Search the Community

The Minnesota Twins resumed their winning ways and came up with a 4-1 victory against one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. The Twins ended a 20-inning scoreless drought when Kennys Vargas homered to give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the forth off of Corey Kluber. The Twins picked up a couple more runs against Kluber and thanks to a magnificent performance from Phil Hughes the Twins cruised to victory.Red Wings Report Rochester 1, Syracuse 1, Suspended - Rain Box The game in Syracuse was suspended because of rain, they'll resume things on Friday. Rock Cats Review New Britain 1, Richmond 10 Box Jose Berrios picked up his fourth loss of the year in AA (2-4, 3.89 ERA in seven starts). Berrios lasted 5.2 innings, gave up eight hits, four runs (three earned), he struck out four and walked one. He was relieved by Mason Melotakis who was hit hard, giving up three runs (two earned) in just an inning. Edgar Ibarra did not fare much better, finishing the game for the Rock Cats with 1.1 innings of three run (two earned) baseball. With a 10-1 loss, there are not a lot of positives. The Rock Cats managed just seven hits as a team, and even their hottest hitter, Levi Michael, was held hitless on an 0-3 night. Mike Gonzales had a pair of hits, 2-3 with a strike out, and Tony Thomas and Brandon Waring were both 1-4 with a double. Waring's double drove home the only run of the evening for NEw Britain. Waring, 28, has spent part of the last seven years bouncing around the Minor Leagues. He was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the seventh round of the 2007 draft. Waring eventually moved over to Baltimore and split time between AA and AAA between 2009 and 2013 before joining the Twins organization this winter. Waring is having one of his worst professional seasons, hitting just .201/.302/.395, all in AA. The primary hole in Waring's game is strike outs, he has 146 of them in 378 at bats, 38.6%. Miracle Matters Fort Myers 5, Bradenton 2 Box The Miracle played a bullpen game, using six different pitchers, none more than the three innings from the scheduled starter, Madison Boer. Boer did not give up a run, scattered two hits, struck out one, and walked no one. He was replaced by Todd Van Steensel to start the fourth. Van Steensel went two hitless innings, giving up a lone walk and he struck out four. Van Steensel now has a 1.89 ERA over 14 innings at AA. Van Steensel is having a spectacular season, before the promotion to High-A he made 23 appearances for Cedar Rapids with a 1.30 ERA spread over 34.2 innings with 45 strike outs and nine walks. But I digress, after Van Steensel, Tyler Jones entered and coughed up the lead. He gave up two earned runs in the sixth on three his, a walk and a strike out. D.J. Johnson pitched the seventh and the eighth, giving up just two hits while he struck out five and picked up the win. Nick Burdi picked up his first save in High-A, he gave up a hit but struck out the other three batters he faced, and no walks! The Miracle rallied to score four runs in the top of the ninth to win, capped by a Max Kepler grand slam to right field. That was Kepler's only hit of the evening, but he made it count. The Miracle had only four hits last night, with Travis Harrison, Tyler Grimes and Bryan Haar also contributing. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 6, Burlington 5 Box Lewis Thorpe has his ERA moving in the wrong direction after a tough outing in Burlington, Iowa. Thorpe lasted just 4.2 innings giving up five runs. He struck out seven and walked just one, but he gave up six hits and was hurt by a couple of errors leading to three unearned runs. Brandon Bixler came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings of 1 hit baseball before Dallas Gallant came on and had 1.2 hitless innings, including three strike outs. Jake Reed picked up his third save with a scoreless ninth inning. Gallant and Reed are pitching great since they were promoted to Cedar Rapids, both sporting ERAs under 1. The Kernels used a four run seventh inning to take the lead, three runs coming on a bases loaded triple from Jonatan Hinojosa. Hinojosa would score on the next batter on a passed ball. That run proved to be the difference maker. In addition to his three-run triple, Hinojosa had an RBI single in the fifth and finished the night 2-5 and two strike outs. Hinojosa was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2010 and has played just 10 games above Rookie ball in his career, all coming in the last week and a half and he's off to a red hot start hitting .364/.378/.545. Hinojosa has been used all over the field, but has settled in to spend most of his time at 3B in 2014. Mitch Garver was 2-3 with a double and a walk, and Ryan Walker also had two hits from the ninth spot in the order 2-4, with an RBI and two runs scored. E-Town E-Notes Elizabethton 7, Pulaski 1 Box Sam Gibbons had one of his strongest outings of the seasons for the Twins, pitching seven scoreless innings, yielding just one hit, two walks and eight strike outs. Flamethrower Brandon Poulson struck out three batters in his inning of work, but also gave up a solo home run. Kuo Hua Lo pitched a scoreless ninth to wrap things up. Nick Gordon was 2-5 with two runs scored, but the biggest contributor last night for the Twins was Tyler Kuresa whow as 2-4 with a double, a run scored, and three RBIs. If you've never heard of Tyler Kuresa, don't be alarmed. He was a 16th round draftee in the most recent MLB draft. Interestingly enough, Kuresa was originally drafted in the 10th round by the Twins coming out of high school, but elected to head to the University of California in Santa Barbara. He was then drafted in the 14th round as a junior, but returned to school before being taken by the Twins this spring, four years and six rounds later than his original selection. Kuresa is a 1B/DH type, and as a college senior, is not having any trouble in Rookie Ball, posting an .807 OPS through his first 37 games. GCL Twins Takes GCL Orioles 7, GCL Twins 4 Box Michael Theofanopoulos (which is just plain fun to say) started for the Twins and pitched three innings. He struck out three, walked one, gave up five hits and two runs. He was replaced by Reyson Zoquiel who pitched just a third of an inning while walking three and giving up a hit. Callan Pearce went 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, which is quite a task for any reliever, and then Eduardo Del Rosario pitched the ninth. Del rosario gave up three hits, two runs, a walk and he struck a batter out. Outside of Pearce, a pretty rough day on the bump for the GCL Twins. The Twins did not do much with the bats either, picking up six hits, six walks, and nine strike outs. Joel Polanco was the only hitter with multiple hits, he was 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Twins Daily Players of the Day Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day - Max Kepler, Fort Myers Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Sam Gibbons, Elizabethton Friday's Probables Rochester @ Syracuse (6:00 CST) – Sean Gilmartin New Britain @ Altoona (6:00 CST) – TBD Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (5:30 CST) – Matt Tomshaw Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) – Ryan Eades Elizabethton @ Pulaski (6:00 CST) – Felix Jorge GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox (11:00am CST) – TBD - DOUBLEHEADER Click here to view the article