Article: Twins Minor League Report (7/12): Saturday In The Park

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins got another strong start from Kevin Correia and got a nice, easy win in Colorado, 9-3. Correia has now given up just 11 earned runs over his last seven starts (43 innings).

 

The Twins released Red Wings starter Scott Diamond to make room for the return of Trevor May, who will start on Sunday. Diamond was the Minnesota Twins rookie of the year and pitcher of the year in 2012.

 

Today, three Twins prospects will be participating in MLB's Futures Game at Target Field at 4:00. Twins Hangouts co-hosts Jeremy Nygard and I will be in attendance. I was asked to write about the three players for the Pioneer Press, and here is that article. It includes comments from Twins Minor League Director Brad Steil as well as Miracle pitching coach Gary Lucas and Rock Cats hitting coach Chad Allen.

 

The rest of the minor leaguers had games to play on Saturday, so let's take a look at how they did.

 

Download attachment: Aaron Slegers 2.jpg

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester5 , Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 2

Box score

 

The Red Wings were down 2-1 going into the bottom of the 8th inning. Josmil Pinto led off with a walk. Pedro Florimon ran for him and stole second base. After being advanced to third on a ground out, Florimon scored on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Chris Rahl doubled home the go-ahead run. Then Dan Rohlfing hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Red Wings some cushion.

 

Rahl, James Beresford and Deibinson Romero each had two hits in the game. Eric Farris had two singles and a walk.

 

Sean Gilmartin started for the Red Wings. The lefty gave up two runs on six hits in 6.1 innings. He walked three and struck out three. Ryan Pressly made quick work of things, giving up just two hits over 2.2 scoreless innings. He struck out four.

ROCK CATS REVIEW

New Britain 6, Reading 5

Box Score

 

Aaron Hicks' hot streak continued on Saturday. He went 3-5 and now has 13 hits in his last 10 games. Mike Kvasnicka had just one hit in this game, but it was his eighth home run of the season. Kyle Knudson went 2-3 and drove in two runs. Eddie Rosario and Stephen Wickens both doubled.

 

Lefty Taylor Rogers continued to rack up innings. He went seven innings again on Saturday. He gave up four runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out three. Cole Johnson came on and gave up a run in the eighth inning. He left the game with the lead and two outs in the ninth, but a Matt Tolbert single and a walk made things interesting. Ryan O'Rourke came on and struck out his one batter to end the game and preserve the win.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers, Dunedin

 

This game was rained out. It will be made up as part of a double-header on Sunday.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

 

Cedar Rapids 5, Clinton 1 (7 innings)

Box score

 

Aaron Slegers went the distance in this rain-shortened game for the Kernels. The lanky right-hander went all seven innings and gave up one run. He allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out seven to even his season record at 6-6.

 

Down 1-0, the Kernels scored two in the third. Then in the fourth, Jason Kanzler launched his eighth homer of the year, a two-run blast, that opened the game up. Mitch Garver went 2-3 with a walk and his 19th double. Alex Swim was 2-4 with his third double and is now hitting .349. Ryan Walker and Michael Quesada each added two hits.

 

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton 7, Danville 1

Box Score

 

It was a much-needed performance for lefty Derrick Penilla after his most recent start was disastrous (1 out recorded, 9 runs allowed). He gave up one run on three hits and three walks in five innings. He struck out one. Josue Montanez gave up a hit and a walk over two scoreless innings. Keaton Steele gave up two hits over two scoreless innings to close it out.

 

All nine E-Twins starters had at least one hit. The first seven in the batting order each drove in a run. Max Murphy is back over .400 with a 2-4 day. Nick Gordon was 2-5 and ended the day hitting .333. Alex Real and Tyler Mautner each had a double. Trey Vavra hit his first professional home run.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 2, GCL Red Sox 9

Box Score

 

It was another rough day for the GCL Twins. They managed just six hits in the game. Rafael Valera went 2-3 with a walk. Roberto Gonzalez had a single, a walk and two stolen bases.

 

Though the score looks bad, starter Alexis Tapia had a good day. He gave up one run on two hits over five innings. He struck out six batters without issuing a walk. However, it was a rough day for Josh Guyer. He was charged with eight runs on eight hits over his two innings. He gave up a three-spot and then a five-spot. Zach Hayden came on and got two outs but issued two walks. Miles Nordgren gave up a hit but got the inning's final out.

 

Also of note, Zach Larson went 0-2 in the game, his first rehab appearance since pulling his hamstring.

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher – Aaron Slegers, Cedar Rapids Kernels

Hitter – Aaron Hicks, New Britain Rock Cats

 

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre @ Rochester – Trevor May, 12:05PM CST

Reading @ New Britain – Jason Wheeler, 12:35 CST

Dunedin @ Fort Myers – D.J. Baxendale, TBD, DH @ 12:05PM CST

Cedar Rapids @ Clinton – Lewis Thorpe, 2:00PM CST

Elizabethton @ Danville – Michael Cederoth, 3:00PM CST

GCL Twins - No Game Scheduled

 

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