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Three top-20 prospects made starts. Two teams played double-headers. Wichita split theirs, but a Varland got a win in each game. Tim Beckham continued his torrid streak. Yunior Severino went bonkers. Read more about it in Wednesday’s minor-league report. Let’s see what happened this Wednesday in the Twins organization. TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated RHP Sonny Gray from the 15-day IL The Twins optioned LHP Jovani Moran to AAA St. Paul The Twins sent OF Kyle Garlick on a rehab assignment to AAA St. Paul SAINTS (AAA) St. Paul 3, Columbus 4 Box Score The Saints took a tough loss to the Columbus Clippers on Wednesday by a score of 4-3. Ronny Henriquez made the start for the Saints and he kept the Saints in the game, going 4 and ⅔ innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five. Henriquez’s record drops to 0-3 on the year while his ERA is an unimpressive 7.45. The Saints got a run right away in the top of the first when Tim Beckham drove in Alex Kirilloff with a single. Beckham continues to be on a tear as he carries a 1.343 OPS through 13 games with the Saints. Henriquez was tagged for three runs in the second inning when the Clippers collected two singles and two doubles against him. The game remained 3-1 for quite a while thanks to Henriquez settling in and 1 and ⅓ innings of scoreless relief from Evan Sisk. Unfortunately, the Saints couldn’t figure out starter Aaron Civale who was making a rehab start. Civale went 4 and ⅔ innings, striking out seven and not allowing a run. The Clippers picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh to push their lead to three. This run would prove to be huge as the Saints scored two runs in the top of the eighth off of sticky-stuff merchant James Karinchak thanks to RBI singles from Mark Contreras and Michael Helman. The Saints loaded the bases in the eighth but couldn’t score as Jose Godoy lined out to end the threat. Kyle Garlick grounded into a double play to end the game as he finished 0-for-5 on the day in the first game of his rehab assignment. The Saints fell to 31-30 on the year with the loss. Helman led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a double. WIND SURGE (AA) GAME 1: Wichita 7, Tulsa 4 Box Score In game one of a double-header with Tulsa, the Wichita Wind Surge won by a score of 7-4. TwinsDaily’s #12 prospect Louie Varland got the start for Wichita and was very solid once again. Varland threw five innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out four. Varland picked up his sixth win of the year and his ERA is down to 3.27. He has consistently been one of the Twins organization’s best pitchers and he would be deserving of a promotion to give him a new challenge at AAA. Game one of this double-header was the DaShawn Keirsey show. He started the scoring for the Wind Surge in the top of the second when he hit a sacrifice fly to score Matt Wallner. After Edouard Julien tied the game at two in the fifth with his fourth homer of the year and Andrew Bechtold scored on a wild pitch, Keirsey hit a solo-shot for his third homer of the year to give the Wind Surge a two-run lead. In the top of the seventh, Keirsey drove in Wallner with an RBI groundout to give Wichita a five-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Osiris German picked up the two-inning save for Wichita, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out three. The save was his second of the year. Keirsey finished 1-for-2 with three RBI and a walk. Leobaldo Cabrera reached base three times via a hit and two walks, and Wallner scored two runs to lead the offense. With the win, the Wind Surge improved to 33-24 on the year. GAME 2: Wichita 3, Tulsa 4 Box Score In game two of the double-header, the Wind Surge were not so lucky as Tulsa beat them to get the double-header split. Kody Funderburk took the mound for Wichita but could not improve on his 6-1 record as he took the loss in this one. Funderburk went 3 and ⅔ innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out three. Funderburk was tagged for two runs in the first inning when MLB’s #61 prospect Andy Pages took him deep for his tenth of the year. In the fourth inning, Tulsa got another run on an error to push the lead to three. The Wind Surge responded with one in the bottom of the fourth when Wallner scored on a Dennis Ortega groundout. After Tulsa scored another run in the sixth, Keirsey continued to swing a hot bat when he drove in two runs with a single. Wichita cut the deficit to one run and had runners on second and third but couldn’t capitalize. Steven Cruz and Jordan Gore each threw 1 and ⅓ innings of scoreless relief for Wichita, but it wasn’t enough as Wichita fell 4-3 to Tulsa. Wichita’s record fell to 33-25 with the loss. One interesting anecdote from this double-header was that Varland’s older brother Gus picked up the win in game two for Tulsa. Each Varland brother picked up a win in the double-header so the Varland family couldn’t have much to complain about. KERNELS (HIGH-A) Cedar Rapids 7, Dayton 2 Box Score Two of the best high-A teams faced off on Wednesday, as Cedar Rapids came into the matchup at 37-21 while Dayton came in at 37-20. Cedar Rapids came away victorious in a 7-2 victory. The Kernels sent TwinsDaily’s #20 prospect David Festa to the mound. Festa continued his excellence in his first full professional season, throwing five strong innings, allowing two runs, and not walking any batters while striking out five. Festa has not allowed more than three runs in any of his 11 outings this year, and his ERA is down to 2.19 while striking out 65 batters in 53 innings. Dayton took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Kernels answered in the bottom half when Wander Javier doubled in Dylan Neuse to cut the deficit in half. Yunior Severino came up huge for the Kernels on multiple occasions on Wednesday. In the bottom of the fourth, he smashed a solo home run to tie the game at two. Two innings later, he hit a two-run homer to give the Kernels the lead for good. A Patrick Winkel solo bomb immediately followed his blast to give the Kernels back-to-back home runs. In the bottom of the seventh, Severino singled in Kyler Fedko, who tripled, to increase the lead to five. The Kernels bullpen was fantastic Wednesday, throwing four scoreless innings and only giving up three hits. Bobby Milacki threw one and ⅔ innings, Miguel Rodriguez threw one and ⅔, and Tyler Palm got the final two outs of the game to secure the victory for the Kernels. Severino carried the offense as he went 4-for-4 with two runs, four RBI, and his first two home runs of the 2022 season. The Kernels improved their record to 38-21 with the win. MIGHTY MUSSELS (LOW-A) GAME 1: Fort Myers 5, Bradenton 4 Box Score Fort Myers and Bradenton finished a game that was started Tuesday and postponed, and the Mighty Mussels came out on top by a score of 5-4. Before the game was postponed Tuesday, Jaylen Nowlin started on the mound for Fort Myers. He threw three innings of one-run baseball, striking out seven. Nowlin has now struck out 48 batters in 27 innings this year. Nowlin let up a homer in the top of the third to start the scoring, but Fort Myers responded with two runs in the bottom of the third despite not getting a hit. Noah Cardenas and Keoni Cavaco each drew bases-loaded walks to score runs. After the bottom of the third, the game was delayed due to lightning, and it would be picked up Wednesday. John Wilson started on Wednesday for the Mighty Mussels (started the fourth inning) and threw one and ⅔ innings, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks. Bradenton took a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth, and the Mighty Mussels had some fighting to do. The game remained 4-2 until the bottom of the seventh, thanks to three innings of scoreless relief from Matt Mullenbach who allowed one hit and struck out four. In the bottom of the seventh, the Mighty Mussels loaded the bases on walks and Cavaco grounded into a force-out, scoring Luis Baez. Fort Myers stranded two runners on, though, as the score was now 4-3 going into the final two innings. Juan Mendez followed Mullenbach, throwing one and ⅓ innings of scoreless relief into the bottom of the ninth. Baez led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, and Jake Rucker followed with a walk-off two-run homer to give the Mighty Mussels the win. With the win, the Mighty Mussels improve to 36-21 on the season as the Twins system continues to dominate both levels of A-ball. GAME 2: Fort Myers 6, Bradenton 1 Box Score In game two of the double-header, Fort Myers pulled off a victory in less dramatic fashion than game one. Left-hander Jordan Carr took the mound to start for the Mighty Mussels eight days after being assigned to Fort Myers from the FCL Twins. After being hit around in his first start, Carr pitched way better in his second go-around as a starter on Wednesday, throwing five innings of one-run ball, only allowing four baserunners and striking out five. The game was locked in a 0-0 tie until the bottom of the fourth inning when Fort Myers rallied for four runs. After back-to-back singles from Noah Miller and Cardenas to open the inning, Mikey Perez singled in a run. Cardenas came around to score on a wild pitch, and singles from Kala’i Rosario and Baez scored runs for Fort Myers to give them a four run lead with three innings to play. In the bottom of the sixth, Rosario swung at the first pitch he saw and connected for a two-run homer, his sixth homer of the year to give the Mighty Mussels a 6-1 advantage. Regi Grace and Hunter McMahon each threw an inning of scoreless relief to shut the door on Bradenton, and the Mighty Mussels finished the day with a double-header sweep. Rubel Cespedes finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a walk, and Rosario went 2-for-3 with three RBI and the homer. With the win, the Mighty Mussels improved to 37-21 and clinched a first half division title and a spot in the Florida State League Playoffs. COMPLEX CHRONICLES There was no game for the FCL Twins on Wednesday. They will be back in action Thursday against the FCL Braves. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 13, DSL Yankees 4 Box Score Starting Pitcher: Ledwin Taveras (5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K) Multi-Hit Games: Junior Marino (3-for-5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI), Ricardo Pena (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI) 2B: Marino (1) 3B: Rafael Cruz (2), Jose Rodriguez (1) HR: Pena (1) TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Jordan Carr (Fort Myers) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K Hitter of the Day – Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - 4-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR (2) PROSPECT SUMMARY We will again keep tabs on the Twins' top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed: #3 - Jose Miranda (Minnesota) - 0-for-3, BB #7 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2 K #9 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-6, R, 2 BB #12 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K #13 - Ronny Henriquez (St. Paul) - 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K #15 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 1-for-3, 2 R, 4 BB, 2B (11) #16 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - 1-for-6, R, RBI, HR (4), BB, SB (8) #18 - Christian Encarnacion-Strand (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, 3 K #20 - David Festa (Cedar Rapids) - 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Columbus (11:05 AM CST) - RHP Josh Winder (0-0, 18.00 ERA) Wichita @ Tulsa (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods-Richardson (2-3, 3.40 ERA) Dayton @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - LHP Brent Headrick (6-1, 1.86 ERA) Bradenton @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! Thank you for reading, and Go Twins! View full article