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On Friday, teams had to make their 40-man roster additions. Along with adding players, teams usually have to let players go in order to make room for more. At least one of those players should be on the Twins radar, again. Last offseason, the Twins made the decision to move Jorge Polanco to second base. They wanted better defense at the shortstop position. With that in mind, the Twins signed Andrelton Simmons to a one-year deal. It didn’t go well. While Simmons provided the solid defense, he did very little with the bat. His .558 OPS was over .100 lower than it had been in all but one of his previous nine MLB seasons. His previous low was .617 in 2014. Even after his rough 2021 season, his career OPS of .683 should make the Twins consider bringing him back on a much lower contract, maybe in the $3 million range. courtesy Byron Buxton Instagram However, there was a shortstop that became available due to Friday’s roster transactions. One would be a player returning to the organization that he spent nearly a decade in and made his big-league debut with. Let’s discuss both, and then in the comments you can tell me if this player should be considered. But before that, I want to point out that my personal opinion is that the Twins need to spend available dollars this offseason on pitching. So while I would love to see the Twins grab one of those big-name, big-dollar free agent shortstops, I’m going to assume that they won’t and that they will spend big on pitching. (maybe not a fair assumption, but one that I will go with for this article.) Niko Goodrum According to MLB Trade Rumors, Niko Goodrum was projected to make $2.9 million in 2022 through arbitration. He wasn’t going to get that coming off of an injury-plagued 2021 season in which he hit just .214/.292/.359 (.651) with 11 doubles and nine home runs. He had several stints on the Injured List with calf and groin injuries. In the Covid-shortened 2020 season, he hit just .184/.263/.335 (.598) with seven doubles and five home runs. These two seasons have been rough for Goodrum offensively, no doubt, but still 10-20% better than what Simmons provided in 2021. That’s obviously a low bar. So why would I personally be interested in bringing Goodrum back to the organization where he debuted in 2017 and went 1-for-17 (.059) in September. He signed with the Tigers and had two really strong seasons. In 2018, he hit .245/.315/.432 (.749) with 29 doubles and 16 homers. In 2019, he hit .248/.322/.421 (.743) with 27 doubles, five triples and 12 homers. He stole 12 bases in 2018 and 2019, and 14 bases in 2021. Goodrum will turn 30 early in spring training 2022. While the upside may be somewhat limited and include a lot of swing-and more,, there is also great athleticism, tools, speed and power with Goodrum. The Twins drafted and signed Cartier “Niko” Goodrum out of high school in Georgia in 2010. Jorge Polanco had signed a year earlier. The two climbed up the organization ladder together. Goodrum played mostly shortstop while Polanco played shortstop. Could the keystone combination exist again? In 2020, Goodrum was a finalist for an AL Gold Glove at shortstop. He is a natural shortstop with good range and a strong arm. If the Twins signed him and told him to prepare to compete for the team’s starting shortstop job, he might be a terrific choice. Hey, if the other choices right now include a return of Simmons, then I would certainly support giving Goodrum a shot. What would it cost? I would think a one-year, $1.5 to $2.0 million would do it, especially if he was given the opportunity to start most days at shortstop. If he’s given an opportunity to start most every day at shortstop, it’s likely he would just want a one year deal, hope it goes well, and enter free agency again after the 2022 season when it isn’t the greatest free agent shortstop class ever. Because of the dollars, it would be a low-risk deal. Because of his defense, speed and power potential, there is a chance for reward. If it doesn’t go well, he can finish the year as a utility player, capable of playing seven positions (yes, all better than Willians Astudillo). If Royce Lewis is deemed ready-to-go sometime in 2021, Goodrum can become a utility player. In addition, Goodrum might have interest in a return because he has several former teammates from his minor league days with the. He played over his years with Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler, Mitch Garver, Tyler Duffey, Taylor Rogers, and Tommy Watkins was a coach and manager. An added bonus is that Goodrum has always been great in the community, going back to his Twins days when he was a Harmon Killebrew Community Service Award recipient in 2013 with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Many times the concept of “Bring Back the Gang” gets a negative connotation. Sometimes that is fair. Other times, it just makes sense. If healthy, Niko Goodrum can provide really good defense at shortstop, some power at the plate and speed. Yes, that comes with some injury risk and a lot of strikeouts. But at the price tag, it is certainly worth strong consideration. So what do you think? Should the Twins consider a reunion with Niko Goodrum? View full article

As we continue through the “cupcake” part of the schedule, it’s good to re-evaluate the status of the team after each series as it feels like their play recently has had the same peaks and valleys of a heartbeat monitor. They gave the Rangers the business before losing another home series, this time to a weak White Sox team. But I maintain that their play in both series was awfully similar and lady luck in game 1 of the White Sox series is the only thing standing between a series win and the series loss they suffered. Nonetheless, they move on to facing the Tigers at home and I have my choice of a number of Motown artists, Jack White, and Eminem, a solid list you have there, Detroit.Brief Overview: Let’s not mince words here, Detroit is a poor team who has somehow even played below the level of the lowly Orioles this year. Their talent is few and far between and even harder to spot after Nick Castellanos and Shane Greene were dealt at the deadline. They currently have no qualified hitters with a wRC+ over 100 and just a small handful of pitchers who would be considered useful on any good team. I’m being harsh here but it really is hard to compliment a team that is 38-87 on the year and has already been eliminated from AL Central contention. What They Do Well: Oh lord, well, I’ll really be stretching what it means to “do well” in something, and liberties will have to be taken given the context of their baseball-reference page. The Tigers do actually have some solid starting pitching as they rank 13th in baseball by fWAR for starters. Most of this is carried by the efforts of Matt Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, and Daniel Norris who have all been able to soak innings with peripherals that range from “good” to “passable” which is truly something to note for a team in this situation. Usually I have more here but honest to God I cannot find anything worth writing about. What They Do Not Do Well: OOOH BABY, how much time do I have? Well, let’s start with the offense that’s about as offensive as Mister Rogers. They have the worst team wRC+ in baseball with a 76 mark which is just one point ahead of Nick Punto’s Twins wRC+. It gets even worse when looking at just the last seven days in which they’ve held a mark of 50 and have struck out an incredible 36.6% of the time. I mentioned before that they currently have no qualified hitters with a mark that is at or above average (100) and the only player above that line is Travis Demeritte and his 109 mark in just 77 plate appearances. “Does it get worse?” My sweet summer child, it always can. Their bullpen FIP is the third highest in baseball at 5.11. You want a comparison for that? Addison Reed had a FIP of 5.11 with the Twins... that’s the most horrific statement I’ve probably ever written. After trading Greene, they’re left with just a single reliever with a FIP under 4.00 who has thrown more than 10 innings. You want to guess who it is? Surprisingly, it isn’t Joe Jiménez but actually the wonderfully named Buck Farmer. But after him, there's a bunch of sketch and not a lot of experience. Individuals Of Note: Matt Boyd has been a good starting pitcher this year with peripherals that suggests an even better pitcher is deep down within him, but the home run problem that has nagged him for months now remains one of the biggest reasons why there is such a difference between his ERA and xFIP. Only 5 qualified starters in the AL have a higher HR/FB % than Boyd’s 17.6% mark. A guy with a homer problem going up against the 2019 Twins? What could go wrong. Although, Boyd was placed on the paternity list recently so his status for this series is up in the air. One of the other starters I mentioned was Spencer Turnbull who can pitch as well as someone named “Spencer Turnbull” should be able to. His FIP of 4.18 is solid but his real talent is the Rick Anderson special-the ground ball, and his GB% of 48.8% would be the seventh highest among qualified AL starters if he were qualified. Ex-Twins’ farmhand (and major leaguer for all of like 5 minutes), Niko Goodrum, is having the only real noteworthy season from a Tigers’ position player as he’s the only one still with the team who is above .3 fWAR (he’s at 1.9) and he also looks to be the only position player on the Tigers to eclipse the 2.0 mark set for “average” major leaguers. Goodrum is currently BABIP-ing his way to a solid year as a multi-positional-weapon as he has logged innings at every position except for catcher and as this article is being written he sits with a respectable wRC+ of 94. As snarkily mentioned before, his BABIP on the year is an above average .341 so he may be due for some regression but even if he is, he remains one of the few bright spots on the Tigers. Recent History: The Twins and Tigers have played a few times this year and the Twins are 6-3 against them but the last series against them came all the way back in the second week of June which might as well be an eternity ago. Recent Trajectories: The Twins are 8-8 over their last 5 series while the Tigers are 6-11 over their last 5 series. Pitching Match-ups: Friday: Berríos vs VerHagen Saturday: Gibson vs Jackson (holy crap it’s Edwin Jackson) Sunday: Pérez vs Boyd (The Tigers rotation is in limbo so this may change) Ending Thoughts: The Tigers are bad, like, really bad. Potentially some weird “baseball-like” thing will occur like it did the other day when they were able to beat Justin Verlander and the Astros at Houston, but there should really be no reason or excuse that the Twins can’t take the series or sweep. In my eyes, a series win is the very least they can do and a sweep should be expected given the difference between the two teams, but I would still lead with some caution given how tricky baseball can be sometimes. Anyway, I will call a sweep despite the fact that I am now on a two-series wrong streak. Hopefully I’ll get back on track. Click here to view the article

Former Twin Niko Goodrum hit a two-run homer and the Twins' offense couldn’t muster much of anything after the first inning. On the plus side, Kyle Gibson delivered a quality start, Eddie Rosario had a great game and the Twins still won the series against the Tigers ... but it was still a frustrating finish to the homestand.Snapshot (win expectancy chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 21-24 Kyle Gibson: 50 Game Score, 61.9 strike %, 3 K, 1 BB Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 IR, 1 IS, 3 K, 1 BB Lineup: 1-for-4 w/RISP, 6 LOB, 8 K, 4 BB Top three per WPA: Rosario .135, Dozier .070, Hildenberger .039. Download attachment: chart.png The Twins scored their run with only one out in the first inning. Brian Dozier hit a ball just inches shy of being a home run to dead center field. It was hit so hard that the ball actually wedged itself in between two sections of the outfield padding, giving Dozier a ground-rule double. Eddie Rosario drove him in with a one-out single. Unfortunately, the Twins wouldn’t score the entire rest of the game. In fact, after the very first three batters, the Twins only tallied three more hits the rest of the game. The Twins’ lineup is just really weird right now. How weird? It’s Jake Cave hitting sixth weird. Gibson turned in his fifth quality start and completed six innings or more for the sixth time in 10 starts this year. Gibby has been leaning more on his four-seam fastball this year, but that wasn’t the case today. There were 47 two-seamers and 11 four-seamers among the 97 total pitches he threw. Detroit’s Michael Fulmer gave up one run over 5 2/3 innings. He’s a former Rookie of the Year and All-Star, so tough to fault a thin Twins lineup for struggling. The Tigers bullpen, however, has the second-worst xFIP in all of baseball. Nevertheless, they shutout the Twins for the final 3 1/3 innings. Eddie Rosario had three of the Twins’ five hits on the afternoon. Byron Buxton looked good on a nice hustle double. The starting pitching has been good, Dozier is starting to heat up and Buxton is looking more and more healthy each game. Good signs of things to come, but this lineup could use a boost. Out of the bullpen for the Twins, Trevor Hildenberger pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Taylor Rogers was charged with an earned run over 2/3 of a frame and Ryan Pressly pitched a scoreless inning, though he allowed an inherited run from Rogers to score. Next Three Games Thu OFF Fri at SEA, 9:10 pm CT Sat at SEA, 9:10 ppm CT Sun at SEA, 3:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 6, DET 0: Lynn Shows Will to Win MIN 4, DET 2: It’s All Coming Up Rosie MIN 3, MIL 1: Odorizzi Ks 10, LoMo Delivers Go-Ahead Hit More From Twins Daily Twins Daily Roundtable: Top Prospect Timelines Twins Organizational Depth Chart: Middle Infielders 2018 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospects: 21-30 Click here to view the article

Last year, following an injury-plagued season at AA Chattanooga, Niko Goodrum could have become a six-year minor league free agent. Instead, he quickly signed on to remain with the Twins for another year on a minor league contract. On Wednesday night following a game in Rochester, Goodrum learned that it was all worth it. He was told that he is heading to the Minnesota Twins as a September call up. He will fly to Minneapolis on Thursday and be in uniform on Friday. Joining Goodrum as September 1st callups will be left-handed pitchers Nik Turley and Buddy Boshers.To entice Goodrum to stick around, the Twins offered him an invitation to major league spring training. He spent about a month with the club this spring, playing sparingly, but learning from the big league coaches and players. He fought a little shoulder issue in camp, but he hit .375 (6-16) and impressed his manager. Molitor spoke well of Goodrum following a spring game the day that he was sent back to minor league camp. “Niko Goodrum had a shoulder issue midway through camp, but he showed versatility. I really encouraged him to embrace that rather than wondering why he can't find a position because it has value and can open more doors for him. He showed some things." “Versatile” is the key word, and it is the reason that Goodrum will be up right away in September rather than finish out the Red Wings season. With the Red Wings, he has played games at each position except pitcher and catcher this season. He’s started 47 game in right field, 37 games at second base, 20 games at third base, 15 games in center field, nine games at shortstop, three games at first base, and one game in left field. I asked him in spring training if he ever considered getting a catcher’s mitt. “No!” Goodrum announced emphatically. Goodrum will be part of a “first wave” of players coming up from the minor leagues as September call ups to bolster a team fighting with the Yankees, Angels, Mariners and others for two wild card spots. As Derek Falvey explained it. “We’ll have a few come Friday. The question is always if it’s beneficial to get at-bats every day or pitch more regularly rather than being the last guy up here. You can always go get somebody. We’ll have a first wave, and then we’ll make other decisions pending results in Rochester.” Goodrum was signed as the team’s second-round pick in 2010 out of high school near Atlanta, Georgia. His uncle, Otis Nixon, stole 37 bases for the Twins in 1998. Goodrum is an incredible athlete, but he was quite raw in baseball terms. He has been moved through the system accordingly. He spent his draft season in the GCL before spending two seasons in extended spring training and with the Elizabethton Twins. He was the primary shortstop on that talented 2013 Cedar Rapids team and moved up to Ft. Myers for the 2014 season. He split 2015 between the Miracle and Chattanooga. Last year, he started the season with a foot injury that cost him much of the first half. But when he returned, he posted an .808 OPS with the Lookouts. In scouting circles, there is a reason to take great athletes. Goodrum fits into that category. He’s tall, and when drafted, he was thin. He was always fast, and he could play a pretty good shortstop. He is blessed with a strong arm. His speed has allowed him to become a pretty good outfielder as well as he has played out there more in recent years. Scouts would often talk about Goodrum’s “high waist” with the idea that he would eventually add more power. The started to show last year, but this year, he has hit 25 doubles, five triples and 13 home runs in his first season in AAA. Goodrum will have family at the game. His mom and dad, his dad’s wife, his aunt, and his girlfriend will make the trip. In the offseason, he owns Elite Metro Sports and Cages, a baseball and softball facility in his hometown of Fayetteville, Georgia. The indoor facilities and batting cages are open year-round. Goodrum is there during his offseasons and enjoys being able to give back to his community. His dad, Tim, operates the business. Goodrum will likely be used in a utility role over the season’s final month. With the news that Byron Buxton will not need to go on the disabled list and could soon play, Zack Granite will likely be the team’s fourth outfielder, but Goodrum’s ability to play seven positions will allow Molitor to mix and match lineups and moves throughout games. Click here to view the article

Niko Goodrum had a monster game for the IL Wild Card-leading Red Wings, driving in six runs. Also, the Kernels managed to win 1-0 behind a Travis Blankenhorn homer, Clark Beeker won his FSL debut, Brent Rooker hit yet another homer, Lachlan Wells returned to the mound and much, much more. Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Saturday.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 10, Louisville 5 Box Score The Red Wings actually trailed 5-0 after three innings, but the bats went on a tear to make this look like a pretty one-sided affair. Rochester had 17 hits, but nobody shined brighter than Niko Goodrum, who was 3-for 5 with six RBI. Six! Even as late as the eighth inning Rochester held just a one-run lead, but Goodrum delivered a two-run single in the eighth and would later score on a Matt Hague single. And to really drive the nail in the coffin, Niko socked a three-run homer in the ninth. That was Goodrum’s 12th home run of the season, and he also stole his 10th base of the year. It seems like Niko has been around for ages, but he’s still only 25. He was in center field tonight, but has played everywhere on the diamond other than pitcher and catcher this season. Daniel Palka also tallied three hits and Matt Hague, Kennys Vargas, Tommy Field and Leonardo Reginatto all had two hits each. Chris Heston got knocked around over his five innings (10 hits, five earned runs), but the bullpen was excellent. Alex Wimmers threw two perfect innings with three strikeouts. Buddy Boshers got the first two batters out in the eighth, but gave up a double and a walk before being lifted for Jake Reed, who managed to end the threat. Reed walked two batters in the ninth, but he also struck out three, so no worries. It was Reed’s fourth save for Rochester. The win improved the Wings record to 73-53, putting them three games up in the Wild Card race. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Tennessee 6, Chattanooga 4 Box Score Fernando Romero had a rough night, failing to even last his customary 5.0 innings for the first time in eight starts. The 22-year-old gave up six runs for the second-straight start, surrendering eight hits while walking four batters over 4.1 innings. His ERA as gone from 2.60 to 3.30 over his last two appearances. T.J. White hit his 12th homer of the season and Andy Wilkins had a pair of hits and a stolen base. Levi Michael reached base in two of his four plate appearances, and came in to the game with a .359 OBP on the season for the Lookouts. D.J. Baxendale held the Smokies scoreless over the final 3.2 innings. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Tampa 3 Box Score Clark Beeker earned a victory in his FSL debut, but he finally gave up some runs. The right-hander had four-straight scoreless starts for Cedar Rapids prior to his promotion, but he gave up three runs for the Miracle. Thanks to the bats, however, he was pitching with the lead all night, and those runs didn’t hurt the team in the least bit. Zander Wiel hit a three-run homer, his 10th of the year, and Brent Rooker added a solo shot of his own. Rooker, who also had three RBI, now has 15 home runs in 53 professional games. Jermaine Palacios had a pair of hits, lifting his FSL average up to an even .300. Brandon Lopez also had two hits and catcher Kevin Garcia had a hit, a walk and scored twice. Michael Theofanopoulos pitched two scoreless innings before Williams Ramirez finished things off with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Beloit 0 Box Score Travis Blankenhorn hit a homer in the fourth inning and the Kernels pitching staff managed to make that one-run lead stand, as they held the Snappers to just two hits. Charlie Barnes got the start and gave up one hit and a pair of walks over 5.0 innings pitched. The Twins 2017 fourth-rounder out of Clemson struck out four batters, and lowered his Midwest League ERA to 3.18. Logan Lombana pitched the sixth and seventh, Eduardo Del Rosario had a 1-2-3 eighth before Hector Lujan picked up his league-leading 15th save thanks to a huge game-ending 5-4-3 double play completed by the combination of Jordan Gore, Blankenhorn and Lewin Diaz. The homer was Blankenhorn’s ninth of the season. Christian Cavaness was 2-for-3 with a triple and Shane Carrier had the only other hit for the Kernels, extending his hitting streak to 25 games. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 6, Bristol 2 Box Score Down to their last out, the Bristol Pirates got a dramatic game-tying homer to send this on into extras, but the Twins prevailed thanks to a huge 12th inning. Gorge Munoz drove in Matt Albanese to score the go-ahead run, but E-Town would pile on three more runs. Ryley Widell, a seventh-round pick from this year’s draft, gave up just an unearned run over 5.0 innings. He struck out seven, and is now averaging 11.2 K/9 to go with a 2.08 ERA. Moises Gomez gave up that huge game-tying homer, but that was it over his 5.0 innings. Jose Martinez pitched the final 2.0 innings to pick up his fifth win. All the scoring prior to extra innings came from a Jose Miranda two-run homer in the sixth inning, his team-leading ninth home run of the year. Akil Baddoo had two hits, including the team’s only other extra-base knock, a double. T.J. Dixon was 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. GCL TWINS TAKES Twins 8, Red Sox 2 Box Score A trio of big names appeared on the mound for the GCL Twins: Lachlan Wells, Tyler Jay and Blayne Enlow. But it was Jean Carlos Arias who stole the show, going 4-for-5 with his fourth home run and ninth stolen base of the season. Emmanuel Morel also had a big game, going 3-for-5 while stealing is 10th and 11th bases of the year. Wells, pitching for the first time since June, struck out six batters over 4.0 innings of work. He gave up one run on a pair of hits and did not walk a batter. Jay, making just the second appearance of his rehab assignment, had four K's over 1.2 innings. He gave up a run on two hits and a walk, but it was unearned (due to his own error). Enlow finished up the game with 3.1 perfect innings to pick up his second win. He struck out four batters. So over the first 17.1 innings of his career, Enlow has a 1.04 ERA, 9.3 K/9 and a 0.58 WHIP. All together, that trio of hurlers gave up just one earned run on four hit and one walk while striking out 14 batters. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Charlie Barnes, Cedar Rapids (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Niko Goodrum, Rochester (3-for-5, HR, 6 RBI, 2 R, SB) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Louisville, 12:00 pm CT, Stephen Gonsalves (2.08 ERA, 0.77 WHIP) Chattanooga at Tennessee, 4:30 pm CT, Lewis Thorpe (making Chattanooga debut) Fort Myers at Tampa, 12:00 pm CT, Brady Anderson (4.19 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 2:05 pm CT, Tyler Beardsley (5.48 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) Elizabethton vs. Johnson City, 5:00 pm CT, Christian Broussard (8.10 ERA, 1.80 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

While the Twins game on Wednesday night was postponed, things were quite busy in the minor league system with seven games. The Red Wings needed a couple of extra innings. The Miracle played a doubleheader, and one of them went an extra inning. Tyler Watson and Zack Littell each made a start. And there was a surprise starter in the GCL on Wednesday, making a rehab appearance.Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Wednesday. Let’s start with the transactions of the day: RHP Chris Heston was removed from the Red Wings disabled list. He had made one appearance in the GCL this week.RHP Michael Kohn has been moved from the GCL to Ft. Myers as he tries to return from shoulder surgery.With the Twins postponement on Wednesday, the Twins will play twice on Thursday. The team announced that RHP Aaron Slegers will be the team's 26th man and start the night game. In his last 10 starts, he is 9-0 with a 2.10 ERA. (Glen Perkins was activated and Dietrich Enns placed on the DL.)We have also learned that Kohl Stewart will be promoted to Rochester to start on Friday. Yohan Pino was promoted to Rochester on Thursday.RED WINGS REPORTRochester 4, Columbus 3 (11 innings) Box Score They had to play a couple of extra innings, but the Red Wings were able to pick up another win on Wednesday night. David Hurlbut started and gave up one run on seven hits over 6.1 innings. He struck out four with no walks. Luke Bard came on and got out of the seventh. The eighth inning was not a good inning for inherited runners. Bard started the inning and gave up a double. He got a ground out for the first out. Mason Melotakis came on to face Tyler Naquin who doubled in a run. Jake Reed came on and got a strikeout before giving up an RBI single. Reed ended up going two innings and struck out two. Alex Wimmers got the final five outs, four of them on strikeouts. Niko Goodrum led the offense. He went 3-5 with his 24th double. Mitch Garver got things going in the first inning with an RBI single. Daniel Palka had RBI singles in the third and eighth innings. In the 11th inning, Mitch Garver hit his 29th double. It was followed shortly by an RBI single from Kennys Vargas which proved to be the game-winner. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Tennessee 3 Box Score The Lookouts put together a lot of hits. They scored six runs and even left nine others on base. Jonathan Rodriguez led the way with another big game. The first baseman went 2-4 with a walk, his 27th double and his 17th home run. Andy Wilkins was 3-5 with his 14th double. Ryan Walker was 2-4 with his 13th double. LaMonte Wade went 2-4 with a walk. Max Murphy was 1-1 but he walked three times in the game as well. Zack Littell improved to 3-0 since joining the Twins and Lookouts. In this game, he gave up just one run on five hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out four. Ryan Eades gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Nick Anderson got two outs right away to drop his Lookouts ERA to 0.98. Gabriel Moya came on for the ninth and recorded his 20th save of the season. He gave up a hit and struck out two, dropping his season ERA to 0.88. MIRACLE MATTERS Game 1 - Ft. Myers 5, Lakeland 4 Box Score In the first of two, the Miracle came out and scored three in the first inning, followed by single runs the next two innings, and then they held on. Brent Rooker went 2-2 with a walk and his fourth double. Chris Paul was 2-3 with his 17th double. Brandon Lopez was 1-2 with a walk and his sixth double. Tanner English walked twice and stole his 26th bag. Zander Wiel went 1-2 with a sacrifice fly. Playing left field, he also threw out a runner at the plate. Anthony McIver started. The southpaw went the first three innings and gave up two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three. Michael Kohn, in his first Miracle appearance, gave up a hit but struck out three in his inning. Tom Hackimer struck one out in his inning. Michael Theofanopoulos gave up two runs on two hits but held on for the save. Game 2 - Ft. Myers 3, Lakeland 2 (8 innings) Box Score Randy LeBlanc started the second game for the Miracle. He gave up one run on five hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out seven. Williams Ramirez walked two, but struck out three, over his inning of work. Alex Muren gave up a run in the seventh to send it to an extra inning, but he also got the win by pitching a scoreless eighth inning. In the bottom of the 8th, Sean Miller led off with a triple (his second of the year). After intentional walks to Mitchell Kranson and Brent Rooker, Zander Wiel walked it off with a single. Miller went 2-3 with a walk and added his 16th double to the triple. Jaylin Davis was 2-3 with his eighth double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Burlington 7 Box Score Tyler Watson made his third start since joining the Kernels. It wasn’t great, but it was his best so far. The left-hander gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks. He struck out three. Max Cordy pitched the seventh inning and gave up three runs on two hits and two walks. Eddie del Rosario, back from Ft. Myers, worked a perfect inning in relief. After throwing 83.1 innings last year with the Kernels, Del Rosario has thrown 121.1 innings between Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers. Trey Cabbage led the offense by going 2-4. Jordan Gore added his second triple. Caleb Hamilton hit his 14th double. Royce Lewis went 0-4. There are were two really good Royce Lewis interviews posted on Wednesday. First, Lewis joined the MLB Pipeline podcast with Tim McMaster, Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis. He also joined Todd Brommelkamp on KGYM in Cedar Rapids for an extended interview. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton Box Score The Elizabethton Twins had the second of their three days off during their short season. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Rays 2, GCL Twins 4 Box Score To the surprise of most, Tyler Jay made his return to the mound in a rehab start for the GCL Twins. It was his first appearance since May 30th. It went well. The lefty struck out two in a perfect inning. Pedro Garcia came on and gave up one run on two hits over the next five innings. He walked one and struck out five. Jordan Balazovic then gave up one run on two hits over the next 2.2 innings. He walked two and struck out two and walked two. Derek Molina came in for the final out, a strikeout, to record his third save. Benjamin Rodriguez led the offense. He went 3-4 with his 10th double and two RBI. Roni Tapia’s sixth double also drove in a run. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day - Zack Littell, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jonathan Rodriguez, Chattanooga Lookouts THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Columbus (11:05 CST) - RHP Drew Rucinski (since Aaron Slegers is starting for the Twins) Chattanooga @ Tennessee (6:00 CST) - Dereck Rodriguez (in place of Kohl Stewart) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:30 CST) - RHP Sean Poppen Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30 CST) - RHP Patrick McGuff Elizabethton @ Bristol (4:30 CST) - RHP Randy Dobnak GCL Twins @ GCL Rays (11:00 CST) - RHP Austin Bizzle Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday’s games. Click here to view the article

Coming into play on Tuesday, August 8th, the Rochester Red Wings have a record of 65-50. That puts them 8 ½ games back of International League North Division leading Scranton-Wilkes-Barre. They’re in third place, two games behind the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for second place in the division, and more important, in the wild card race. That’s why it’s understandable that the organization made the move to bring up lefty starter Stephen Gonsalves and righty reliever Luke Bard. The hope could be that the two will help bolster the Red Wings pitching staff and help them get into the playoffs. Well, that, along with some good experience in a playoff chase at a new level of development. Gonsalves will make his first AAA start on Thursday against Norfolk. When he and Bard make their Red Wings debuts, they will be the 37th and 38th pitchers to throw for the team this season, already a franchise record. With that, I thought I’d bring out a Triple-A version of Nick Nelson’s Three-Bagger series. Below you’ll find three players at Rochester of particular interest.Here are three Rochester Red Wings to pay particular attention to in the coming weeks. MITCH GARVER Those that follow me on Twitter know that I’ve been including the hashtag #CallHimUp on any of the tweets that mention Garver. He’s 26, and he’s put up tremendous numbers. In fact, someone close to the Red Wings said he’s “having one of the best seasons as a catcher in recent Red Wings history.” Through 81 games this season, he is hitting .276/.378/.521 (.898). He’s hit 23 doubles and 16 home runs. Since being drafted in the ninth round of the 2013 draft, after his senior season at the University of New Mexico, he has continued to improve each season. That’s great since he was the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year in 2014 while playing in Cedar Rapids. This year, he’s been impressive, showing a strong knowledge of the strike zone and attacking driveable pitches into the gaps and over the fence, to either field. As important in a catcher’s development, he’s improved tremendously behind the plate as well. He’s blessed with a very strong arm, and has always thrown out base stealers at a strong percent. While his pitch framing numbers aren’t as strong this year as last, pitchers rave about his ability to call a good game. My first thought was maybe Wilson Ramos put up some strong numbers for the Red Wings. However, in 71 games for the team in 2010, he hit .241/.280/.345 (.625) with 14 doubles and five home runs (as a 22 year old) in 71 games. In 2014, Josmil Pinto hit .279/.376/.457 (.833) with 17 doubles and six homers in 60 games for the Red Wings. In 2008, Jose Morales hit .315/.348/.426 (.774) with eight doubles and four homers in 54 games. In 2007, Morales hit .311/.366/.399 (.765) with 25 doubles and two homers in 108 games. In 2005, Rob Bowen hit .268/.368/.402 (.770) with 13 doubles and six homers. And that takes us back through the Twins affiliation with Rochester. I think it’s safe to say that the season Mitch Garver is putting together is the best in the last 15 years, to be sure. Meanwhile, Jason Castro is hitting .227/.322/.371 (.693) with 20 doubles and six homers in 80 games for the Twins. Backup Chris Gimenez is hitting .202/.317/.355 (.672) with four doubles and five homers in 47 games. Garver has versatility too. He’s caught in 61 games. He played first base in five games, and he’s played 14 games in left field. While his range may be that of a catcher in left field, he would be a right-handed bench or DH option for the Twins. There is no question that Mitch Garver will be called up for September. There should be little question that he should be given every opportunity next spring to break with the big league club. For good. MICHAEL TONKIN After starting the season 0-1 with a 6.55 ERA and a 2.18 WHIP through nine games and 11 innings for the Twins, the front office decided it was time to DFA the hard-throwing right-hander. Tonkin was drafted by the Twins in the 30th round of the 2008 draft out of high school in California. He was given some opportunity to start, but in 2010, he made the move to the bullpen. He quickly became one of the Twins top relief pitching minor leaguers. Blessed with a 95 mph fastball and a good slider, he showed good control while striking out ten or more batters per nine innings pitched. He got his first taste of the big leagues in 2013, and he went up and down for a few seasons. His first full season in the big leagues was 2016, his first season without options remaining. This spring, he again made the Opening Day roster, primarily due to the options situation. But as we mentioned, by early May, the decision was made to let him go. Fortunately for the club, Tonkin passed through waivers and has been pitching late innings for the Red Wings this season. And he’s been pitching well. In 23 games and 33 innings since joining the Red Wings, he is 3-2 with four saves. He has posted a 1.91 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He’s walking 3.0 batters per nine while striking out an impressive 13.1 per nine (48 strikeouts in 33 innings). More impressive, in his last 15 games (21 innings), he has a 0.86 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP. He’s walked three batters and struck out 34! Tonkin is already 27, but maybe the extended trip back to AAA allowed him to figure something out. Maybe. Maybe not. But it does feel like he would warrant one last shot with the big league club to see what has stuck. If it looks legit, keep him on the roster. If not, you DFA him and let him become a free agent. TIM MELVILLE Every time the Twins sign someone out of independent leagues or promote a 27+ year old player to Rochester, I can always anticipate a certain faction of the Twins Daily readership cringing. I’m guessing that when the Twins signed RHP Tim Melville from the independent league Long Island Ducks earlier this season, several of you reading this hated it. But Melville has made himself interesting, or at least he should be interesting to Twins fans. The still-just-27-year-old righty is 3-3 with a 2.55 ERA for the Red Wings in 10 games (nine starts) since joining their roster nearly two months ago. He’s got a 1.07 WHIP. In 60 innings, he’s given up 44 hits, walked 20 and struck out 58. If he was 1-2 years younger, we’d be crying out for him to get an opportunity. Instead, Melville has had to live with the “bust” label, fair or not. He was a highly-touted prep player from Missouri. The Royals used a fourth-round draft pick, and a lot of cash ($1.25 million). He was a top prospect until he had Tommy John surgery in 2012. In 2014, he went 2-11 with a 5.50 ERA for the Royals AA affiliate and was let go by the organization. The Tigers swooped in and signed him for 2015. He went 7-10 with a 4.63 ERA in AAA. In 2016, he signed with the Reds. He was called up and made his MLB debut on April 10th. He went 0-1 with an 11.00 ERA in three games (two starts) for the Reds. He was DFAd on April 22nd and went to AAA where he got hurt. He found himself without an offer this spring, so he went the independent route. With the Ducks, he was 3-4 with a 3.45 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in nine starts when the Twins signed him. While his background doesn’t necessarily convince you that he’d have success if the Twins promoted him, his ‘stuff’ might. In his starts, he has been between 93 and 96 mph and been able to maintain that throughout the game. He’s got a pretty good curveball that can get swings-and-misses, and often gets weak contact. And his changeup is about average. Now, I’m not saying he would come up and insert himself as a mid-rotation starter. Not at all. But maybe he can be the starting pitcher depth that Thad Levine talked about. Maybe he can be a guy at AAA who can make a few starts in the big leagues from time to time. Maybe not. But if the Twins bring him up in September and give him a shot, I certainly won’t feel bad about it. Maybe he can be a stop-gap until the new front office believes that the likes of Gonsalves, Romero, Jorge, Littell, Slegers are more ready for that role. RED WINGS NOTEBOOK OK, so I can’t stop at just three. Here are a few more Red Wings notes of note. Niko Goodrum is setting himself up to be a valuable utility player. So far this year, he has played first base (three games), second base (24 games), third base (16 games), shortstop (nine games), left field (one game), center field (13 games) and right field (40 games). In 106 games, he’s hitting .259/.308/.413 (.721) with 23 doubles, four triples and nine home runs.Matt Hague has quietly been very good for the Red Wings. In 110 games, he’s hit .294/.371/.405 (.777) with 21 doubles and eight homers. Very professional.Since his return from fractured fingers, Daniel Palka has hit .277/.329/.446 (.775) with a double, two triples and two homers in 16 games. Reports indicate that he’s been much better the last week or so and appears to be returning to form.Byungho Park started the season very slow, but he’s come on very strong. The 30-year-old is hitting .263/.321/.428 (.749) with 22 doubles and nine homers. In his last 57 games, he’s hitting .303/.351/.476 (.827) with 14 doubles and six homers.In 18 games since he returned to the Red Wings, Kennys Vargas is hitting .234/.338/.516 (.853). However, in his last two games, he has gone 5-8 with two doubles and a homer, which account for most of that stat line.Mason Melotakis has made 11 appearances (13.1 innings) since coming off the Twins 40-man roster for the Red Wings. He has a 2.03 ERA despite a 1.35 WHIP. Reports are that he’s been quite good despite the fact that his velocity has been way down from where has had been.Jake Reed is 1-0 with a 1.45 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP in 14 games (18.2 innings) since joining the Red Wings. He has 16 strikeouts and six walks. He’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster in the offseason, so a September call up should happen.John Curtiss has been with the Red Wings for about a month now. In 14 games (17.2 innings), he’s got a 2.04 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. He’s got eight walks and 24 strikeouts, so he’s been a bit more wild, but he’s certainly a candidate for a September call up.Aaron Slegers’ eight-game winning streak came to an end with his most recent start, but he’s been terrific and appears to be a very strong candidate for International League Pitcher of the Year. . He is 12-4 with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 20 starts (123 innings). He’s got 91 strikeouts to go with just 27 walks. While he doesn’t profile as a top prospect because his “stuff” doesn’t grade out real high, Slegers knows how to pitch. He’ll give up some hits, but he won’t hurt himself with walks, and his home run rate has stayed down as well. He’s earned a shot at a September call up. However, the business side of the 40-man roster decisions and the Rule 5 implications may make him a tough choice.So there you have it. A whole bunch on the Twins AAA affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings. Feel free to discuss and ask questions. Click here to view the article

The Twins are finishing up their series with the Dodgers on Wednesday night, hoping to avoid a sweep. A few moves were made on Wednesday as well: The Lookouts released catcher Dan Rohlfing. Taking his place is the newly-acquired Anthony Recker. Fort Myers added pitcher Eduardo Del Rosario from Cedar Rapids. The Kernels also placed pitcher Griffin Jax on the military leave list. They will likely be looking to E-town for rotation replacements. Elizabethton also is down one in their rotation after the recent trade of Huascar Ynoa. Let’s check in on all of Wednesday’s games.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Indianapolis 1 Box Score Home runs were the name of the game for the Red Wings on Wednesday. Mitch Garver hit his 15th AAA home run this year in the first inning. Niko Goodrum extended the lead to 3-0 with a solo home run in the second inning. Kennys Vargas hit two home runs, a solo and three-run shot, in the later innings to extend the lead even further. Vargas led the team with four RBI. Matt Hague had two doubles and scored both times. J.B. Shuck had three hits including a double. Dillon Gee pitched well, striking out seven over six innings, allowing only one run on six hits. Jake Reed hit a batter, but then got five straight groundball outs in his two innings of work. John Curtiss closed the game, striking out two in a perfect ninth inning At 59-44, the Red Wings are four games behind Lehigh Valley in the wild card race. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 1, Birmingham 3 Box Score The story of the night was Michael Kopech, stud prospect for the White Sox, who will be a thorn in the Twins' side for a long time. He struck out twelve and spit flames. Jonathan Rodriguez provided most of the offensive punch for the Lookouts with two hits (one double), a walk and the team's only RBI. Levi Michael had two singles. Carlos Paulino had one. Nick Gordon drew two walks and scored the team's only run. Kohl Stewart allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and four walks. He struck out two. Raul Fernandez pitched two scoreless innings. Ryan Eades gave up a run in his two innings of work. At 24-8, the Lookouts have a nice cushion as division leaders. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 5 Box Score The Miracle took a one-run lead in the top half of the fourth inning, but allowed five runs in the bottom half to create a deficit from which they couldn’t recover. Sean Poppen made his fifth start since his promotion and had the roughest outing of his young career. In five frames, he gave up five runs on 11 hits and a walk. He struck out four. Keaton Steele struck out one in three scoreless innings. Offensively, the bats were quiet. Tanner English and Zander Wiel each doubled. Wiel drove in Mitch Kranson, who had walked, in the fourth. Jermaine Palacios drove English in with a groundout in the ninth. Brian Navarreto provided the only other base hit. The 19-13 Miracle have gone through a cold stretch and now find themselves 1.5 games out of first place. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids at Peoria - POSTPONED (RAIN) A doubleheader will start at 5:30 on Thursday. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 0, Pulaski 1 Box Score Not a lot to say about this two-hour, action-starved game. Nick Brown gave up a solo home run in the fourth inning, allowing the game’s only run. He yielded only three hits and a walk over six innings, striking out four, but took the loss. Charlie Barnes pitched two innings in relief, striking out one. Offensively, the E-Twins only had four hits: A double by Shane Carrier, his seventh, and singles by Mark Contreras, Rainis Silva and T.J. Dixon. Though they drew four walks, the team hit a collective 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, sealing their fate. The E-Twins have a 1.5 game lead at 20-14. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 1, GCL Orioles 12 Box Score Another game that was lacking in offense for the good team. Four hits produced one (unearned) run. Three of those hits came off the bat of leadoff hitter Emmanuel Morel, two of which were doubles. He scored the only run. But the rest of the lineup went 1-24 (a single by Jared Akins) and that was all she wrote. Glen Perkins did throw another inning. He allowed a hit, a walk and struck out one. Blayne Enlow piggybacked him and threw 3.2 innings, allowing a run on one hit. He struck out three. The trio of Matt Jones, Jose Bermudez and Juan Mojica was bad. Eleven runs on 10 hits and seven walks over four and a third innings. I’m going to leave the specifics out - someone’s family might be reading - but if you’re into blood and gore, you can click the box score above. The GCL Twins drop to 16-11. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Nick Brown, Elizabethton Hitter of the Day – Kennys Vargas, Rochester THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Indianapolis (6:05 CST) - RHP Kyle Gibson (0-2, 2.92 ERA) Chattanooga vs Birmingham (6:15 CST) - RHP Dereck Rodriguez (4-1, 2.95 ERA) Fort Myers at Lakeland (5:30 CST) - RHP Eduardo Del Rosario (0-0, -.-- ERA) Cedar Rapids at Peoria (5:30 CST) - RHP Tyler Beardsley (3-4, 5.98 ERA) Cedar Rapids at Peoria (Game 2) - LHP Evan Sanders (1-2, 8.40 ERA) Elizabethton at Pulaski (6:00 CST) - LHP Bryan Sammons (1-0, 1.83 ERA) GCL Twins at GCL Orioles (11:00 AM CST) - TBA Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday’s games. Click here to view the article

Another quiet, all-star weekday in the Twins farm system. The Lookouts and Kernels both had a day off. They’ll start their second halves on Thursday. That’s also when the Elizabethton Twins make their 2017 debut. In other words, these Twins minor league reports are about to start getting bigger and busier again. But hey, six minor league affiliates to follow is even better than four, right? In Rochester, Hector Santiago and Phil Hughes made their first rehab appearances. The Red Wings showed some power as well. The Miracle got a tremendous pitching performance on their way to another win.Find out everything and more that happened happened in the Twins system on Wednesday, starting with the transactions of the day. TRANSACTIONS Check out the transactions through the minor league system from late Friday night and Saturday: Hector Santiago and Phil Hughes were officially added to the Rochester Red Wings roster as rehab guys. Their roster is now at 25 plus the two rehabbers.Most of the 2017 Elizabethton roster was added on Wednesday. As noted in the Elizabethton Twins Roster Preview, there will be more moves in coming days.RED WINGS REPORTRochester 3, Buffalo 1 Box Score Hector Santiago made his rehab start for the Red Wings. The left-hander was given a 60-pitch limit, or four innings, whichever was less. True to Santiago form, he needed 57 pitches to get through three innings. He didn’t give up a hit or a run. He walked two and struck out two. Veteran Kam Mickolio came in to replace him. He got an out, but after making his second pitch to his second batter, he had to leave the game with an apparent injury. Mason Melotakis came into the game, and two pitches later, he finished a walk (credited to Mickolio). But he was able to get the final two outs quickly. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Mitch Garver led off with his sixth homer of the season. Two batters later, Niko Goodrum added his seventh home run to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead. Phil Hughes got the top of the fifth inning. The goal was for him to work one inning, and then this weekend, he’ll work in back-to-back games. He was successful. He walked one, but he got through the inning without allowing a run. Ten of his 19 pitches were strikes. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Zack Granite added his second homer, a third solo homer for the Wings. DJ Baxendale got the next seven outs, giving up a run on two hits. Trevor Hildenberger recorded his sixth save with two strikeouts over the final five outs. He reduced his ERA to 2.05. Garver, Goodrum and Tommy Field each had two hits in the game. Granite was 1-3 with a walk. His .349 batting average leads the International League. The runner-up is at .319. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga Box Score The Lookouts are enjoying the third (and final) day of their All-Star break. Of course, there wasn’t an All-Star Game played due to bad weather. The team will begin their second half of their season on Thursday evening at home. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Jupiter 0 Box Score At the end of last season, Cody Stashak made three starts for Ft. Myers. In 16.2 innings, he gave up just one run (0.54 ERA). That’s where he began this season. However, after his first eight starts this season, he was 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA. He was placed on the disabled list. In his first outing after his return, he threw five shutout innings. On Wednesday night, he threw six shutout innings. He gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out seven. He got healthy and has returned to form. Andrew Vasquez faced six batters over two innings and struck out five of them. Sam Clay worked the ninth inning. He gave up a two-out double before finishing the game and maintaining the shutout. In the fourth inning, the Miracle got two walks and an infield single to load the bases. Tanner English walked in a run, and then Rafael Valera followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Miracle a 2-0 lead. That’s where the score remained until the 8th inning when another fielding error allowed another run to score. The Miracle had seven hits and walked four more times. Alex Perez went 2-4, the only player with more than one hit. The Miracle also stole five bases in the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids Box Score The Kernels also return from the Midwest League All-Star Game on Thursday night. Eduardo Del Rosario will take on Quad Cities. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Cody Stashak, Ft. Myers Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Mitch Garver/Niko Goodrum, Rochester THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (6:05 CST) - RHP Yohan Pino Pensacola @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - LHP Stephen Gonsalves Ft. Myers @ Florida (6:35) - LHP Lachlan Wells Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:35 CST) - RHP Eduardo Del Rosario Danville @ Elizabethton (6:00 CST) - RHP Edwar Colina Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday’s games. Click here to view the article

The Twins needed a couple of fresh arms in the aftermath of the Astros series, so they’ve promoted a couple of minor league arms, with ripple effects all through the system. The new names on the Twins to know are Alex Wimmers and Randy Rosario, but the full list of transactions is below.Transactions: Jake Reed assigned to Chattanooga from Rochester, Ryan Pressly optioned to Rochester from Minnesota, Jason Wheeler designated for assignment from Minnesota, Alex Wimmers promoted to Minnesota from Rochester, Randy LeBlanc promoted to Chattanooga from Fort Myers, Nick Anderson promoted to Chattanooga from Fort Myers, Randy Rosario promoted to Minnesota from Chattanooga, Andrew Vasquez promoted to Fort Myers from Cedar Rapids.Logan Lombana returns to Cedar Rapids from extended spring training. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3 @ Durham 6 Box Score Rochester's bullpen has a 1.08 ERA over the last seven games, including 19.2 consecutive scoreless innings headed into Thursday night’s game and Niko Goodrum has a nine-game hitting streak. The scoreless innings streak came to an end as Alan Busenitz gave up a run in the seventh inning, but Goodrum extended his streak on a 3-4 night that included a double and a pair of RBI. Leonardo Reginatto also had a pair of hits, including a double and a walk, but the rest of the Red Wings squad had just two hits. ByungHo Park was 0-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. The Red Wings were down 6-0 before they pushed three runs across in the eighth to make the final score look respectable. Red Wings starter Nik Turley gave up five runs over 6.1 innings, including three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Turley struck out seven to go along with just one walk. Busenitz was charged with an earned run over 1.2 innings of work, he struck out three and walked none. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 1 @ Birmingham 3 Box Score Nick Gordon entered the game leading the Southern League in extra-base hits (23) and got to enjoy the night off in Birmingham. The Lookouts bats sputtered without him, just 1-11 with runners in scoring position, and scoring just a single run despite FIVE doubles. Ryan Strausborger was 2-3 with a double and a run scored, the only Lookout with more than one hit. Lookouts starter Matt Tracy pitched very well, 7.0 innings, just five hits, two runs (both earned) and he struck out four against just one walk. Unfortunately for Tracy, he gave up a pair of solo home runs, and without any run support was tagged with his fourth loss of the season. Mason Melotakis gave up a run on two hits in one inning of relief. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 1 @ Bradenton 5 Box Score Before the game it was announced that Chris Paul, Dereck Rodriguez, Sam Clay, and Brian Navarreto were all selected to the Florida State League All-Star Game. The Miracle could have used some all-star bats on Thursday night as they stranded 13 runners! The Miracle bunched their hits at the top of the order with leadoff man Max Murphy picking up three singles on a 3-5 night (he also scored the lone run), and the next batter up, Nelson Molina, was 3-5 as well. Zander Wiel the third hitter in the lineup, had a pair of hits and a walk on a 2-4 night. The three combined for 8 of the Miracle’s 10 hits. Brady Anderson was tagged with his first loss of the season after giving up four runs (all earned) in 5.0 innings. He gave up nine hits, including a home run, walked two, and struck out three. He was replaced by Tom Hackimer for 2.0 innings. Hackimer gave up three hits, a run and two walks. Michael Theofanopoulos closed out the pitching for the Miracle with three strikeouts in the eighth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Quad Cities 1 @ Cedar Rapids 11 Box Score The Kernels made up for the lackluster hitter performances in the rest of the system on Thursday night, exploding for 11 runs. Travis Blankenhorn led the way (and hit leadoff, how perfect) with a 2-4 night that included a triple and a home run. Jermaine Palacios had three hits, Jaylin Davis, Mitchell Kranson and Aaron Whitefield each had a pair of hits for the Kernels, and Lewin Diaz and Caleb Hamilton each had a hit of his own. In addition to Blankenhorn’s solo home run in the fifth inning, Aaron Whitefield hit one too. Sean Poppen picked up his fourth win of the year to move to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.12 with 6.1 innings of five-hit baseball. He gave up one run, unearned, struck out five, and did not walk anyone. Logan Lombana went 2.2 perfect innings to finish off the River Bandits, striking out five of the seven batters he faced (he induced a double-play to the first batter he faced in the seventh). TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Matt Tracy, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Niko Goodrum, Rochester Red Wings FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Norfolks (6:05pm) – David Hurlbut (2-3, 3.41) Chattanooga @ Birmingham (7:05pm) – Felix Jorge (5-1, 3.48) Ft. Myers @ Bradenton (5:30pm) - Dereck Rodriguez (3-2, 2.95) Cedar Rapids @ Burlington (6:30pm) – Domenick Carlini (2-3, 5.65) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Thursday's games. Click here to view the article

Jose Berrios is making it known that he doesn't want to be in Rochester for much longer. He entered play on Sunday with a 1.44 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. Opponents were hitting .180 against him with a 28 to 6 strikeout to walk ratio. It's hard to believe but those numbers would improve on Sunday. Minnesota doesn't need a fifth starter until later this week. One has to wonder if Berrios will be getting the call. His MLB time has been disappointing but it's hard to imagine him putting up better numbers at Triple-A. It might be time to throw him into the fire at the big league level.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 4, Louisville 1 Box Score Jose Berrios was outstanding over eight shutout innings. He allow one runner to reach scoring position and that happened in the second inning. Overall, he allowed two hits, both singles, while striking out seven and walking two. His season ERA dropped to 1.09 following his outstanding pitching performance. Berrios found himself in a pitchers duel with Rochester failing to get on the board until the seventh frame. Matt Hauge started the frame with his third home run of the season. Following a Daniel Palka walk, Niko Goodrum cracked a two-run shot. With two outs in the frame, John Ryan Murphy would collected his first home run to push the lead to 4-0. In the bottom of the eighth, the Wings loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a hit by pitch. Eventually, Niko Goodrum drew a bases-loaded walk to add an insurance run. Drew Rucinski came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth. The first batter collected a double and eventually came around to score. He coaxed a double play to end the game. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Jackson 3 Box Score Top pitching prospect Fernando Romero made his fifth Double-A appearance on Sunday. For the third consecutive start, he pitched into the sixth inning and allowed one earned run or less. In this outing, he scattered seven hits over six innings while striking out six. Following this strong start, his ERA dropped to under 3.00 for the first time this season. Chattanooga scored a first inning run after Nick Gordon tripled to start the game. The scoring picked up again in the fourth. Jonathan Rodriguez singled before scoring on a LaMonte Wade double. Wade was driven in by a Dan Gamache triple. Ryan Walker drove in Gamache with a sacrifice fly and the Lookouts were up 4-0. Gamache came up with another big hit in the fifth inning. His two-out double plated two runs. In the sixth, the first three batters collected hits as the Lookouts extended their lead to 8-1. Gamache wasn't done as he doubled to start the seventh and set up another scoring opportunity. Of the last three games, he's had multiple hits in two of them. Ryan Eades ran into a little trouble out of the bullpen. He allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh as Jackson tried to claw closer. John Curtiss struck out the side to close out the ninth. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Dunedin 6 Box Score Before starting on the comeback trail against Dunedin things were looking bleak for Fort Myers as they were looking at a five run deficit, 6-1, after the top half of the second inning. Max Murphy punched his first two home runs of the season to help the comeback. He started the scoring in the first with a solo shot and added another solo shot in the third. The big inning for Fort Myers came in the bottom of the eighth when the team plated three runs to take the lead. Zack Granite came up with the biggest hit, a run-scoring double. The Miracle also scored a pair of runs on a sacrifice fly and a throwing error by the center fielder. Chris Anderson was making his organizational debut on the mound and it didn't go well. He allowed six earned runs on five hits. Anthony McIver and Sam Clay both pitched three shutout innings. McIver struck out three and walked two while Clay had two strikeouts and two walks. Jonny Drozd earned his second save with a perfect ninth frame. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Peoria 0 (6 Innings) Box Score Weather got in the way again for the Kernels. They were scheduled to play a double-header on Sunday but rain forced an early completion to their first game. The second game was postponed. Clark Beeker was the story of this game. He tossed five shutout innings, allowing one hit. He struck out three and walked none. Beeker, a 2016 33rd round pick is now 3-1 on the season with a tidy 1.69 ERA. This is his first start all season where he's failed to pitch seven innings and only the rain put an end to that streak. Offensively, Cedar Rapids could string together only three hits. In the fourth frame, Lewin Diaz started the inning by being hit by a pitch. Jaylin Davis, the next batter, singled to move Diaz into scoring position. Caleb Hamilton came up with the big hit, a one-out RBI double. This would be the lone run of the game. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Jose Berrios, Rochester Red Wings Hitter of the Day – Max Murphy, Fort Myers Miracle MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester- Scheduled Off Day Chattanooga @ Jackson (11:05 CST) - RHP Felix Jorge Fort Myers vs. Dayton (5:35 CST) - RHP Dereck Rodriguez (0-2, 3.24 ERA) Cedar Rapids- Scheduled Off Day Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games. Click here to view the article

Big names were slated to pitch in the Twins system Tuesday night, with Jose Berrios, Fernando Romero, and Dereck Rodriguez all taking the hill for their respective teams. They were all fantastic, but it was another starter who stole the day with one of the best performances you’ve seen in the minors since Twins Daily came into existence (trust me on this). But he also took the loss despite his efforts, and the Chattanooga Lookouts offense owes both their starters some penance after being swept in a doubleheader.Keep reading to find out just how well all the starters threw on Tuesday night, and why it’s the relative unknown who still gets the most glory! RED WINGS REPORT Gwinnett 4, Rochester 5 Box Score Jose Berrios was pretty good in his fourth start of the year, going six innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits and three walks while striking out ten. I apologize for the modest adjective while you read his state line again: 6IP, 2 R’s (1 ER), 4 H’s, 3 BBs, 10 K’s; but you’ll understand why it was just “pretty good” as you go further along in this report. He struck out multiple Braves hitters in the first, third, and sixth innings and at least one in each inning. His day was finished after 102 pitches and he left the game with the Red Wings down 2-0. A passed ball in the third resulted in one of those runs, while a solo home run in the fourth accounted for the other. D.J. Baxendale pitched a one-two-three seventh inning, striking out one before Rochester’s lineup came alive against Gwinnett’s bullpen in the bottom half of the frame. A Niko Goodrum double scored their first run, then an Ehire Adrianza single and Matt Hague sacrifice gave them the lead 3-2. It was Adrianza’s first game with the Red Wings after being assigned to the roster earlier in the day. Trevor Hildenberger came on for the eighth and gave the lead right back on a single, double, and single to consecutive batters before working his way out of the jam. He did strike out two. Now down 4-3 with two outs in the eighth, Tommy Field got a two-out rally started for Rochester with a double, and Goodrum finished it with his second home run of the season to put the Red Wings back out front. J.T. Chargois came on for the ninth and picked up his first save of the 2017 season with a one-two-three inning. Adrianza, Daniel Palka, Goodrum and J.B. Shuck had two hits on the night. Field and Goodrum each scored two runs in the victory. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Game 1: Tennessee 2, Chattanooga 0 (7 innings) Box Score In the regularly scheduled game of the double-header, Twins Daily’s #1 Prospect Fernando Romero was on the mound for the Lookouts and got himself into a pitcher’s duel. Unfortunately, his offense didn’t come to bat for him in this one. Nick Gordon led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and was followed by an Engelb Vielma walk to put him in scoring position, but that was one of the few opportunities Chattanooga would get all game. Smokies starter Zach Wedger retired the next ten before Travis Harrison drew a walk in the fourth and Tanner English got to second base after an error and stolen base in the sixth for the rest of the opportunities. Romero matched Wedger until the seventh inning. Through six innings he had allowed just three hits and walked two with four strikeouts. He started the final inning with two more K’s, but a Vielma error at shortstop got the losing wheels spinning. The next batter singled and Romero was removed after 81 pitches and was now responsible for the game without being the one throwing the pitches. I’m guessing he would have rather done the rest himself whichever way it went from there. John Curtiss came on, walked the bases loaded, and gave up a single to score both of Tennessee’s runs on the scoreboard before getting a K to end the inning. The Lookouts proceeded to go down one-two-three as Wedger slammed the door on them like he had all game. In his last two starts, Romero has tossed 12.1 innings and allowed just one earned run on ten hits and three walks, while striking out ten. He’s improved his ERA from 9.00 to 3.44. Game 2: Tennessee 1, Chattanooga 0 (makeup of 4/23 PPD, 7 innings) Box Score Nik Turley made his second start of the season for the Lookouts, and he couldn’t have done more. He was ridiculous. Fourteen K’s in a 7-inning complete game ridiculous. Tennessee got their one run in the top of the first as a walk, stolen base, sac bunt and RBI groundout version of offense was all they would end up needing. From there the 2017 signing out of the independent leagues was literally untouchable. He struck out the side one-two-three in the sixth and seventh innings, and eight in a row going back to the fifth to end the game. He allowed just two hits and two walks to go along with the plethora of strikeouts. Seventy-one of his ninety-seven pitches went for strikes as he was as efficient as you could possibly be sending that many opposing hitters on trots of shame back to the dugout. Unfortunately, it was much of the same in Game 2 for the Chattanooga offense, though they did manage to outhit Tennessee 4-2. Nick Gordon was 2-4, and Edgar Corcino and Dan Gamache added singles to account for the four hits. They did draw six walks as a team, but weren’t able to take advantage. For the day, the Lookouts were just 0-9 with runners in scoring position, and left only ten men on base. I hope the lineup took Romero and Turley out for dinner when their day was finally done. MIRACLE MATTERS Bradenton 3, Fort Myers 7 Box score Fort Myers struck first in this one, as Zander Wiel launched his second home run of the season to lead off the second inning, and starter Dereck Rodriguez took it from there. Through four innings he kept the Marauders off the board with some help from a couple of double-plays. In the fifth a leadoff home run tied the game at one before a triple and an error brought in another for a 2-1 Bradenton lead. Fort Myers got those runs back in the sixth thanks to a Casey Scoggins RBI double and a Max Murphy RBI hit-by-pitch. Rodriguez gave up another home run to the leadoff man in the seventh and got two outs before he reached his pitch limit, exiting the game responsible for a runner on third and having recorded only three strikeouts. Nick Anderson came on and got the next batter to fly out, leaving the game tied 3-3. The Miracle put the game away with four runs in the seventh thanks to singles from Nelson Molina, Alex Perez, and Casey Scoggins along with two errors on the Marauder defense. Anderson finished the game to pick up the victory, allowing two hits in 2.1 innings, striking out two along the way. Fort Myers improves to 9-10 on the season and look to get to .500 against Bradenton Wednesday night. KERNELS NUGGETS Burlington 1, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score If you’ve sensed a theme yet in this report, you should have expected nothing less from starter Eduardo Del Rosario in Cedar Rapids in this one. He blanked the Bees for seven innings, allowing just five hits and one walk while also reaching double-digits in K’s like his upper-level cohorts with ten. The Kernels finally got on the board to support him against Burlington’s bullpen in the sixth inning when scorching hot shortstop and reigning Midwest League Player of the Week Jermaine Palacios led it off with a triple. He later scored on a wild pitch and Jaylin Davis added an RBI single to put the home team up 2-0. Alex Robinson walked one and struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning to pick up his first hold of the season, and Tom Hackimer notched his second save with a hitless ninth. An unearned run did score to make it interesting in the final frame as an error from Travis Blankenhorn and wild pitch put a runner on third with one out before a ground ball got the Bees on the scoreboard. Palacios was 2-4 on the night to put his average above .400 so far on the season, and Mitchell Kranson added his seventh double of the year for the Kernels offense. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Nik Turley, Chattanooga Lookouts (L, CG 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H’s, 2 BB’s, 14 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Niko Goodrum, Rochester Red Wings (2-4, 2 R’s, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Gwinnett @ Rochester (12:35PM CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Tennessee @ Chattanooga (10:15AM CST) – RHP Felix Jorge Bradenton @ Fort Myers (5:35PM CST) – RHP David Fischer (2-0, 0.60 ERA) Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Tyler Wells (1-0, 2.12 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! Click here to view the article