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Minor league regular season 2017 has come to an end. Every minor league club with the exception of the Rochester Red Wings will be in the playoffs. And the Red Wings became the first team in International League history to win 80 games in a season two years in a row without going to the playoffs either season (per Red Wings PR director Nate Rowan). But before we get to the end of the season, we need to honor those players who ended their season with a strong final month. The next three days, we’ll post our August minor league awards, starting today with the top six relievers.Before we share our Twins Daily Minor League Top Six Relievers for August, here are some terrific bullpen performances that just missed the cut. It may have been a shorter list to jot down which minor league relievers didn’t have a good month. HONORABLE MENTION Pedro Garcia - GCL Twins - 5 G, 1 GS, 22.2 IP, 11 H, 11 BB, 20 K, 1.99 ERA, 0.97 WHIP.Moises Gomez - Elizabethton Twins - 5 G, 1 GS, 18.2 IP, 12 H, 8 BB, 20 K, 3.38 ERA, 1.07 WHIP.Michael Kohn - GCL Twins/Ft. Myers Miracle/Rochester Red Wings - 12 G, 4 GS, 12.0 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 17 K, 0.75 ERA, 0.83 WHIP.Logan Lombana - Cedar Rapids Kernels - 9 G, 19.2 IP, 18 H, 4 BB, 16 K, 1.37 ERA, 1.12 WHIP.Hector Lujan - Cedar Rapids Kernels - 10 G, 10.1 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 9 K, 0.87 ERA, 1.07 WHIP.Kevin Marnon - GCL Twins - 7 G, 16.2 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 17 K, 0.54 ERA, 1.08 WHIP.Anthony McIver - Ft. Myers Miracle/Chattanooga Lookouts - 7 G, 15.1 IP, 19 H, 4 BB, 11 K, 1.17 ERA, 1.50 WHIP.Gabriel Moya - Chattanooga Lookouts - 7 G, 10.1 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 12 K, 0.87 ERA, 0.87 WHIP.Jake Reed - Rochester Red Wings - 9 G, 14.2 IP, 11 H, 6 BB, 15 K, 1.84 ERA, 1.16 WHIP.Michael Theofanopoulos - Ft. Myers Miracle - 8 G, 15.0 IP, 9 H, 8 BB, 18 K, 1.13 ERA, 1.13 WHIP.THE TOP SIX RELIEF PITCHERS #6 - Derek Molina - GCL Twins - 8 G, 1.23 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 14.2 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 18 K Molina was the Twins 14th-round pick in 2017 out of Merced College. Obviously that is a small college, but Doug Fister and briefly-a-Twins-pitcher Brian Fuentes were drafted from the school. Molina’s career began a little bit later (late July) as he was getting healthy and ready, but he’s been quite good since signing. You can see from the numbers above that he’s pitched well. Opponents hit just .192/.232/.231 (.463) off of him during August. #5 - Blayne Enlow - GCL Twins - 4 G, 1.23 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 14.2 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 13 K I know. I know. Enlow isn’t a reliever. He was drafted in the third round and given lots of money over the slotted amount to sign to be a starting pitcher. However, things are a little different in the GCL. It’s in Ft. Myers, where big leaguers and minor leaguers tend to rehab. When they rehab, they typically start and then the regularly-scheduled GCL starter piggybacks him, coming in second in the game. That’s what the situation was for Enlow. He made four appearances, and all four were out of the bullpen in August. Opponents hit just .170/.228/.283 (.511) off him. He’s shown good control and an ability early to miss bats. Hopefully we’ll see him in the Twins Daily Starting Pitcher of the Month reports a few times over the next two to three years. #4 - John Curtiss - Rochester Red Wings - 6 G, 0.87 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 10.1 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 11 K Curtiss is certainly a candidate for Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year, to be sure. In August, he continued to pitch well in Rochester right up until he was called up to the Twins later in the month. As he has been most of the season, he worked late innings, gave up very few runs, gave up very few hits, and missed a lot of bats. He’s had some struggles now in the big leagues, but even so, you can see his electric stuff. He’s got plenty of fastball, with movement, and his breaking pitches are terrific too. He’s got a chance to be very good. Against minor leaguers in August, he gave up a slash line of just .139/.244/.139 (.383). #3 - Jared Finkel - Elizabethton Twins - 8 G, 0.55 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, 16.1 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 16 K Finkel was the Twins 23rd-round draft choice in 2017 out of Iona College in New York. The last player drafted out of Iona was Mariano Rivera’s son, Mariano. It’s not a baseball hotbed, though Jason Motte and Dennis Leonard went there. Finkel was rather Rivera-like, admittedly in rookie ball, in August. Opponents hit just .192/.232/.231 (.463) against the right-hander. #2 - Jovani Moran - Elizabethton Twins - 9 G, 0.87 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 10.1 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 23 K Moran was the Twins seventh-round draft pick in 2015 out of high school in Puerto Rico. The left-hander has a good pitch mix. Unfortunately, he had to miss the 2016 season after getting bone chips removed from his elbow. He’s returned to form this year and been fantastic. For Elizabethton, he started this season without giving up a run until his penultimate regular season outing of the year, a stretch of 20.1 innings. He gave up just one run the full season. He’s been hard to hit, hasn’t issued an excessive amount of walks, and certainly has the stuff to miss a lot of bats. For August, opponents hit just .086/.179/.171 (.351) off of him. And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is: Chattanooga Lookouts – RHP Nick Anderson - 11 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.53 WHIP, 11.1 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 10 K For the second straight month, a Minnesotan will win the Twins Daily Relief Pitcher of the Month award. For the second straight month, that Minnesotan is RHP Nick Anderson. So, right or wrong, a bit of what you see below will be similar to what you read a month ago. Even his numbers are very similar to the previous month. He didn’t give up an earned run. He gave up about one base runner every other inning. He picked up four saves. He was named the Southern League Relief Pitcher of the Month for August. Opponents hit just .139/.162/.139 (.301) off of him. As a reminder, Anderson is a graduate of Brainerd High School. He went to St. Cloud state for three years before heading to Mayville State for a season. The Brewers drafted him, but they didn’t even offer him a contract. After working in the indy leagues for a few seasons, the Twins signed him late in 2015, and he’s been a dominant late inning reliever wherever he’s played. He’s spent most of this season with the Lookouts. There were a lot of very strong relief pitcher performances in August throughout the Twins minor league system. It was a good month for each of these pitchers mentioned today, but again, congratulations to the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month for August 2017, Nick Anderson. Click here to view the article

Monday was an off day for the Twins as they return home to begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday. Sports writers sometimes use the “most important week of the season” hyperbole when talking about a week such as the one upcoming, but in this instance - despite these games not counting for anything extra - it might actually be true. At least until next week’s road trip. And the following week’s three-game set before the August waiver trade deadline. You see, it will be sometime during this timespan that the front office will have to decide the “pretender vs contender” debate. But until we know exactly, we will enjoy the ride. And when that ride takes a day off - like it did on Monday - we’ll enjoy the next best thing: The Twins minor league system. On Monday, Eddie Rosario was named American League Player of the Week. Rosario batted .444 with 12 hits, nine RBI, three double and four home runs. Brent Rooker (.364/.417/.818) was also named Florida State Hitter of the Week. He hit three three-run home runs. Not a bad week for those two outfielders. Read about Monday’s action below.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester - OFF DAY At 69-52, the Red Wings are all square with Lehigh Valley in the International League Wild Card race, though the two teams will not face each other over the final 21 games on the season. The Red Wings will face the best team in the league, Scranton/WB, eight times though, so their path to the playoffs is not going to be a cakewalk. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Birmingham 0 Box Score All nine batters in the lineup contributed at least one hit. Seven of the nine scored runs and six of the nine drove in runs. But Nick Gordon was clearly the star of the game and had, arguably, the best offensive showing of any Twins farmhand this season. In six at-bats, Gordon collected three singles, a double and a triple for five hits. He scored three runs and drove in two. His batting average climbed eight points to .288. Brian Navarreto was 3-5. LaMonte Wade, Andy Wilkins, Ryan Walker and Edgar Corcino all had two hits. One of Corcino’s was a triple. Jonathan Rodriguez hit his 16th home run. He had three RBI. The bullpen - in a bullpen game - pitched a shutout. D.J. Baxendale pitched the first three frames, followed by Glen Perkins. Perkins threw 21 pitches (11 strikes) on his way to a hitless, one-walk, two-strikeout performance. Yohan Pino earned the win with three innings of two-hit ball. He struck out four. Nick Anderson and Gabriel Moya each pitched a scoreless frame. The Lookouts are 35-15 in the second half and 77-43 overall. They will have a charging Montgomery team to fend off. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Lakeland 5 Box Score Mitchell Kranson was the Miracle Hero on Monday night. Summoned to hit for Tanner English with the bases load and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Kranson promptly drove in the tying and winning runs, giving the Miracle a walk-off victory. Until that point, the Miracle had scattered hits, but failed to do a lot of damage. Sean Miller, Zander Wiel and Brian Olson all had two hits. Brandon Lopez had a triple and drove in two runs. Brent Rooker went hitless, but walked three times and struck out in his only official at-bat. Lewis Thorpe pitched six innings and did OK. He gave up two runs on five hits and four walks. He struck out three and was in line for the win. Andrew Vasquez blew his save chance, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk in two innings. Alex Robinson worked a scoreless frame and was the pitcher of record when Kranson provided his heroics, earning the win. At 23-18, the Miracle are on a six-game winning streak and have pushed their lead to five games in the FSL South. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Burlington 2 Box Score Royce Lewis continued to hit the ball really well in full-season ball, collecting two more hits (but seeing his average fall to .538) and driving in a run, but it wasn’t enough. He also committed his first error as a Kernel. Caleb Hamilton and Shane Carrier provided the only other hits. Aaron Whitefield stole his 28th base of the season. Tyler Beardsley pitched five innings, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out five. Logan Lombana also struck out five, in three scoreless innings. The Kernels are 23-27 in the second half, but have already clinched a playoff spot by way of finishing as division runners-up in the first half. They are slated to face Kane County in a three-game set. Kane County will have home-field advantage. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 8, Johnson City 5 Box Score In a game delayed by over two and a half hours, the E-Twins were able to take an early lead and hang on. Wander Javier paced the offense with three hits. T.J. Dixon, Carson Crites and Matt Albanese all had two-hit games. Albanese’s seventh inning home run was their lone extra-base hit of the game. Nick Brown and Jared Finkel piggybacked Monday’s game. Brown took the first 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out five. Finkel picked up the win, tossing 4.2 one-run (unearned) innings allowing only two hits while striking out four. The E-Twins are 31-21 with a 2.5 game lead over Johnson City. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 2, GCL Ray 10 Box Score Chris Heston, who has made 41 big-league appearances and threw a no-hitter against the Mets two years ago, got roughed up by a bunch of 18-year-olds. In five innings, he gave up three runs on seven hits. He struck out five. Michael Kohn, who’s also rehabbing his way back, pitched a scoreless frame. Petru Balan put on four batters and three came around to score. He recorded only one out. David Geric also gave up three runs. He got through a whole inning, but walked four. Taylor Clemensia walked three, threw three wild pitches and recorded five outs. Jean Carlos Arias drove in Emmanuel Morel, who doubled to start the game, and then scored himself, but that was it for runs. Jared Akins had the only other two hits of the game. The GCL Twins, in the midst of a cold spell, are 24-19. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Jared Finkel, Elizabethton Hitter of the Day – Nick Gordon, Chattanooga TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Columbus (6:05 CST) - TBA Fort Myers vs Lakeland (6:05 CST) - TBA Cedar Rapids at Burlington (6:30 CST) - LHP Bryan Sammons (1-0, 3.38 ERA) Elizabethton at Johnson City (10:30 AM CST) - RHP Edwar Colina (3-3, 2.54 ERA) GCL Twins at GCL Rays (11:00 AM CST) - TBA Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Monday’s games. Click here to view the article