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The Twins scraped a narrow 3-2 win over the Tigers on Tuesday. Strong pitching performances and Miguel Sano's 30th home run of the season led them to their 70th win in 2021. Box Score Starting Pitcher: Barnes 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K Homeruns: Sano (30) Top 3 WPA: Barnes .220, Thielbar .098, Duffey .081 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The Twins opened up their penultimate series of 2021 on Tuesday night in Minneapolis. Charlie Barnes was recalled from AAA St. Paul to start in place of Bailey Ober, who was placed on the IL with a hip strain. The injury brought an end to an incredibly positive breakout season for Ober, who the Twins will rely on for a rotation spot in 2022. Here’s how the Twins lined up for the series opener against lefty Tyler Alexander. Offense was hard to come by throughout the game, particularly in the opening frames. Barnes made it through four scoreless innings, giving up three hits and walking three. Meanwhile, Tyler Alexander put on a strong showing of his own, striking out six Twins in six innings of work. Alexander’s only blemish came in the bottom of the third. Byron Buxton walked, stole second, tagged up to third and then home on back-to-back sacrifice flies, giving the Twins a slender one run lead. Rocco Baldelli did not give Barnes an opportunity to work through the lineup a third time. Barnes was followed by scoreless innings from Jorge Alcala, Tyler Duffey, and Caleb Thielbar. Only Duffey struggled, surrendering two hits in his inning, although he escaped unscathed. Miguel Sano added his 30th home run of the year in the bottom of the seventh, increasing the lead to 2-0. A Nick Gordon walk and Willians Astudillo single had men on the corners with no outs. Max Kepler sacrificed Gordon home to increase the lead to 3-0 Twins. Ralph Garza Jr. pitched a scoreless eighth before Alexander Colome entered to close the game in the ninth. Despite surrendering two runs on three singles, Colome closed the game. The win brings the Twins 2021 record to 70-87 on the season with five games to play. Bullpen Usage Chart THU FRI SAT SUN TUE TOT Garza Jr. 16 0 0 18 19 53 Vincent 13 0 0 33 0 46 Thielbar 14 0 0 17 13 44 Coulombe 0 0 37 0 0 37 Farrell 19 0 18 0 0 37 Duffey 0 17 0 0 18 35 Barraclough 0 0 33 0 0 33 Colomé 0 5 0 0 26 31 Minaya 0 19 0 0 0 19 Moran 0 0 19 0 0 19 Alcalá 0 6 0 0 10 16 Next Up On Wednesday, the Twins will continue their short series against Detroit. Michael Pineda will take the mound against Casey Mize. First pitch is at 6:40 CST. Postgame Interviews View full article

The fun-filled season that was Wichita's 2021 campaign came to an end tonight, but Cedar Rapids brought themselves within one game of a championship. Also, the Saints played! Check it all out in tonight's Minor League Report! SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Iowa 1 Box Score Some nights, great pitching and Jose Miranda is all you need to secure a win. Tonight was one of those nights. Charlie Barnes got the start on the mound for St. Paul tonight and he was excellent in a shortened outing. He went four innings and allowed only one run, while accumulating four strikeouts. Barnes threw 70 pitches in this one and wasn’t showing signs of slowing down, so his removal from the game is likely to keep him fresh for potential major league service in the future. The one Cubs run came in the top of the third on an Abiatal Avelino RBI single off Barnes. Fortunately, though, the Saints struck in the bottom of the inning when Jose Miranda belted a no-doubter three-run shot. That blast proved to be all the Saints would need. After Barnes was removed, Beau Burrows entered the game in the fifth, charged with getting the fifteen-out save (not a thing). Burrows was even more fantastic, though, as he didn’t allow a hit until the ninth inning and struck out six Cubs. He did allow two hits in the ninth, but did not allow a run over all five of his innings, and the Saints took the game 3-1. St. Paul improves to 2-1 in the Triple-A Final Stretch. WIND SURGE WISDOM Double-A Central Championship Series Game 3: NW Arkansas 6, Wichita 2 (NW Arkansas wins series 3-0) Box Score Needing a win after their top two arms got roughed up in games one and two, the Wind Surge put the ball in the capable right hand of Austin Schulfer tonight in Riverfront Stadium’s playoff debut. However, a fourth inning grand slam ruined the night for Schulfer and the Surge, and their comeback hopes in this game and in the series never got started. The packed home crowd was amped up early and Jermaine Palacios gave them something to cheer about in the second when he stroked a ball 400 feet the left and bat-flipped the Surge to a 1-0 lead. The Naturals grabbed that run back in the third with a sac fly scoring Blake Perkins, who advanced two bases on an errant Schulfer pickoff attempt. After a close out call at the plate kept Wichita from retaking the lead, Brewer Hicklen, who made a game-saving catch in Game 1, pumped a grand slam over the left field wall to take the air out of the Wichita crowd and give NW Arkansas a 5-1 lead. Spencer Steer doubled and later scored on an Andrew Bechtold groundout in the fourth, but the offense couldn’t build on that and the next run of the game came in the seventh in favor of the Naturals, making it 6-2. In fact, the Surge didn’t put together a meaningful threat the rest of the game and that 6-2 scoreline was enough to earn the Naturals a dog-pile on the infield grass. Schulfer ended up pitching four innings, allowing five runs (four earned) while striking out four. He gave way to Kody Funderburk, who allowed just one run in three innings. Jordan Gore finished the game with two innings of scoreless work. On offense, the Surge grabbed seven hits but, as they have for much of the stretch run, they struggled to bring runs in. Jermaine Palacios and Austin Martin had multi-hit games. KERNELS NUGGETS High-A Central Championship Series Game 3: Cedar Rapids 8, Quad Cities 4 (Cedar Rapids leads series 2-1) Box Score After splitting the first two games, the Kernels endured a lengthy delay and turned to the long ball, bopping 4 homers en route to a crucial 8-4 Game 3 victory. Quad Cities opened their account in the first inning with a Logan Porter RBI single, but DaShawn Kiersey Jr. had an answer in the form of a two-run homer that gave the Kernels a 2-1 second-inning lead. In the third inning, the Kernels loaded the bases but their threat was interrupted by a rain delay. Well over an hour later, the game picked up again and Kiersey flew out to end the threat, permanently this time. In the fourth, though, Edouard Julien doubled the Cedar Rapids lead with a solo homer, and a few batters later, Alex Isola followed suit. Isola’s blast was worth three though, and the Kernels took a 6-1 lead. Quad Cities got a run back in the fifth, but Julien was back at it again in the sixth, with another solo bomb. And, Michael Helman added on another when he doubled and later scored on a Matt Wallner sac fly. Quad Cities got two runs back in the seventh to cut the lead to 8-4 that was as close as their comeback attempts would get and the Cedar Rapids Kernels are one win away from the title. Casey Legumina got the start for Cedar Rapids and allowed one run in two innings but after the lengthy delay, this one became a bullpen game. Adam Rozek matched Legumina, allowing one run over the third and fourth innings. Derek Molina took over and pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed two runs, though only one was earned. Carlos Suniaga allowed a few hits, but finished the game with two scoreless innings. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day - Beau Burrows (St. Paul) - 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 6 K Hitter of the Day - Edouard Julien (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR, BB, K PROSPECT SUMMARY #2 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 2-for-3, BB #6 - Jose Miranda (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, HR (16), 3 RBI #12 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, RBI, 2 K #13 - Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB #16 - Brent Rooker (Minnesota) - 1-for-3, K #20 - Spencer Steer (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B, R, 2 K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Iowa @ St. Paul (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Drew Strotman (9-4, 5.13 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long (3-3, 4.55 ERA in regular season) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Friday’s games! View full article

The Twins split their doubleheader with Cleveland on Tuesday. They won the second game 6-3 thanks to strong performance from Nick Gordon, Ryan Jeffers, and continued improvement from the bullpen. Box Score Starting Pitcher: Barnes 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K Homeruns: Jeffers (13) Top 3 WPA: Jeffers .323, Gordon .211, Sano .129 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) After the fret surrounding Joe Ryan’s injury had somewhat subsided, the Twins had the second game of a doubleheader against Cleveland to attend to. Here’s how the Twins lined up for game two. Charlie Barnes was recalled from St. Paul to be the extra man on the roster for the Twins Tuesday double header. After issuing a leadoff walk to Myles Straw, Barnes settled in. He retired the next seven Cleveland hitters to bring the game into the top of the third scoreless. Barnes was solid, if not spectacular, working relatively efficiently without dominating or overpowering hitters. With the wrist contusion to his throwing arm, Joe Ryan’s rotation spot into question. Barnes may find himself sticking around through the rest of the 2021 season. Barnes ran into trouble in the top of the third inning. An Oscar Mercado single, back-to-back doubles from Amed Rosario and Jose Ramirez, and an RBI single from Franmil Reyes gave Cleveland a 3-0 lead. Barnes returned in the fourth to complete a scoreless inning, and give the Twins bullpen some much-needed length after the trip to New York on Monday. The Twins fought back in the fourth inning. Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano contributed singles before Ryan Jeffers ripped a two-run double down the left field line to cut the lead to 3-2. Willians Astudillo followed up with a double of his own to right center field to tie the game, before a Nick Gordon single to center field gave the Twins their first lead at 4-3. The Twins bullpen held the lead in the latter stages of the game. Kyle Barraclough and Juan Minaya threw back-to-back scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, giving up just a hit between them. In the bottom of the sixth, the Twins added to their lead. Rob Refsnyder doubled down the left field line before Ryan Jeffers clubbed a 426-foot, two-run home run to increase the lead to 6-3. Alexander Colome closed the game in the seventh, bringing the Twins record on the season to 64-82. Encouraging performances from Nick Gordon and Ryan Jeffers will compound the highlight of the day, no serious injury for Joe Ryan. Bullpen Usage Chart FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Minaya 40 0 17 0 13 70 Coulombe 0 23 0 0 27 50 Colomé 12 0 0 27 11 50 Duffey 11 0 0 38 0 49 Farrell 0 12 0 34 0 46 Barraclough 0 0 0 23 16 39 Moran 0 0 37 0 0 37 Thielbar 0 26 0 11 0 37 Alcalá 9 0 18 0 8 35 Garza Jr. 0 0 11 6 0 17 Next Up On Wednesday, the Twins continue their series with Cleveland. Griffin Jax will take on Cal Quantrill. First pitch is at 6:40 CST. Postgame Interviews - Coming soon View full article

Rain threatened this game starting hours before hand. The first three innings flew by. The Twins took a lead. Milwaukee evened it up... But the Twins were able to take a lead and the bullpen, led by Juan Minaya held the lead for another Twins series win over a division leader. Box Score SP: Charlie Barnes: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (64 pitches, 47 strikes (73.4%)) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Miguel Sano (.184), Juan Minaya (.177), Josh Donaldson (.119) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) As the game proceeded, it was as if the goal was to get through five innings to make the game complete. Through the game’s first four innings, Charlie Barnes took advantage of aggressive Brewers hitters. Before the rains came, Barnes was sharp with his fastball, changeup and slider, coaxing a lot of weak content. Through four innings, he had allowed only one hit. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Twins scored four runs. With the bases loaded, Miguel Sano grounded a 3-0 pitch past shortstop and turned it into a double. (some might say very similar to Byron Buxton) Adrian Houser's control was certainly affected by the wet conditions. He hit two batters and had a couple of walks. Unfortunately, with a 4-0 lead and the rains continuing to come down, harder than previously, Barnes took the mound needing three outs to qualify for his first MLB Win. He issued his first walk to the leadoff batter. It was followed with three soft singles. Barnes left the game with the Twins holding on to a 4-2 lead. Caleb Thielbar came on and got a pop out for the first out. Willy Adames singled to load the bases for Christian Yelich. Thielbar got the former MVP to fly out to medium-deep right field. Max Kepler caught and threw toward home. Miguel Sano cut it off and threw wildly to third base allowing a second run to score on the error. Thielbar got the team out of the inning with a strikeout. Thielbar recorded a 1-2-3 sixth inning, striking out two batters. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Miguel Sano singled, Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch, and Ryan Jeffers singled to load the bases. Andrelton Simmons grounded into a double play, but the Twins did re-take the lead at 5-4. Veteran Juan Minaya came on for the seventh inning. He needed just six pitches to get three outs that inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Josh Donaldson drove in Jorge Polanco with a double to give the Twins a two-run lead. Despite a one-out single to Yelich, Minaya needed just 11 pitches to complete a scoreless eighth inning. Alexander Colome came in for the ninth inning, looking to record the save after a couple of bad outings earlier in the week. He got one out, but then things got interesting by walking a batter and serving up a single to Omar Narvaez. However, before Twins fans were even starting to get too nervous, Jace Peterson grounded out to Simmons who turned the double play to end the game. The Twins will play the Brewers on Sunday afternoon, having already won the series, and they lead the season series 4-1. This month, the Twins are 13-11 and have series wins over the Astros, the White Sox, Cleveland, the Rays and the Brewers. Bullpen Notes Caleb Thielbar gets the win to improve to 6-0. Juan Minaya threw two scoreless innings. He hasn't allowed a run in nine of his past ten appearances. In that time frame, his ERA is just 1.29. In 14 innings, he has 17 strikeouts and the opponents are hitting just .128. The 30-year-old pitched in 125 games for the White Sox between 2016 and 2019. He spent 2020 at the Twins alternate site. He was actually called up for a couple of games, but before he got into a game, he was DFAd. He re-signed with the Twins on a minor league deal, and since his promotion, he has now pitched to a 3.20 ERA over 17 games and 25 1/3 innings. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT Albers 0 0 0 88 0 88 Garza Jr. 0 24 4 0 0 28 Coulombe 0 19 0 20 0 39 Thielbar 14 22 0 0 23 59 Duffey 19 9 0 6 0 34 Colomé 0 20 0 13 13 46 Minaya 30 0 0 0 17 47 Gibaut 23 0 0 0 0 23 Alcalá 0 0 0 12 0 12 Barnes 0 0 0 0 64 64 View full article

Nothing new under the sun, as the Yankees crushed the Twins in the Bronx. Charlie Barnes was roughed up early, allowing six runs in two innings, making it hard for Minnesota to come back. Box Score Charlie Barnes: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 2 K (53.2 % strikes) Home Runs: Donaldson (17) Bottom 3 WPA: Barnes -.352, Astudillo -.051, Polanco -.036 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Early on, things didn’t go the Twins’ way at all, but they could’ve been much worse. Facing Néstor Cortes Jr., the offense was utterly dominated by the Cuban, who needed only 11 pitches to retire the top of Minnesota’s order. Then, the Yankees took a 4-0 lead in the bottom half of the first, with Charlie Barnes loading the bases twice. He really struggled with his control and command, giving up three walks and hitting a batter before stranding three runners to conclude the inning. A leadoff single by D.J. LeMahieu followed by a home run to the Short Porch by Aaron Judge in the second inning put the Yankees ahead 6-0. Barnes was able to cool down at this point forward,. He was able to retire six of the next eight batters, including a 12-pitch scoreless third inning. But Barnes settling down wasn’t enough. The Twins needed their offense to step up. Through the first three innings, Minnesota’s lineup got no-hit by Cortes Jr. The only Twins baserunner came via (checks notes) an Andrelton Simmons’ walk. The first sign of life from the Twins offense came during the fourth inning. Mitch Garver drew a two-out walk shortly before Rob Refsnyder ended Cortes Jr.’s no-hit bid. Nick Gordon was hit by a pitch, and, suddenly, the Twins were one swing away from getting right back into this game. It was up to Willians Astudillo, and he made contact with every pitch he saw, maybe putting a little pressure over Cortes Jr. But eventually, he flied out to right, ending the Twins’ threat. Barnes pitched himself into a jam once again in the fourth, giving up two consecutive one-out walks. Luke Voit hit a ball deep to center, and Gordon couldn’t make the diving catch on the warning track. Fortunately for the Twins, that ball bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double, and New York settled for only one run batted in, extending their lead to 7-0. Barnes came back to deliver a scoreless fifth. Twins get on the board After getting only one-hit through five innings, the Twins offense finally made some noise. Luis Arraez hit a leadoff double, coming back from an 0-2 count. Josh Donaldson had a full count after getting ahead 3-0, but Cortes Jr. hung a slider in the heart of the plate, and Donaldson brought the rain. Garver hit a single immediately after that Donaldson home run, prompting the first mound visit for the Yankees in the game. With no outs yet, Minnesota had a great chance to spark a rally. But Cortes Jr. managed to retire the following batter and then induced a ground ball double play to put the inning on the books. As it turned out, after that Garver single, Yankees pitching retired eight consecutive Twins batters. Kyle Barraclough was the Twins 40th round draft pick in 2011. He chose not to sign and was drafted the next year by the Marlins. He has spent parts of several seasons in the big leagues, and tonight, he made his Twins debut. He came in in relief of Barnes and pitched a 1-2-3 sixth frame. However, New York managed to add three more runs: a leadoff home run by Voit in the seventh and a two-run shot by LeMahieu in the eighth. Juan Minaya took over and finished the inning. Garver drew another walk, to lead off the ninth inning, but that was all Minnesota got out of that inning. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THURS FRI TOT Barnes 0 0 0 0 109 109 Gant 17 0 0 61 0 78 Minaya 19 0 40 0 16 75 Albers 0 0 0 63 0 63 Barraclough 0 0 0 0 46 46 Colomé 10 0 31 0 0 41 Garza Jr. 0 13 23 0 0 36 García 0 0 35 0 0 35 Thielbar 19 0 9 0 0 28 Coulombe 0 0 7 19 0 26 Duffey 0 0 14 0 0 14 View full article

Charlie Barnes's third start was the best of his career. Caleb Thielbar came in and got some huge outs after the middle relief coughed up the lead, but as they had all day, Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco came up clutch in the bottom of the ninth. Box Score (add link) SP: Charlie Barnes: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (73 pitches, 44 strikes (60.3%)) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Max Kepler (.327), Caleb Thielbar (.232), Charlie Barnes (.200) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Patience is a Virtue Luis Patino was the key piece the Rays received in return for former Cy Young winner Blake Snell from the Padres in the offseason. A top pitching prospect, he has certainly shown well for the Rays in 2020. Fortunately for the Twins, he was a bit wild on Sunday and the team took advantage. Patino walked Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco in the first inning, and Josh Donaldon singled in Kepler for the game’s first run. After a walk to Luis Arraez, Polanco scored on a Trevor Larnach fielder’s choice. The Twins went scoreless in the second innings, although Kepler had a double and Polanco walked again. There was one more walk in the third inning. Ryan Sherriff came on in the fourth inning. After getting the first two batters out, Kepler and Polanco walked. All Star Andrew Kittredge came on and Donaldson came through again with a big, two-run double to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. Barnes at his Best Lefty Charlie Barnes made his third MLB start on Sunday afternoon, and it’s fair to say that it was his best start to date. The southpaw was generally in control of the game for five innings. He gave up just three hits and only allowed one run, on a solo homer off the bat of Mike Zunino. Overall, his strike percentage was not real good, but instead of just missing over the middle of the plate, he was missing just outside the strike zone. This is definitely a start to build on. Middle Relief Struggles Edgar Garcia came on for the sixth inning. He quickly got the first two outs of the inning, but then issued a walk and a home run off to star rookie Wander Franco. That cut the Twins lead to 4-3. Tyler Duffey got the 7th inning. He started the inning with a walk. Then after a pop-out, he coaxed a potential ground ball double play. However, due to an error, no outs were recorded. Duffey walked another batter to load the bases. Randy Arozarena hit a little infield single to tie the game at four. Duffey did come up big by striking out Nelson Cruz, but bases were still loaded with one out yet to get. Clutch Caleb (Thielbar) Caleb Thielbar came in and, after falling behind 3-0, got All Star Austin Meadows to pop out to end the inning. He has now stranded his last seven inherited runners, a streak that began on June 21. With the game still tied in the top of the eight, Thielbar gave up a leadoff double to Franco. However, after a sacrifice bunt moved Franco to third, Thielbar got an infield pop out and a ground out to first base to keep the game tied. When you take a look below at the names available to Rocco Baldelli and Wes Johnson in the chart below, is Thielbar the team’s best, most-reliable bullpen arm right now? Well, another option for that title right now might be Alexander Colome who pitched a scoreless inning in the ninth. It was his eighth straight scoreless appearance. In that stretch (7 1/3 innings), he is 1-0 with five saves. Klutch Kepler (and Polanco) Max Kepler reached base four times on Sunday. As mentioned above, he walked twice. He also had two doubles including an opposite-field double down the left field line to lead off the ninth inning. Bobbled by Austin Meadows, Kepler scampered to third base. Two pitches later, Jorge Polanco hit a fly ball deep enough to easily score Kepler from third and give the Twins the 5-4 win, and a third-straight series win. It was his fifth career walk-off plate appearance and third this season. The Twins are clearly playing their best baseball of the season as they have reached arguably the toughest part of their season. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Barnes 0 0 0 0 73 73 García 0 0 27 0 21 48 Gant 0 0 41 0 0 41 Vincent 0 0 37 0 0 37 Colomé 14 0 0 0 13 27 Thielbar 20 0 0 0 15 35 Garza Jr. 0 0 0 16 0 16 Duffey 0 0 0 0 27 27 Minaya 15 0 0 0 0 15 Coulombe 0 0 0 10 0 10 View full article

In 2021 the Minnesota Twins were supposed to be a good team that would see an influx of top tier prospects helping to supplement a contending roster. That hasn’t happened, but we’re seeing some surprising arms take center stage. Royce Lewis didn’t get off the ground this year after missing a traditional minor league season in 2020. We haven’t seen (and likely won’t) Jhoan Duran or Jordan Balazovic to this point. Although Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach have both made their debuts, it’s been pitching where Minnesota has missed most often in 2021. Despite the poor performance, we have seen a trio of potentially overlooked arms brandish their stuff. Bailey Ober Realistically the arm with the highest upside of this group, Ober was a 12th round pick in 2017. He’s 26-years-old and owns a 4.53 ERA through his first 13 big league starts. That number drops to 4.19 if you throw out the clunker in his debut, and it’s an even better 3.55 across his last seven starts. He recently beat both the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox, and has tallied a 9.7 K/9 while owning just a 2.7 BB/9. The fastball velocity has averaged 92.6 mph, but when it’s coming from a guy standing 6’9” it’s going to get on you with incredible quickness. While Ober is getting ground balls just 33% of the time, he’s allowing hard hit balls only 37.8% of the time. He has generated a respectable 10.5% whiff rate, and owns a 28.3% CSW (called and swinging strike percentage). This wasn’t a guy ever destined to be a top prospect, and he’s hardly cracked an upper half of any organizational prospect list. That said, it’s never been a concern that the stuff hasn’t played. Ober dominated during his time in the minors with a 2.41 ERA and 11.1 K/9. The caveat is that it came in under 200 innings across four seasons. Injuries remain his chief bugaboo and he’s quickly approaching a new career high in innings pitched. For a team needing rotation help though, Ober’s emergence in 2021 should garner him serious consideration for an Opening Day roster spot next spring. Griffin Jax Taken in the 3rd round of the 2016 draft, Jax made his debut this season at 26-years-old. He went through a gambit of hoops to get here, first and foremost working around his commitment to the Air Force. Another guy that has never been considered highly when it comes to prospect status, Jax has succeeded at each level and always seemed “safe.” I opined that it seemed shocking no big league team wanted to take a chance on him as a Rule 5 option, but it’s great that he’s still with the Twins. Although the current 5.45 ERA is hardly anything to write home about, his 38 innings of work have been punctuated by the last four starts. Across those 20 1/3 innings he owns a 2.66 ERA and .153 batting average against. Those outings feature two tilts with the White Sox, and one against Houston; both of which are high-powered offenses. Jax isn’t a fireballer or big strikeout pitcher, but there’s also nothing he does particularly poorly. It’d be a long-shot to assume that Minnesota has a top half of the rotation arm here, but they’ve once again produced something of substance when it comes to rotation help and pitching depth. Jax hasn’t had the run needed to cement the belief that he’ll stick, but the track record and recent results suggest that he’s more than just a fleeting name during an otherwise lost season. Charlie Barnes Minnesota took Barnes out of Clemson in the 4th round of the 2017 draft. He’s the youngest of this group, not yet having reached his 26th birthday. He’s also seen the least amount of opportunity at the big league level, but it seems more could be in front of him down the stretch. Posting strong ERA numbers during his first two seasons of professional baseball, Barnes made it to Triple-A in year three at 23-years-old. In 2021 he forced his opportunity with the Twins by turning into a solid string of performances with the St. Paul Saints. Barnes doesn’t strike a ton of batters out, with just a 7.7 K/9 in the minors, but he’s done a decent job of limiting free passes and has been stingy with the home run ball. More of a soft-tosser, the lefty will need to miss additional bats as he looks for a lengthened opportunity to stick. Easily the most suspect arm in terms of both tools and production from this trio, Barnes has earned the role he’s currently in. There will need to be further advancement, but Minnesota pushing another fringe prospect to the big leagues is a win. His big-league debut against the Detroit Tigers went well, and despite the blow up against Cincinnati, he rebounded somewhat against a much tougher White Sox club. There’s more work to be done here, but this is a good foundation. The real takeaway here is that you can never have enough arms, and development isn't solely put in place for the top prospects. Minnesota has stockpiled pitching talent, and while it has taken time to bear fruit, the infrastructure implemented by Derek Falvey is beginning to pay off. We can only hope to see that in the coming years with more success stories like these, and realization of top tier talent as well. 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

The first week of post-deadline baseball saw highs and lows for a reshaped rotation that now consists of 60% rookies. Ultimately, with help from the bats, Twins pitching was good enough to produce a winning week on the road against some solid competition. Let us review. Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 8/2 thru Sun, 8/8 *** Record Last Week: 4-2 (Overall: 48-64) Run Differential Last Week: +2 (Overall: -73) Standing: 5th Place in AL Central (17.5 GB) Last Week's Game Recaps: Game 107 | MIN 7, CIN 5: Garver, Polanco Power Exciting Win Game 108 | CIN 6, MIN 5: Twins Comeback Falls Short Game 109 | MIN 5, HOU 3: Jax Earns First MLB Win as Starter Game 110 | MIN 5, HOU 4: Twins Rally from Early Deficit Game 111 | HOU 4, MIN 0: Lineup Has No Answers for Houston Pitching Game 112 | MIN 7, HOU 5: Polanco's 2 Homers Lift Twins to Series Win NEWS & NOTES Sidelined since early June by a bad hammy strain, Rob Refsnyder finally returned from the Injured List on Thursday, and has since resumed his role as semi-regular center fielder in Byron Buxton's absence. Refsnyder's activation led to Nick Gordon being optioned to Triple-A, which caused some consternation among fans who wished to see Gordon get a real shot. I get it. I like Gordon as a person and would love to see him succeed. It can feel hard to understand what's holding him back from more playing time on a bad team that's going nowhere. But this move makes it all the clearer how the Twins view him, and ... can you really blame them? While the speed is nice, Gordon has simply shown no signs that he can be an impactful contributor on a major-league team. He's a capable defender at several spots, but nowhere is he a standout, and the Twins seem to have zero interest in playing him at short. When you combine that defensive profile with a completely punchless bat, there isn't much value to be found. During his time in the majors, Gordon put 70 balls in play and recorded one barrel. He slashed .176/.263/.235 in his final 20 games. He lacks any discipline at the plate, offering at 45.8% pitches outside the zone, which is second on the team behind (of course) Willians Astudillo. It's not happening for Gordon this year. Now that doesn't preclude the possibility that he works his ass off during the winter, bulks up, and comes out next spring with a significantly bolstered skill set. We'll see if the Twins hold him on the 40-man roster and pursue that avenue. For now, the sad fact is that Refsnyder has a better chance of being a valuable contributor on the 2022 Twins. In other roster news of the week: Another right-handed reliever picked up off waivers. Just days after snagging Edgar Garcia following his DFA from Cincinnati, the Twins claimed former Astro Ralph Garza Jr., who was immediately optioned to Triple-A to join Garcia on the Saints. Garza, like many pitchers the Twins have added of late, has intriguing attributes and big strikeout rates in the minors, but also some clear flaws. There's no particular reason to think he or Garcia – discarded cast-offs from other organizations – will turn to anything useful. But then again, the same thing applies in the bullpen as in the rotation: the Twins are going to need help from the minors and every lottery ticket helps. It's a numbers game and the team is improving its odds. HIGHLIGHTS With veterans José Berríos and J.A. Happ departing at the deadline, Minnesota plugged in Griffin Jax and Charlie Barnes, who join incumbent rookie Bailey Ober in a suddenly very inexperienced rotation. It's quite the departure from Opening Day, when Berríos was their youngest starter. While veteran holdovers Kenta Maeda and Michael Pineda are interesting to track for their own reasons, the youth movement is now the central focus for the starting corps. None of the three rookies currently in the rotation are top prospects, but in the numbers game, it's all about letting them run and seeing if one emerges. This past week, the numbers showed some things to like from Jax and Ober: Jax spun 5 ⅓ innings of one-run ball in Houston on Thursday against the highest-scoring offense in the majors. (Albeit one missing several key bats.) He allowed only three hits and one walk in an efficient and impressive performance. Jax recorded zero strikeouts and only three swinging strikes in the outing, which is concerning, but he did pile up six strikeouts on 16 whiffs against the White Sox two starts prior, so he has at least shown the capability to miss bats. In his past three starts dating back to that one, Jax has a 1.88 ERA with six hits allowed in 14 ⅓ frames. Ober's start on Saturday was a mixed bag. On the one hand, we saw his strengths on display, with five strikeouts and one walk pushing his outstanding seasonal ratio to 56-to-15 ratio in 52 ⅓ innings. Ober's 3.7 K/BB ranks second among Twins starters behind Pineda. Ober also gave up two home runs in his five innings of work, surfacing his biggest weakness, but in general he too has been on a good track. In his past three starts, Ober has a 3.77 ERA and 15-to-3 K/BB ratio in 14 ⅓ frames. Several relievers also had strong showings as the bullpen rebounded from a very ugly run the previous week. Jorge Alcala allowed one hit (a home run) in three innings of work, striking out six of the 11 batters he faced. Alex Colomé worked four scoreless appearances and picked up three saves. Juan Minaya struck out eight over 4 ⅓ shutout innings between three appearances, allowing just two hits. On the offensive side, it was a relatively quiet week with a few standout performances. In spite of his barking knees, Luis Arraez continues to rake; he notched hits in every game he played and went 10-for-17 overall to raise his average to .318, which would rank sixth in baseball if qualified. Jorge Polanco drilled three more homers, and leads the American League in long balls over the past month. It's a remarkable turnaround from a player whose power had been totally sapped. Miguel Sanó did not have a particularly strong week overall, but he did make a game-saving defensive play at third on Friday night, and did this to a baseball on Sunday: LOWLIGHTS While Jax and Ober came through with encouraging performances, Barnes was less inspiring. Facing Cincinnati on Wednesday, the left-hander was knocked around for five earned runs on seven hits and two walks in four innings of work. Through two major-league starts he has a 6.23 ERA with three strikeouts and three walks in 8 ⅔ innings. He has induced only seven swinging strikes on 148 pitches between the two outings (5%). Barnes isn't embarrassing as a spot-starter type but it'd be nice to get someone in that fifth rotation slot with a little more upside. The Twins are slowly starting to get healthier in their starting pitching ranks, so maybe a few options will emerge in the coming weeks. Lewis Thorpe was activated from a lengthy IL stint and started Sunday for the Saints. Randy Dobnak was reportedly doing some "light throwing at Target Field" on Sunday morning, suggesting he's on the comeback trail. I realize these names aren't going to have folks leaping with excitement but they both have a better chance of factoring significantly into the 2022 rotation than Barnes. Brent Rooker cooled off following a red-hot start to his second stint with the Twins this year, going just 3-for-22, although he continued to flash power with all three hits going for doubles. Selectiveness at the plate will be the key thing to watch from Rooker, and he's leaving much to be desired in that area. He's not working into enough favorable counts and when at-bats end with pitchers ahead, he's just 1-for-29 this season. Alas, Rooker looks like an unstoppable offensive force in comparison to Andrelton Simmons. Anyone does. Simmons just continues sinking to new depths, with a 2-for-18 week dropping his slash line to a pitiful .216/.280/.275. His last extra-base hit came on July 2nd, 30 games ago, and since then he has a .355 OPS. There's no point in continuing to run him out there. Remaining money owed is unfortunately a sunk cost. The Twins would be better off sliding Polanco back over to short for the rest of the season and giving the reps at second base to someone like Arraez or Gordon or even Jose Miranda. TRENDING STORYLINE When they acquired him as the headliner in the Berríos trade, I wrote about why Austin Martin is a prospect very much worth getting excited about. Since the trade, he's been doing plenty to fuel the hype. Following a three-hit game for the Wichita Wind Surge on Sunday, Martin is now batting .400 with a .571 on-base percentage since coming over to the Twins organization. His eye at the plate is outrageously good, as illustrated by a 1-to-6 K/BB ratio in six games with Wichita. He has proven already to be a playmaker in the outfield and on the basepaths. Since the start of July, Martin has reached base in 52% of his plate appearances. That's no tiny sample. The idea of him complementing Arraez at the top of order, in front of a proven pack of power hitters, is beyond tantalizing. How far is it from becoming a reality? Next year seems likely, and maybe even from the start. But in order to make Martin a viable candidate for Opening Day, the Twins will need to take some preparatory steps. I'll be quite curious to see if he joins the club as a September call-up, or at least gets a late-season look in Triple-A. His defensive profile makes Martin an especially intriguing piece in the team's planning. Could he take over in center field if Buxton is traded this offseason? Maybe Martin steps in at second with Polanco pivoting back to short. Or perhaps, as I posited in my theoretical 2022 lineup on Twitter, left field is Martin's best initial entry point into the majors. LOOKING AHEAD It bums me out to look ahead at the schedule right now. If things had gone as planned, this would've been an absolutely crucial and thrilling stretch: The Twins, returning home from their longest road trip of the year, face off against the White Sox, Rays, and Cleveland, in consecutive series at Target Field. Could you imagine the stakes and intensity if Minnesota was in contention?! Alas, they are not. So all we can really look forward to is the return of Nelson Cruz to Target Field in another uniform. Hooray. MONDAY, 8/9: WHITE SOX @ TWINS – RHP Lucas Giolito v. LHP Charlie Barnes TUESDAY, 8/10: WHITE SOX @ TWINS – LHP Dallas Keuchel v. RHP Griffin Jax WEDNESDAY, 8/11: WHITE SOX @ TWINS – RHP Lance Lynn v. RHP Bailey Ober FRIDAY, 8/13: RAYS @ TWINS – LHP Shane McClanahan v. RHP Michael Pineda SATURDAY, 8/14: RAYS @ TWINS – RHP Michael Wacha v. RHP Kenta Maeda SUNDAY, 8/15: RAYS @ TWINS – LHP Josh Fleming v. LHP Charlie Barnes 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

After a ninth inning comeback last night, the Minnesota Twins tried to make another this afternoon, but came up short as the Cincinnati Reds held on to split the two-game series. Box Score Barnes: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 5R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K Home Runs: Polanco (18) Bottom 3 WPA: Barnes (-0.299), Sano (-0.259), Rooker (-0.215) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Jorge Polanco Gets the Twins on the Board Early Just a matter of hours after hitting the game winning home run in the top of the ninth in Tuesday night’s ballgame, Jorge Polanco went deep again in the first inning of today’s game, giving the Twins the early 1-0 lead. Polanco had another good performance at the plate again today, as he would go 2-for-4 with a walk. Charlie Barnes Gets the Nod for Second Career Start 25-year-old Charlie Barns began the game on the mound this afternoon for the Twins. In his only previous start, the 2017 4th round pick out of Clemson did well, as he only allowed one run, on a solo shot, over four innings of work to the Detroit Tigers back on July 17th. Things went well for Burns to begin the ballgame. He gave up a leadoff single to Jonathan India, who has lived up to the hype so far as the former 5th overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft was recently named the NL Rookie of the Month for July. That would be no trouble for Burns, however, as he got Jesse Winker to flyout to left before Kyle Farmer grounded into a double play to end the inning. In the second, Burns gave up a two out single to Eugenio Suarez, but other than that looked sharp. The third inning is where things got away from Burns. Reds center fielder Shogo Akiyama singled to begin the inning, before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Reds pitcher Luis Castillo. Burns then got Jonathan India to strikeout and appeared to be on the cusp of getting out of the inning with no damage done. That would not be the case, however, as the next four Reds batters went walk, single, double, single and before you knew it they had a 4-1 lead. The Reds would tack on another run against Charlie Burns in the fourth. After Aristides Aquino flew out to begin the inning, Burns issued a one out walk to Shogo Akiyama. The Reds then executed National League style baseball to perfection, as they had Luis Castillo sacrifice him over to second and Jonathan India came through with a clutch two out single to give the Red the 5-1 lead. Juan Minaya Strikes Out Five in Two Innings of Relief Work A week removed from his outing against Detroit in the emphamis 17-14 Twins loss, where Juan Minaya was cruising until everything fell apart on him in the ninth, Rocco Baldelli learned his lesson and only left Minaya in for two innings of work. The outing did not get off to a great start for Juan Minaya, as he walked both Kyle Farmer and Joey Votto to leadoff the fifth. However, after a mound visit from pitching coach Wes Johnson, Minaya found his rhythm as he struck out each of the next three batters to get out of the inning. Minaya would follow that up with another scoreless inning in the sixth, where he gave up a two out double to Jonathan India, but struck out two more hitters, including Jesse Winker to get out of the inning unscathed. Reds Add Crucial Insurance Run in the 7th After an excellent outing from Juan Minaya, Rocco Baldelli turned to Beau Burrows in the seventh, with the Twins still trailing 5-1 at the time. Burrows looked decent in the inning, as he retired three of the four batters he faced. Unfortunately for the Twins, the loan batter he failed to get out was Tyler Stephenson, who took Burrows deep to center field giving the Reds a 6-1 lead. While it may not have seemed like it at the time, that run would be monumental just an inning later. Twins Comeback Effort Falls Short With the Twins trailing 6-1 entering the eighth inning, it seemed as though the game was getting out of reach of the Twins if they didn’t get something going with the bats in a hurry, and that is exactly what they did. Jorge Polanco and Luis Arraez leadoff the inning with a couple of walks, before Miguel Sano laced an opposite field double into right, bringing Polanco around to score and advancing Arraez to third. The Reds then went to the bullpen and brought in Luis Cessa to face Trevor Larnach, who was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts at that point in the game. That would change quickly, though, as Larnach delivered with a ground ball double that was just fair down the first baseline, bringing around both Arraez and Sano to score. With Nick Gordon up with Trevor Larnach on second, and the Twins now down by just two with still nobody out, they seemed primed to finish off the big comeback right here. Gordon would wind up advancing Larnach to third on a groundout, before Ryan Jeffers brought him in with a one out single. The Reds would go to the bullpen once again, this time bringing in Michael Lorenzen. With the pitcher’s spot in the order due up, Josh Donaldson made an appearance as a pinch hitter, but he would fail to help the cause as he struck out for the second out of the inning. It was then Max Kepler’s turn, who would come up with a big double of his own. Despite being two outs in the inning, Ryan Jeffers was unable to score for first and was held up at third. While Jeffers being not the most fleet of foot base runners did not help, credit the Reds defense for getting the ball back in so quickly and forcing Tony Diaz to put the stop sign up for Jeffers as he rounded third. This put the pressure on an already 0-for-4 Brent Rooker to come up with a big two out hit. However, things did not turn out the Twins' way, as Rooker struck out to end the scoring threat. The Twins would have another chance in the top of the ninth with Polanco, Arraez and Sano due up. Polanco put up a good battle, but eventually struck out on a 3-2 pitch. Luis Arraez then did his job as he got on base with a one out single. Nothing came of that however, as Miguel Sano would immediately ground into a double play to end the ballgame. Bullpen Usage Chart SAT SUN MON TUE WED TOT Coulombe 0 21 0 13 0 34 Burrows 0 45 0 0 13 58 Gant 0 16 0 22 0 38 Colomé 16 0 0 20 0 36 Duffey 0 0 0 0 0 0 Alcala 21 0 0 0 0 21 Minaya 18 0 0 0 44 62 Thielbar 14 0 0 0 22 36 Postgame Interviews What's Next The Twins will travel to Houston to face the Astros in a four-game series beginning Thursday night at 7:10 p.m. CDT. Griffen Jax (6.41 ERA) is scheduled to be on the mound against Astros starter Framber Valdez (3.01 ERA). View full article

The Minnesota Twins enjoyed an extended All-Star break thanks to a rain-out in Detroit on Friday, which also reduced their four-game series against the Tigers to a three-gamer. The Twins managed to pack a lot of ugliness into the short week, starting the second half on a sour note and planting themselves firmly in fourth place. Weekly Snapshot: 7/12 through Sun, 7/18 *** Record Last Week: 0-3 (Overall: 39-53) Run Differential Last Week: -9 (Overall: -66) Standing: 4th Place in AL Central (17.0 GB) Last Week's Game Recaps: Game 90 | DET 1, MIN 0: Bats Come Up Empty in Barnes Debut Game 91 | DET 5, MIN 4: Tigers Walk Off Twins on Bloop Single Game 92 | DET 7, MIN 0: Offense Snoozes Again in Sweep-Clinching Rout NEWS & NOTES I wrote last week about key question marks the Twins need to find clarity on in the second half, and Randy Dobnak is near the top of that list. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we're going to see much more of him this year. Dobnak was moved to the 60-day Injured List coming out of the break, indicating that his return from a finger strain is nowhere near. The righty last pitched on June 19th, so he won't be back on the mound for the Twins until at least late August. Devin Smeltzer was also transitioned to the 60-day IL; it sounds like he's hit some bumps on the rehab road and is still a ways off. Filling their spots on the 40-man roster are Charlie Barnes and Juan Minaya. The latter addition supplements a bullpen that's now short-handed again, with Derek Law going on the shelf due to a shoulder impingement. Barnes gives the Twins another rookie to evaluate in the starting rotation, and he had a pretty good showing in his major-league debut, which we'll discuss below. In a welcome bit of good news, it sounds like Mitch Garver's return is imminent. He wrapped up a short rehab stint in St. Paul and is set to join the team in Chicago on Monday. Jake Cave, who also embarked on a rehab assignment with the Saints last week, is not far behind. HIGHLIGHTS He's not one of the top pitching prospects in the organization. He doesn't project as a front-line talent, and maybe not even a full-time MLB starter. But nonetheless Barnes is an interesting and important player for the Twins. Time and time again, we've seen the impact of rotation depth beyond the top five, and Barnes has a real chance to factor into that picture over the next few seasons. A fourth-round draft pick out of Clemson back in 2017, Barnes has risen steadily through the organization, posting a 3.72 ERA in the minors over parts of four seasons. In his Twins debut on Friday, the lefty was as advertised, peppering the zone and keeping hitters off-balance with a quality changeup that paces his repertoire. He gave up a lead-off homer and basically shut the Tigers down after that, finishing with four hits, one walk, and one strikeout in 4 ⅔ innings. Barnes should get plenty more opportunities this year out of necessity. Minnesota's starting depth has been largely eradicated, and may get thinner yet. We noted earlier that Dobnak and Smeltzer won't be back for a while. Lewis Thorpe also remains sidelined. Michael Pineda will likely get traded if he's healthy (and if not, more innings to cover anyway). Bailey Ober's workload will be managed vigilantly. The Twins need to find innings wherever they can get them. Which is why I'm sad to say that J.A. Happ probably is not going anywhere, despite his clunker on Sunday ranking among the weekend's lowlights. There was no shortage of them. LOWLIGHTS The Twins not only lost all three games in Detroit, erasing whatever semblance of momentum they generated with a sweep of this same Tigers team heading into the break. They lost them all in strikingly hideous fashion. In Game 1 it was a shutout fueled primarily by Jose Urena and Daniel Norris, both of whom have ERAs north of six. Game 2 saw Detroit win in a walk-off when a routine pop-up with an expected batting average of .000 dropped between Nick Gordon and Andrelton Simmons in shallow center field. In the finale, Minnesota was flat-out dominated by this lousy Tigers team in a 7-0 trouncing. The Twins went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and Happ coughed up all seven runs. The pitching was customarily ineffective, but the complete lack of offense from the Twins in this series was surprising and disappointing. The Tigers have a bad, bad staff and Minnesota could do nothing to take advantage. Trevor Larnach's slump carried over from before the break. He saw his hitless streak extend to 17 at-bats before delivering a single on Sunday ... and then promptly getting thrown out trying to stretch it at second. Alex Kirilloff went 1-for-11. Max Kepler and Ryan Jeffers combined to produce zero hits in 18 plate appearances. Simmons is batting .158 this month after another hitless game on Sunday, and his OPS is on the verge of dropping below .600. With very few exceptions, the lineup completely sleepwalked through this series, despite the fact that everyone other than Nelson Cruz – who participated in All-Star festivities and appeared briefly in Tuesday night's game – was running on five full days of rest. It was as listless and sloppy a performance as we've seen all year. I long ago gave up on the idea of the Twins playing meaningful baseball in the second half, and I recognize things are sure to get worse once the sell-off is underway, but I'd still like to have a reason to tune in. The offense should be that. It's a talented group and theoretically a foundation to build upon if the Twins want to reassert themselves as contenders in short order. But what we saw over the past three days offered little to like or feel good about. TRENDING STORYLINE What exactly is the plan with Miguel Sanó? He sat in two of the three games in Detroit, further cementing his status as a part-time platoon player. It's not clear how this course of action benefits the Twins in any way at the moment. Firstly, taking Sanó out of the lineup doesn't appear to make it better. The Twins were shut out in both games he was benched for over the weekend, and while I'm not saying he'd have turned the tides, he has been hitting pretty well of late. In his past 25 games, the first baseman is slashing .265/.307/.470 with a 31% K-rate that is well below his norm. In fact, his OPS over the past two months is nearly .800. Meanwhile, it is apparent that Larnach and Kirilloff (among others) could use a few more days off mixed in. Secondly, there is the contractual attachment to Sanó. I realize that many fans would like to be done and wash their hands of the frustrating slugger, but the reality is that they team is on the hook for another $12 million after this year ($9.25M salary in 2022 and $2.75M buyout for 2023 option). The only way out of that commitment, or some portion of it, is trading Sanó. But keeping him on the bench regularly, as Rocco Baldelli has of late, prevents any trade market from taking shape. A classic surge in July could MAYBE raise the eyebrows of a power-needy team at the deadline. Sticking him on the bench every other day doesn't send any good signals. Moreover, the Twins just need to do whatever they can to help Sanó rediscover his game. It might feel like ancient history with all that's happened since, but he is only separated from his stellar 2019 season – 34 home runs, 79 RBIs, and a .923 OPS in 105 games – by less than six months, in baseball terms. He's 28 years old, not 34. To simply give up on him at this point, when it also means eating $12 million in dead salary, makes no sense, unless the front office is completely and utterly convinced he's lost what he once had. The flashes we've seen from him at times this year make that hard to believe. The coming offseason will likely define Sanó's baseball career. He's either going to put in the work, come back next year and re-establish himself, or he may very well end up finding that the best offer for him afterward is to go play ball overseas. You might not feel he's worth betting on. I wouldn't necessarily blame you. But the Twins don't really have much choice. LOOKING AHEAD The Twins have a full, busy week of action ahead, with eight games in seven days, and they will have their work cut out for them. The week opens with a rookie (Griffin Jax) going up against a Cy Young front-runner (Lance Lynn), and ends with another rookie (Ober) going up against an MVP front-runner (Shohei Ohtani). Given what we just saw against Detroit, it's hard to envision things going particularly well for the Twins during this stretch, but team results on the field will be a secondary storyline with the trade deadline now less than two weeks away. From that perspective, the Pineda start on Wednesday looms large. MONDAY, 7/19 (G1): TWINS @ WHITE SOX – RHP Griffin Jax v. RHP Lance Lynn MONDAY, 7/19 (G2): TWINS @ WHITE SOX – RHP José Berríos v. TBD TUESDAY, 7/20: TWINS @ WHITE SOX – RHP Bailey Ober v. LHP Dallas Keuchel WEDNESDAY, 7/21: TWINS @ WHITE SOX – RHP Michael Pineda v. RHP Dylan Cease THURSDAY, 7/22: ANGELS @ TWINS – LHP Andrew Heaney v. RHP Kenta Maeda FRIDAY, 7/23: ANGELS @ TWINS – RHP Alex Cobb v. LHP J.A. Happ SATURDAY, 7/24: ANGELS @ TWINS – LHP Patrick Sandoval v. RHP Jose Berrios SUNDAY, 7/25: ANGELS @ TWINS – RHP Shohei Ohtani v. RHP Bailey Ober 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

Over the weekend, we announced our choice (and lots of Honorable Mentions) for Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month. Today, we shift our attention to the starting pitchers. And again, there were many choices for the award and at least three that could be argued should be the winner. With the short-season teams fully underway, there is more to sift through, so enjoy. Previous 2019 Starting Pitchers of the Month: April - Devin Smeltzer - Pensacola Blue Wahoos May - Jordan Balazovic - Ft. Myers Miracle June - Josh Winder - Cedar Rapids KernelsBefore we share our choices for the Twins Minor League Top Five Starters for July, there were some other strong starting performers that just missed the cut. You can certainly agree or disagree with the rankings. Let’s discuss the top starting pitchers in the organization in June. HONORABLE MENTION Niklas Rimmel - GCL Twins - 5 GS, 20.0 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 17 H, 6 BB, 19 K (.230/576)Jhoan Duran - Ft. Myers Miracle/Pensacola Blue Wahoos - 5 GS, 23.2 IP, 2.66 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 22 H, 9 BB, 23 K (.253/656)Bailey Ober - Ft. Myers Miracle/GCL Twins - 5 G, 4 GS, 29.2 IP, 1.46 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 23 H, 4 BB, 32 K, (237/553)Cole Sands - Ft. Myers Miracle - 4 GS, 24.2 IP, 2.55 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 22 H, 2 BB, 23 K (247/586)Tyler Watson - Ft. Myers Miracle - 4 GS, 21.2 IP, 1.66 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 16 H, 4 BB, 13 K (208/574)Tyler Palm - Cedar Rapids Kernels/Pensacola Blue Wahoos - 5 GS, 25.2 IP, 2.45 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 24 H, 9 BB, 24 K (242/628)Donny Breek - GCL Twins - 5 G, 4 GS, 15.0 IP, 1.20 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 7 H, 13 BB, 13 K.(137/495)Anthony Escobar - GCL Twins - 5 G, 2 GS, 22.2 IP, 2.38 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 17 H, 6 BB, 20 KTHE TOP FIVE STARTING PITCHERS #5 - LHP Charlie Barnes - Pensacola Blue Wahoos - 6 GS, 35.1 IP, 2.04 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 30 H, 11 BB, 35 K Barnes was the Twins fourth-round draft pick in 2017 out of Clemson. The southpaw signed quickly and has moved up consistently. He began 2019 with the Ft. Myers Miracle before being promoted to Pensacola. He’s 2-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 12 games. In 65 innings, the 23-year-old has 67 strikeouts and just 19 walks. #4 - RHP Luis Rijo - Cedar Rapids Kernels - 4 GS, 26.2 IP, 2.36 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 21 H, 3 BB, 27 K Rijo signed with the Yankees in 2015 from Venezuela. At the 2018 July trade deadline, he came to the Twins with Tyler Austin in the Lance Lynn trade. He ended the season going 2-0 with a 1.27 ERA in Elizabethton. He was known as an advanced pitcher with a good three-pitch mix, but he didn’t have the velocity. This year, he is often touching 96 with his fastball. Overall with the Kernels, he is 4-6 with a 2.58 ERA. In his first start in July, he struck out ten batters in seven, one-hit, shutout innings. He went at least six innings in each of his starts. For the month, opponents hit just .219 off of him, and that 9:1 K:BB ratio is really good. #3 - RHP Kai-Wei Teng - Cedar Rapids Kernels - 5 GS, 29.2 IP, 0.91 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 21 H, 7 BB, 26 K The Twins signed Kai-Wei Teng out of Taiwan in October of 2017. He spent 2018 in Extended Spring Training and the Gulf Coast League. This year, he joined the Kernels from extended spring training in June. His first three starts in July, he gave up just one earned run in 19 innings. He ended the month with seven shutout innings. Well, actually he ended the month as a member of the San Francisco Giants organization as he was traded as part of the deal that sent Sam Dyson to the Twins. #2 - RHP Randy Dobnak - Pensacola Blue Wahoos/Rochester Red Wings - 6 GS, 40.0 IP, 1.80 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, 23 H, 5 BB, 33 K If anyone wants to argue that Randy Dobnak should be the pitcher of the month for July, I won’t put up much of an argument. He split the month between AA and AAA. He began the year by going 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA. In Double-A, he has gone 4-2 with a 2.67 ERA. And now in Triple-A, he is 4-1 with a 2.00 ERA, even with the MLB baseball. Dobnak provides innings. His 40 innings was most in the Twins system. He didn’t give up runs. He barely gave up base runners, and he missed enough bats to rack up quite a few strikeouts. In the month, batters hit just .159 with a .397 OPS off of him. In fact, in his most recent blog, Patrick Reusse says that Dobnak could be the next pitcher called up from Triple-A, maybe even as early as this weekend. After signing as a non-drafted free agent in 2017 and spending all of 2018 with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, his 2019 season has already been remarkable. And the Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month is: Ft. Myers Miracle/Pensacola Blue Wahoos - RHP Edwar Colina - 5 G, 4 GS, 31.2 IP, 0.57 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 14 H, 7 BB, 36 K The Twins signed Colina when he was 18 years old in late September 2015 out of Venezuela. He took major strides in 2018 when he pitched at Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers. Unfortunately, he began the 2019 season in the injured list. He missed the first month of the season. He made just ten starts before being promoted. His first two starts in July came with the Miracle. In the first outing, he gave up just one hit over eight innings. In the next outing, he gave up three hits over seven shutout innings. He was then promoted to Double-A Pensacola. He went just four innings in his first AA start. He followed that up by giving up just an unearned run over seven innings, and he struck out ten batters for the second time this month. And in his final start, he threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings. For the month, opponents hit just .135 with a .377 OPS off of him in July. He struck out more than a batter an inning. Colina throws hard. He’s barely 6-0 tall and remarkably sturdy and strong. He has hit 100 mph on multiple occasions, though he sits between 96 and 98 mph. He has a good three-pitch mix and mixes speeds well too. While we have heard names like Brusdar Graterol, Jorge Alcala and even Jhoan Duran as possible hard-throwing options down the stretch for the Twins, Colina is in on par with each of them. Congratulations to our Twins Daily Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month of July, Pensacola Blue Wahoos right-hander Edwar Colina. Feel free to discuss and ask questions. Click here to view the article

There were only close games and blowouts throughout the Twins’ system on Saturday as for some reason no one wanted to win a game by a nice four run margin or something like that. Whatever, more for me to write about I guess. The offense took hold today as each squad had multiple hitters with multi-hit games and quite a few dingers were launched. All that and more in today’s edition of the minor league report.TRANSACTIONS RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Lehigh Valley 16 Box Score Kohl Stewart: 2 ⅔ IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 63.1% strikes (53 of 84 pitches) HR: Jaylin Davis (9), Brian Schales (2) Multi-hit games: Drew Maggi (2-for-5), Ronald Torreyes (3-for-5, 2 2B, R), Wilin Rosario (2-for-5, 2 RBI) The Rochester Red Wings were down early and could not recover against Lehigh Valley. Kohl Stewart’s line looks ugly, but he did not get much support from his defense as the Red Wings had five errors in the game. Much of the mess could have been avoided in the first had a double play been turned, but the old saying that “you can’t assume a double play” was at play there and the four runs scored in the first were all earned. Brent Rooker left the game early after he took an awkward slide while diving for a ball and the ball appeared to hit him in a place that you do not want baseballs to hit. I hope for his sake that it was just MiLB.tv’s quality that made it look that way because I would not wish that on anyone. Jaylin Davis blasted his ninth home run with the Red Wings and his 19th homer of the year between AA and AAA. The oppo taco helped push his AAA OPS to a tasty 1.066 through 25 games. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 5, Montgomery 3 Box Score Charlie Barnes: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 63.0% strikes (58 of 92 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Alex Kirilloff (3-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI), Iván De Jesús Jr. (2-for-4, 2B, R), Lewin Diaz (2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI), Caleb Hamilton (2-for-4, RBI), Mark Contreras (2-for-4, 2B, R) The Blue Wahoos won a fairly straightforward game this Saturday against the Montgomery Biscuits. I saw straightforward because starter Charlie Barnes only gave up a single run over his six innings of work while the offense gave him five runs to work with. Generally, it is a good sign when your 2-6 hitters all have a multi-hit game and well, I would have to say it worked out well for the Blue Wahoos. Along with that, the Blue Wahoos had six extra-base hits and twelve hits total while only striking out three times. Alex Kirilloff continued his recent stretch of Alex Kirilloff-like hitting as he had yet another multi-hit game, a good sign as the young outfielder appears to have figured it out at AA. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 5, Bradenton 6 (11 innings) Box Score Lachlan Wells: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 68.6% strikes (59 of 86 pitches) HR: Andrew Bechtold (1) Multi-hit games: Gabriel Maciel (3-for-6, 3 R), Trevor Larnach (4-for-6, 3 RBI), Jose Miranda (2-for-6, RBI), Andrew Bechtold (3-for-5, HR, R, RBI) The Miracle lost an absolute heartbreaker that doubled as one of the wildest games that was played all year. Lachlan Wells and Tyler Watson imitated when Yoda rode on Luke’s back for training as Wells started the game (and went five innings) and Watson then went four innings afterwards. This was Watson’s first relief outing of the year. The Miracle dropped fourteen hits over the eleven innings they played yet Andrew Bechtold’s first A+ home run was the only hit that went for extra bases. In both the ninth and the 11th, the Miracle scored in the top half to take the lead but gave up run(s) in the bottom half. In the ninth it was one to tie the game and in the 11th it was two to lose it via a walk-off. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 12, Lansing 4 Box Score Andrew Cabezas: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 72.8% strikes (67 of 92 pitches) HR: Gabe Snyder (8) Multi-hit games: Gabe Snyder (3-for-5, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI), Trevor Casanova (2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB) Wins that are close and full of thrills are fun and all, but nothing beats just destroying another team which is what the Kernels did this Saturday. Andrew Cabezas followed up his outstanding outing last week with a solid five inning showing. All three pitchers for the Kernels struck out three batters each which is some pretty cool symmetry. You might be scratching your head when you realize the Kernels scored twelve runs but only had nine hits, but they also walked eight times which gave their offense plenty of chances to knock in runs. Only two hitters failed to reach base. Gabe Snyder launched his eighth homer of the year and is now holding an OPS of .807 on the year at Cedar Rapids. I don’t know what is going on in the Twins’ system, but it seems like they have first basemen at every level who are absolutely destroying the ball... that’s good to see. E-Town E-Notes Elizabethton 3, Johnson City 2 Box Score Sawyer Gipson: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Ruben Santana (2-for-4, 2 2B, R, RBI), Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2-for-3, RBI) Recent draft pick Sawyer Gipson made his debut in professional baseball with the Elizabethton Twins on Saturday. He tossed a pair of scoreless innings that came with three strikeouts. Ryan Shreve relieved Gipson and threw five scoreless innings of his own while striking out an impressive nine hitters. Shreve’s K/9 coming into the game was an astounding 16.03 so he has settled in nicely with Elizabethton. The offense only put up four hits but two of those were doubles (both by Ruben Santana) and their six walks helped clog up the base paths. The final Ruben Santana double in the ninth proved to be the walk-off and the E-Town Twins squeaked out a win. GCL Twins Takes GCL Twins 1, GCL Red Sox 2 Box Score Matt Canterino: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, HR: None Multi-hit games: Jesus Feliz (2-for-4), Erick Rivera (2-for-3, BB), Bryson Gandy (2-for-3, BB) Matt Canterino made his professional baseball debut on Saturday as he allowed one run over his two innings of work. Keoni Cavaco was the DH and took a walk and hit a single. He also swiped a base. Jeferson Morales had the lone extra-base hit for the GCL Twins with his triple in the third. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Charlie Barnes Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Trevor Larnach PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-5, BB, K #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - 3-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - Injured list #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 4-for-6, 3 RBI #5 - Wander Javier (Cedar Rapids) - Did not play #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #7 - Keoni Cavaco (GCL Twins) - 1-for-4, BB, 2 K #8 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - 0-for-1 (left early with an injury) #9 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #10 - Blayne Enlow (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #11 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Did not pitch #12 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - 1-for-4, 2B #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, BB, 2 K #14 - Luis Arraez (Twins) - 2-for-5, R #15 - Matt Wallner (Elizabethton) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 K #16 - Ben Rortvedt (Pensacola) - Did not play #17 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - Out for year with Tommy John surgery #18 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not play #19 - Misael Urbina (DSL Twins) - No game #20 - Travis Blankenhorn (Pensacola) - 1-for-4, 3B, R SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (12:05 A.M.) - RHP Drew Hutchison Montgomery @ Pensacola (5:05 P.M.) - RHP Jorge Alcala Fort Myers @ Bradenton (12:00 P.M.) - RHP Bailey Ober Lansing @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 P.M.) - RHP Kai-Wei Teng Johnson City @ Elizabethton (4:00 P.M.) - RHP Prelander Berroa Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games. Click here to view the article