Article: Twins Minor League Report (7/6): Kernels Pop Early For Series Win

[Steve Lein]

The Minnesota Twins were unable to take the series on Sunday in Kansas City, falling 3-2 to the Royals in Ervin Santana’s season debut. He did more than they could have hoped for limiting the Royals to just two runs on three hits, while striking out eight. But Miguel Sano driving in another run and Aaron Hicks going yard weren’t enough to get him the victory.In the minors on Sunday, there was a comeback win for one squad, and another pounded out fourteen hits to jump out to early big lead.

 

To find out about how all it went down on Sunday, keep reading!

 

TRANSACTIONS

 

The Twins have been busy over the weekend with transactions, and this came with the announcement of the International League All-Star teams on Sunday. Representing the Rochester Red Wings will be 2B James Beresford, RP A.J. Achter, and SP Taylor Rogers.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Lehigh Valley 4, Rochester 2

Box Score

 

Lefthander Taylor Rogers was on the mound for the Red Wings, and delivered a quality start. In 6.1 innings, he allowed three earned runs (four total) on nine hits. He walked none and struck out six.

 

The third inning was the big one for the Iron Pigs, as an error by Oswaldo Arcia in right field got things going to start the inning. This was followed by consecutive doubles to score two, and a single later in the inning put the third run on the board. Rogers recorded the first out of the seventh inning before surrendering a home run to Chase d’Arnaud to end his night.

 

Mark Hamburger pitched 1.2 innings of perfect relief, striking out one. Caleb Thielbar pitched the ninth, allowing two hits but no runs to finish the game.

 

There was little offense for Rochester in this one as they were just 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left only five men on base. The first eight men of the game were retired before a Carlos Paulino single in the third. Jorge Polanco doubled in the sixth but only made it to third base, and Wilkin Ramirez added a single in the seventh. That was it for the offense until the ninth inning.

 

Arcia led off the bottom half with a single, was retired at second on a Reynaldo Rodriguez fielder’s choice, and Jose Martinez later followed with his third home run of the season to put their only runs on the board for the day.

 

The loss put the Red Wings record at 44-39 on the season, one and a half games back of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in the International League North Division.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 2, Jacksonville 3

Box Score

 

Jacksonville jumped out to an early lead in the first inning against Lookouts starter D.J. Baxendale. The second hitter of the game clubbed a solo home run to make it 1-0, and later with the bases loaded Niko Goodrum’s first error in Double-A allowed a second run to score. Baxendale recovered and finished four innings with just the two runs allowed on three hits and a walk. He struck out four.

 

Madison Boer pitched the next two scoreless innings, working around three walks and one hit to keep the score at 2-0.

 

In the top of the sixth, Max Kepler drew a walk with two outs, and Adam Brett Walker drove him in with a double to make it 2-1. Chattanooga then tied it at two in the seventh as Goodrum made up for his earlier error with a solo blast, his second home run in the Southern League.

 

Jacksonville managed to manufacture that run back in the bottom of the inning however, as a lead-off walk and sacrifice bunt put the go-ahead run in scoring position. D.J. Johnson got the second out of the inning, but an RBI single would do the trick for the Suns. J.T. Chargois pitched a scoreless eighth inning, walking two.

 

Chattanooga threatened in each of the eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to push the tying run across. Walker started the eighth with a single and stole second base to put himself in scoring position but the next three batters were retired, stranding him on third. In the ninth, Stephen Wickens doubled with two outs, but Kennys Vargas popped out to end the game.

 

Leadoff man Levi Michael was 2-5 on the day with a double, and Wickens and Walker both added doubles in multi-hit efforts.

MIRACLE MATTERS

St. Lucie 4, Fort Myers 5

Box Score

 

Fort Myers scored first in the game’s opening frame as an Engelb Vielma single and stolen base, an Alex Swim hit by pitch, and a Mitch Garver walk loaded the bases. They would only get one run on the scoreboard however, on a Jason Kanzler sac fly. They went up 2-0 in the third inning after a Ryan Walker sac fly scored Swim, who had singled, made it to second on a Garver walk and reached to third on an infield error, but it also turned into a double play as Mitch Garver was nabbed attempting to advance to third on the throw home.

 

Kohl Stewart made the start for the Miracle, and began the game by striking out the first two batters. He’d make it a one-two-three inning with a pop-out to Vielma at short. He worked around a walk and ground-rule double in the second to escape a jam, and pitched another one-two-three third inning. In the fourth, it looked like he was going to work out of another jam, but after a line-out, throw-em-out double play of his own teams doing, he got tagged with a two run home run to tie the game at two. He finished three more innings, picking up three more K’s along the way, but a throwing error from himself in the seventh led to an unearned run and 3-2 deficit as he finished the inning. Overall on the day, Stewart went seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks, while striking out six. His six strikeouts were his most in a game this season.

 

St. Lucie would add another run in the eighth inning off Brandon Bixler, as an error from Bryan Haar at third, a walk, and a wild pitch put runners on second and third, and a sac fly brought one in for a 4-2 lead.

 

The Mets bullpen then entered the game, and it was a good thing for the Miracle. Alex Swim led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and Garver followed with a walk. A fly out and walk later had the bases loaded for Marcus Knecht. His single brought in two runs and tied the game at four. Haar was then intentionally walked to load the bases again, and a wild pitch allowed Walker to scamper home with the go-ahead run.

 

Nick Burdi came on for the ninth inning and his first save opportunity back with Fort Myers, and he struck out the first batter he faced. A single then put the tying runner on base, and Burdi was likely bailed out by the third ground-rule double of the game for the Mets, as it kept the tying run to just third base. Burdi then got a groundout to his drawn in infield, and a fly out to preserve the victory and pick up the save.

 

As a team, the Miracle had just five hits on the game, led by Swim who was 2-3 with two runs scored, but took advantage of seven walks and three errors from St. Lucie.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Burlington 6, Cedar Rapids 9

Box Score

 

The Kernels lineup scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings to jump out to a 7-0 lead early.

 

In the first, Jorge Fernandez cleared the bases the with a three-run double to score Edgar Corcino (walk), Nick Gordon (double), and Max Murphy (walk). In the second, Brian Navarreto and Pat Kelly led off with back-to-back singles and a wild pitch allowed Navarreto to score. Later in the inning, Gordon and Corcino executed a double steal for the inning's second run. In the third inning, Brett Doe led off with a home run, his third of the year, and singles from Fernandez, T.J. White, and Navaretto added another run. Doubles from Fernandez and Navarreto in the seventh inning added two more insurance runs.

 

Making the start for Cedar Rapids was lefty Randy Rosario. He worked the first 4.2 innings, allowing no runs and scattered four hits, while striking out five. Brandon Bixler worked through the seventh inning, and allowed one run on three hits (the run scored on a solo home run) and a walk. He struck out two. Michael Theofanopoulus worked around a couple hits in the eighth inning by striking out two, but ran into a ton of trouble in the ninth.

 

With game at 9-1, a leadoff double got things rolling for the Iron Pigs. A hit batter and two singles around a strikeout and a groundout scored two runs and put runners on the corners with two outs. A double brought in both those runners, and a single another run before Theofanopoulos got the final out of the game on a ground ball. His line read 2.0 innings pitched, and five earned runs on seven hits, while striking out three.

 

Fernandez (3-5, 2 R’s, 2 2B’s, 4 RBI), and Navarreto (3-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI) had three hits apiece, and Corcino (2-4, 2 R’s, BB) and Gordon (2-5, R, 2B) also collected multiple hits to lead the offense in taking three of four from Burlington.

 

After a .204 average in the month of May, Gordon followed with a .293 average in June to up his overall line to .253 on the season. He’s collected hits in eight straight games.

 

E-TOWN E-NOTES

Elizabethton 5, Princeton 2

Box Score

 

This game was scoreless through five as starters Juse Mujica for Princeton and Cody Stashak of Elizabethton combined for ten shutout half innings. Stashak allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five, and Mujica gave up just two hits and one walk while striking out six.

 

The Twins got on the board first in the sixth after Mujica left the game, as the first three hitters of the inning singled to load the bases. A sac fly from Alex Perez, an error off the bat of LaMonte Wade, and single from Amaurys Minier gave Elizabethton a 3-0 lead.

 

They added more in the seventh when Austin Diemer launched his third home run of the season, a two-run shot to make it 5-0.

 

Princeton got on the board in the seventh, as Samuel Clay gave up two singles and a walk to score one, before escaping without any further damage. Jose Abreu came on in the eighth and pitched a scoreless inning, before running into his own trouble in the ninth. A single, walk and double brought the tying runner to the plate, and Anthony McIver was summoned. The 15^th round draft pick and lefthander quashed the rally by striking out both hitters he faced to pick up his first professional save.

 

The Twins got multi-hit efforts from Sean Miller (2-5, R), Austin Diemer (2-4, 2 R’s, HR, 2 RBI), and Nelson Molina (2-3, R, BB) in the victory.

 

GCL TWINS TAKES

 

The Gulf Coast League Twins, like the rest of the GCL, had the day off on Sunday. They travel to face the GCL Orioles on Monday.

 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Pitcher of the Day – Cody Stashak, Elizabethton Twins (W, 5.0 IP, 3 H’s, 1 BB, 5 K’s)

Hitter of the Day – Jorge Fernandez, Cedar Rapids Kernels (3-5, 2 R’s, 2 2B’s, 4 RBI)

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Lehigh Valley @ Rochester (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Pat Dean (6-7, 3.11 ERA)

Chattanooga @ Jacksonville (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Jason Wheeler (0-1, 6.35 ERA)

St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Stephen Gonsalves (2-0, 3.79 ERA)

Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Sam Gibbons (2-2, 4.85 ERA)

Elizabethton @ Princeton (6:00 PM CST) – RHP Derek Rodriguez (2-0, 1.46 ERA)

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

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Sunday’s games.

 

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[Platoon]

Very nice report. A comment! Please tell me that there are not two teams named the Iron Pigs? If there are then the one in PA must be a reference to the iron industry. And the one in Burlington is a reference to very sturdy hogs!

[Seth Stohs]

 

Very nice report. A comment! Please tell me that there are not two teams named the Iron Pigs? If there are then the one in PA must be a reference to the iron industry. And the one in Burlington is a reference to very sturdy hogs!

 

Correct on the Pennsylvania team... but it is the Burlington Bees in the Midwest League.

[Steve Lein]

Haha, yes, Burlington Bees!!!

[Platoon]

Maybe it's just me, but Iowa Pigs does have a very nice ring to it!

[70charger]

Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken us this long to make a kernels-popping joke.

[TRex]

 

Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken us this long to make a kernels-popping joke.

... but I always thought the mascot looked like feed-corn rather that sweet corn, so I refrained from 'popping' references!

[Steve Lein]

 

Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken us this long to make a kernels-popping joke.

 

I was actually worried about that in titling the article. I couldn't find anything else very thematic for the day, so here we are, haha!

[70charger]

 

I was actually worried about that in titling the article. I couldn't find anything else very thematic for the day, so here we are, haha!

 

I like it. I think the title pops.

 

 

 

 

 

...sorry

[Guest]

Don't be confusing an old man who hasn't had his coffee yet. Despite the headline, this was actually the write-up for the 7/5 games, right?

 

Though, actually, the Kernels did "pop early" again Monday night.