Article: Twins Minor League Reports (7/9): The Berrios Debut

[Seth Stohs]

Things were busy in the Twins farm system on Wednesday as all six affiliates played, and the Miracle played two games. Mike Kvasnicka has been on fire of late and continued that. But let's not kid ourselves, the story in the system on Wednesday was the AA Debut of JO Berrios. You'll have to keep reading to see how it went.

 

For the second straight night, the Minnesota Twins got a terrific start and nice offensive output. Kyle Gibson threw six shutout innings to improve to 8-7. Brian Dozier hit two doubles and Kendrys Morales drove in three runs. On Thursday, Yohan Pino will take the mound for the Twins against a bullpen-by-committee start from the Mariners in a fourth straight late-night game in Seattle.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Buffalo 6

Box Score

 

Logan Darnell struggled early in this game, but he regained his form and was able to give his team innings. Darnell gave up five runs in the first two innings, but he recovered and went eight. He gave up six runs on 11 hits. He walked two and struck out five. Three of the hits were home runs. Aaron Thompson got three outs in the ninth.

 

Deibinson Romero went 2-4 with his 25th double. Dan Rohlfing went 2-3 with his 15th double. Wilkin Ramirez tripled for the third time this season.

 

ROCK CATS REVIEW

New Britain 1, New Hampshire 7

Box Score

 

Download attachment: JO Berrios.jpg The story of this game was the Double-A debut of JO Berrios. The 20-year-old started out well. He got through the first two innings without a base runner. In the third inning, he walked the first two batters who both came in to score on a bloop single. In the fourth inning, he gave up a two-run home run, and in the fifth inning, he gave up a solo home run. So, in total, he gave up five runs on three hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out four. He was replaced by Mason Melotakis who was also making his first AA appearance. He gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the sixth inning before throwing a scoreless seventh frame. Ryan O'Rourke struck out three in the eighth.

 

Mike Kvasnicka has been tremendous for the last six weeks. He went 3-4 with his 15th double in this game. He has had eight hits in the Rock Cats last three games. Eddie Rosario added a triple.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

 

Game 1 - Ft. Myers 2, Palm Beach3

Box Score

 

Tim Shibuya threw a complete game for the Miracle, but unfortunately, the game ended with two outs in the seventh with a game-winning single. Shibuya gave up three runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out two in the loss.

 

Dalton Hicks went 2-3 with his fifth home run and two RBI. Nate Roberts added his seventh double. Byron Buxton played the whole first game. He went 0-2 and walked once. He also stole his first base. The Miracle had just four hits in this game.

 

Game 2 - Ft. Myers 1, Palm Beach 4

Box Score

 

The Miracle also had just four hits in the second game. Dalton Hicks had an RBI single that scored Niko Goodrum. Goodrum stole his 18th base of the season.

 

Matt Tomshaw started. He gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out three. Todd Van Steensel came on to make his Florida State League debut. He walked one and struck out two in a scoreless inning.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 2, Wisconsin 5

Box Score

 

Ryan Eades walked one and struck out a season-high nine batters in five innings in this game. However, he also gave up five runs on six hits and hit two batters. Chris Mazza gave up two hits and struck out two in two scoreless innings. Jared Wilson struck out two over two scoreless innings.

 

Chad Christensen led the offense. He went 3-5. Ryan Walker was 2-5 and Mitch Garver was 2-4.

 

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton 5, Kingsport 2

Box Score

 

Sam Gibbons put in another solid start. In five innings, he gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out six. CK Irby struck out three in two scoreless innings. Cameron Booser gave up a hit and a walk and struck out two over two scoreless innings.

 

Jonatan Hinojosa went 2-3 with a double and two RBI. Tyler Kuresa hit his first home run. Jeremias Pineda, Max Murphy and Dutch Deol each doubled.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 1, GCL Orioles 0

Box Score

 

Lefty Brandon Easton had a no-hitter going through 4.2 innings. He went five innings and gave up just one hit. He walked two and struck out four. Reyson Zoquiel threw a perfect sixth inning. Miles Nordgren threw two perfect innings to record his second save.

 

Frank Encarnacion hit his second double. He scored on a Rafael Valera single. Joel Polanco hit his third double.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Brandon Easton, GCL Twins

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Dalton Hicks, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes Barre (DH @ 4:35 CST) – Scott Diamond, TBD

New Britain @ New Hampshire (5:35 CST) – Virgil Vasquez

Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach (5:35 CST) – Ethan Mildren

Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) - Chih-Wei Hu

Kingsport @ Elizabethton (6:00 CST) – Mat Batts

GCL Twins @ GCL Orioles (11:00am CST) – TBD

 

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games.

 

A quick reminder:

 

 [/hr]Twins beat up Seattle last night, so on Thursday you can get a half price large or extra-large pizza from PapaJohns.com by using the promo code 'TWINSWIN'.

 

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