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Rochester played its home opener on Friday. Could they send their over-11,000 fans home happy? Fernando Romero made his second start of the season for the Lookouts. Was it better than his first outing? The Miracle were able to break a five-game losing streak. Find out how. The Kernels game was delayed by almost two hours… And then they needed an extra inning to decide the winner. Let’s just say the ninth place hitters factored into the game.All that and more. Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Friday. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Buffalo 3 Box Score The Red Wings hosted their home opener on Friday afternoon. For the second straight game, the Red Wings got eight innings from their starting pitcher. Jose Berrios gave up an unearned run in eight innings on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, it was Nick Tepesch’s turn. The veteran right-hander gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out eight batters. Kennys Vargas got the game’s scoring started when he drove in Tommy Field with a single in the bottom of the first inning. Tepesch gave up two runs on five hits in the third inning. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Tommy Field’s sacrifice fly scored John Ryan Murphy to tie the game. The game remained tied until the top of the ninth inning. Drew Rucinski came in to replace Tepesch. He gave up a single and a walk before an RBI double. One more walk, and he was replaced by DJ Baxendale who got the final two outs without any further damage. In the bottom of the ninth, Syracuse called in their closer, Joe Nathan. The 42-year-old former Twins closer recorded a 1-2-3 inning to record his first save of the season. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 0, Jacksonville 4 Box Score Fernando Romero was back on the mound for his second start. His first start was shortened due to lack of control and pitch count. His second start was even shorter, though the reasons were the same. The right-hander gave up one run in each of the first three innings, and left with two outs in the third inning. In 2.2 innings, he gave up three runs on three hits. He struck out five, but he also walked five batters. Lefty Nik Turley came on and was impressive again. In 4.1 scoreless innings, he gave up two hits, walked one and struck out eight. That gives him one walk and 18 strikeouts in his 8.1 innings so far this season. Mason Melotakis pitched the eighth inning and gave up an unearned run on two hits. The Lookouts managed just seven hits in being shut out. Engelb Vielma went 2-4 with a walk. Ryan Walker had the lone extra base hit, his second double of the season. Old friend Omar Bencomo, who spent the last two seasons between the Lookouts and the Red Wings, shut out in the Lookouts for the first six innings. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 6, Daytona 0 Box Score After getting single runs in the first and second innings, the Miracle had a much needed big inning in the fifth inning of this game. RBI singles by Zander Wiel and Rafael Valera were followed by a two-run double by Sean Miller. And that was more than right-hander David Fischer needed to record his first win in the Twins organization. He went the first five innings and gave up just two hits. He walked three and struck out eight batters. Williams Ramirez walked two and struck out one over the next two innings. Anthony McIver gave up three hits, but he maintained the shutout with two shutout frames. Rafael Valera went 3-4 with his first triple. Alex Perez went 2-4 with a walk and his first triple. It boosts his season average to .429. Sean Miller went 2-3 with a walk, his third double and three RBI. The win broke a five-game losing streak for the Miracle. They are now 2-7. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Wisconsin 3 (10 innings) Box Score The game was delayed by rain for nearly two hours, and unfortunately for both teams, the bats never really arrived. Besides the late start, the game was scoreless through the first nine innings! Things started happening in the 10th though! Wisconsin starting pitcher Thomas Jankins was tremendous. He kept the Kernels hitters off balance and threw six shutout innings. The only hit he gave up came in the sixth inning when Lewin Diaz doubled, but he was stranded. Fortunately Kernels starter Sean Poppen was also very impressive and matched zeroes with Jankins. In fact, he was even better. The right-hander went 7.2 shutout innings, giving up just two hits and a walk to go with eight strikeouts in the no- decision. Alex Robinson came on and got the final out of the eighth inning and worked a scoreless ninth inning too. Unfortunately in the tenth inning, he gave up an infield single and a second single. He worked to two outs, but a three-run homer by ninth-place hitting Demi Orimoloye gave the TimberRattlers a 3-0 lead. Hector Lujan came on and got the final out of the tenth. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Caleb Hamilton reached base. With one out, Aaron Whitefield, the Kernels ninth-place hitter, drilled a two-run homer. But that was it for the scoring and the Kernels dropped the 3-2 decision. Whitefield went 2-4 with his first homer of the season. Lewin Diaz was 2-4 with his third double. Caleb Hamilton went 1-2 with two walks and a double. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Sean Poppen, Cedar Rapids Kernels Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Sean Miller, Ft. Myers Miracle SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ Rochester (12:35 CST) - LHP Jason Wheeler Chattanooga @ Jacksonville - (5:05 CST) - RHP Felix Jorge Ft. Myers @ Daytona (6:05 CST) - RHP Keaton Steele Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (5:05 CST) - RHP Alex Schick Click here to view the article