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It has been more than 24 hours since the last time the Twins lost, which is a pretty big deal here in Twins territory. The Twins MiLB affiliates went 1-3 on the day but they had a couple of nice performances to make up for the poor results. Continue reading to find out more detail about Thursday in the Twins farm system:RED WINGS REPORT Gwinnett Braves @ Rochester Box Score Byron Buxton, heard of him? He hit leadoff for the Wings and was 2-5 with a run scored and a strikeout. He also stole a base. Speed kills, you guys. James Beresford had himself a day, 3-4, with a double and a run scored. Buck Britton, who, I assume, is hoping to capitalize on the excellent alliteration that he shares with Byron Buxton, was 2-4 with a double and a run scored, the only other Rochester hitter with multiple hits. As a squad, the Red Wings struck out six times and walked three times. Rochester starter David Martinez (who?! 2005 international free agent signee by the Astros, bounced to the Texas Rangers MiLB system in 2015 before joining the Twins in 2016) fell behind early, giving up a pair of runs in the first, another in the third, and a fourth in the fifth (which proved to be the game winner) before being lifted. Martinez finished with four runs, all earned, on nine hits, a walk, a dinger, and he struck out five. The bullpen was dominant behind Martinez, giving up just one hit over the next four innings, with 1.1 innings from Dan Runzler, 1.2 from Alex Wimmers, and a scoreless ninth from Buddy Boshers. Boshers, who now owns a 1.15 ERA and could be the next man up if the Twins bullpen continues to struggle. Final: Braves 4, Red Wings 3 LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN Pensacola Blue Wahoos @ Chattanooga Box Score The Lookouts dealt with a mid-game rain delay in the sixth inning, then turned in a strong bullpen performance and nearly put the game into extra innings, making the final out with the game-tying run in scoring position. 'Nooga took an early lead in the bottom of the first on a Ryan Walker RBI single that scored Zach Granite, but they fell behind the Blue Wahoos after surrendering a run each in the second and third innings and they never regained the lead. Chattanooga managed eight hits and five walks, but just didn't have enough to overcome that early deficit. Zach Granite (2-5, with a run scored) and Stuart Turner (3-4 with a solo home run) were the only Lookouts hitters with multiple hits. Shannon Wilkerson had a solo home run of his own as well, hitting in the nine-spot. Aaron Slegers was the pitcher of record for the Lookouts, he started and went 4.1 innings with four earned runs off of six hits. He also walked four and struck out three. In the middle of the fifth, Mike Strong took over for Slegers and induced a double play to get the Lookouts out of a jam, but then gave up a run in the sixth, to put Chattanooga down 5-3. Luke Westphal then pitched three scoreless innings of one-hit baseball, giving up a walk and striking out four. Westphal now owns a 1.80 ERA. Final: Blue Wahoos 5, Lookouts 4 MIRACLE MATTERS Bradenton Marauders @ Fort Myers Box Score The Miracle used a three-run seventh inning to secure a victory, despite being outhit 14-10. Of the 10 Miracle hits, five were clustered between just two hiiters, Edgar Corcino (2-4 with a double and a run scored) and Max Murphy (3-3 with a double and a walk). No other Miracle hitter had multple hits. As a team, Fort Myers struck out twelve times and walked just twice, so they're clearly learning from the Big League club! Miracle Starter Keaton Steele pitched six innings of two-run baseball but left without a decision, despite earning a quality start. Brandon Peterson vultured a W to move to 2-0 thanks to that big seventh inning. Brian Gilbert came on to start the eighth and laid an egg, giving up a run and two hits, and walking a pair without recording a single out. Todd Van Steensel came in to save the day with a two inning save, his third of the year. Van Steensel gave up just one hit and struck out three, facing the minimum thanks to a pitcher-friendly double play. Final: Marauders 3, Miracle 4 KERNELS KORNER Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Box Score It does not seem fair to say that a team of young men working as hard as they can to win a game don't deserve a victory, but it sure felt like the Kernels tried their best to give this game away. Up 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, the Kernels gave up a leadoff home run to the Rattlers' cleanup hitter and then gave up the game winner an inning later to lose in walk-off fashion. The Kernels tallied 12 hits on Thursday evening, two each from Luis Arraez and Sean Miller, and three from J.J. Fernandez, who had the best night in the system (3-4, two doubles, two runs scored, a walk and a strike out). On the bump, the Kernels went with a bullpen game, giving two innings to "starter" Andro Cutura, who walked three and struck out three but kept Wisconsin off the board. Kuo Hua Lo gave up three runs, all UNEARNED, over 2.2 innings, but he walked four along with the four strikeouts he recorded. Sam Gibbons was then charged with a blown save (his first of the year) giving up a run before turning the game over to C.K. Irby. Irby, ever the competitor, made sure to outdo Gibbons, and Irby picked up both a blown save and the loss, giving up a run in the ninth and tenth innings to lose the game. Irby struck out five, walked one and gave up three hits. Final: Kernels 5, TimberRattlers 6 (10 innings) TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - J.J. Fernandez - Cedar Rapids Kernels Pitcher of the Day - Todd Van Steensel - Fort Myers Miracle FRIDAY'S PROBABLES Syracuse Chiefs @ Rochester (6:05pm) - A.J. Cole vs. Jason Wheeler (1-1, 1.80) Pensacola Blue Wahoos @ Chattanooga (6:15pm) - Amir Garrett vs. Ryan Eades (1-2 5.70) Fort Myers @ St. Lucie Mets (5:30pm) - Felix Jorge (2-2, 1.38) vs. Scarlyn Reyes Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (6:35pm) - Sam Clay (2-1, 0.95) vs. Miguel Diaz Please ask questions and discuss the Thursday games. Click here to view the article

I've always assumed that I'd invariably get my baseball news secondhand from my younger brother, a fanatical baseball fan and true stats geek, until we no longer lived in the same household and I would be obliged to do the research on my own. That is, until he finally managed to talk me into starting a Twins Daily account last November.At first I rarely visited the site, only doing so when he succeeded in persuading me to post an idea I'd have now and then, but, as time went on and baseball came back for good this spring, I got more consistent and even learned to broaden my horizons to other baseball websites and look up more than just the Twins score every day. When this year's minor league season started, my brother was super excited since it was his first year to be able to participate in Twins Daily's "Adopt-a-Prospect" feature. He was hoping to be able to take Kohl Stewart, but though he got on just minutes after the thread started, he was disappointed to see that Stewart had already been claimed by another member. But then he noticed that Byron Buxton, the top prospect in baseball, hadn't yet been claimed; I guess everyone else, like my brother, was assuming that he'd already be taken by the time he had a chance to make a pick. Naturally he immediately jumped at that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and took him. I was pretty excited for him. Writing about baseball was something he'd dreamed about doing for some time, and to get Byron Buxton on such a prestigious website as Twins Daily was a huge deal. He told me that I should take someone, but I kind of shrugged it off and said that I wouldn't have time. However, he kept pushing the point, and finally I decided to just take a look at the prospects still available. At the time, I hardly knew anything about the players, and only recognized the top names from hearing him talk about them so much. I decided to choose in an unorthodox manner; scrolling through the Twins minor league rosters, I looked for a player who wore the number 33 on his jersey. (I go by "always33" on Twins Daily since Justin Morneau has always been my favorite ballplayer, and I thought it would be kind of fun to have my prospect wear 33, too.) The player on the Fort Myers Miracle who wore 33 was at the bottom of the pitchers. It was a name I'd never heard before, Luke Westphal. "Is he any good?" I asked. "Well, it's a kind of cool story," my brother responded. "He's from Wisconsin, but he never got drafted, and then he went to play winter ball in Australia last year, and the Twins signed him during the offseason." That was enough for me. The story caught my attention, and I suddenly wanted to write about this guy. Westphal is a guy who had to go all the way to the other side of the world to sign with a team not four hours from his native town. I signed up and got to work. The next day I spent hours researching Westphal's career from college to independent baseball to Australia winter ball to Fort Myers. I scrolled through pages of Google results and read everything I came across until there wasn't another page to be found. With pages and pages of notes, I organized my information as best I could and put together my first ever Adopt a Prospect page...and my first ever article about a baseball player, much less a minor leaguer who had only made one appearance so far. By the time I was done and had it posted, I was feeling pretty exhausted. My brother, who had also adopted Zach Jones, wanted me to take a second player as well, but I put my foot down and said no. One was enough...at least for the time being. But maybe five weeks later, I became interested in another minor leaguer's career: Trey Vavra, son of Twins' bench coach Joe Vavra. He was terrorizing pitchers in low A and had just been awarded Twins Minor League Player of the Week after posting 10 hits (1 double), 8 runs, 2 RBI, and 6 walks in just 19 at- bats, earning a .560 batting average on the week. I got excited about him and decided to adopt him, too...and then when I started doing research about him I discovered that he not only wore 33 but had been drafted in the 33rd round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. I was pretty thrilled, to say the least. How cool was it that I now had two prospects who shared jersey numbers with my favorite all-time player, however short the time would be that they'd keep them. I got Trey's page up and was rewarded when Seth Stohs, my new writing hero whose articles I always read with enthusiasm almost equal to watching the Twins play, thanked me for doing so and told me that I had done a great job. I don't mean to brag about myself, but I was so excited that I adopted D.J. Baxendale, a starting pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts, not twenty-four hours later, if my memory serves me right. And he wasn't the last one, either. Just a few days ago I got Todd Van Steensel's page going, and now I have four prospects to follow and update on a minimum of a weekly basis. It's been a lot of fun, and while I was right that it would be time consuming, it's well worth it. I've developed a sort of sentimental attachment for each and every one of those players, and it's going to be pretty sad if I can't get them all again next year, for whatever reason. But I'm enjoying following them now (and all the rest of the Twins' minor leaguers, even though I can't adopt them all), and I'm going to relish every moment of it while it lasts. I've included a brief overview of each of my prospects below, and if you're interested in learning more about them, you can click on their names to read their Adopt-a-Prospect pages. It's been a lot of fun reading about their careers, and I hope you enjoy reading the pages I've put together for them! D.J. Baxendale, right-handed starting pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts, was drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas by the Minnesota Twins. Since then, he has worked himself up to Double A, and this year he has made nine starts and posted a 3.47 ERA over 49.1 innings pitched, striking out 42 and walking 16. His record currently stands at 3-1. Luke Westphal, left-handed pitcher for the Fort Myers Miracle, was signed by the Twins in early 2015 after being discovered by Twins scout Howard Norsetter when he was pitching for the Doncaster Dragons of Australia’s Baseball Victoria Summer League where he started 14 games and collected 141 strikeouts with an ERA of 0.49 in 80 innings. He was assigned to High-A to start the season, and so far he has made 12 appearances, starting 5 games and picking up 2 wins and 2 losses. He currently has 20 strikeouts and 13 walks over 29.2 innings pitched. Todd Van Steensel, right-handed closer for the Fort Myers Miracle, has had a somewhat rocky minor league career but was given a second chance with the Minnesota Twins when they signed him to a minor league deal on February 6, 2014. This year he has played in 16 games at Fort Myers and is currently 1-2 with 4 saves in 6 opportunities. He has allowed just 24 hits over 29.1 innings, and he already has 42 strikeouts whilst walking 17. Trey Vavra, first baseman, left fielder, and designated hitter for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, was selected by the Twins in the 33rd round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida Southern College. His father, Joe Vavra, and older brother, Tanner, were already parts of the Twins organization, so it was pretty special for Trey to come to the Twins, too. This year he has played in 42 games at Class A, batting 319./.392/.454 (.846) with 10 doubles, 1 triple, 6 home runs, 28 RBI, and 29 runs scored. Unfortunately he was placed on the 7-day DL on May 27 due to a sprained left ankle after banging into the tarp down the left-field line chasing a foul ball. However, the week is almost up, and I'm eagerly anticipating his return to the field. --- Read full entry here: Twins Daily's "Adopt a Prospect" - How I Became Addicted Click here to view the article