aaron Sabato (Fort Myers) – Did not play #10 – Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, R, RBI, BB #11 – Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – Out for Season (Tommy John surgery) #12 – Bailey Ober (Minnesota) – 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K #13 – Cole Sands (Wichita) – Did not pitch #14 – Brent Rooker (Minnesota) – 0-for-5, K #15 – Misael Urbina (Fort Myers) – 0-for-2, R, RBI #16 – Spencer Steer (Wichita) – 0-for-3, 2 R, K #17 – Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, K #18 – Alerick Soularie (Complex) – 0-for-3, BB, K (game suspended) #19 – Edwar Colina (Rehab) – Injured List (elbow) #20 – Chris Vallimont (Wichita) – 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Louisville @ St. Paul (7:05PM CST) – RHP Ian Hamilton (2-1, 2.61 ERA) Midland @ Wichita (7:05PM CST) – RHP Austin Schulfer (3-7, 4.58 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Tyler Beck (2-1, 2.06 ERA) Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (6:00PM CST) – RHP Miguel Rodriguez (2-2, 3.62 ERA) MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article