Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/15): Felix Jorge Strong in Lookouts Blowout

[Tom Froemming]

Rain, rain, go away. Let all the baseball teams play! The Twins managed to get both their games in so far this weekend despite some rain at Target Field, but Saturday the Rochester Red Wings got rained out for the third time and wet weather impacted the Cedar Rapids Kernels' game for the second night in a row.

 

Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Saturday.RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester, Syracuse (Postponed)

 

These two teams will play an Easter Sunday doubleheader.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 10, Jacksonville 1

Box Score

 

Off to a 3-5 start, the Lookouts had only been averaging 2.75 runs per game. Saturday night Chattanooga topped that mark in two separate innings, crushing the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 10-1. The game was scoreless through the first four innings before the Looks tallied two runs in both the fifth and eight innings and three runs in the sixth and ninth innings.

 

Felix Jorge pitched 5.2 innings, giving up one run on just three hits. He walked three and struck out four. Over his 11 starts in Double A last season, Jorge averaged a meager 3.9 K/9, but through his first two starts of 2017 he has seven strikeouts over 9.2 innings.

 

Jorge almost ran into trouble in the fourth inning, thanks in part to two passed balls by catcher Jose Gonzalez. The 29-year-old backstop made up for those miscues in a big way, drawing a leadoff walk in the fifth inning and later coming around to score the game's first run. The next inning, Gonzalez hit a three-run homer.

 

Nick Gordon, who started at second base, continued his hot start. He was on base three times in six trips to the plate, drawing a pair of walks to go with a two-run single. Engelb Vielma and Ryan Walker each had two hits.

 

Luke Bard (2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K) and Nick Burdi (1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K) combined to throw 3.1 shutout innings out of the bullpen.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers 4, Daytona 8

Box Score

 

Fort Myers got off to a great start, tacking on two runs in the top of the first on Zander Wiel's Little League home run. It was officially scored a triple, but the Miracle's first baseman made the full trip around the bases, scoring on a throwing error.

 

Things didn't go as well from there, as Daytona answered with two first-inning runs of their own before tacking on two more in the second. Fort Myers pulled within a run in the fourth inning, but Daytona had one more big inning in them, scoring three runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

 

Daniel Kihle, Sean Miller and Nelson Molina each had a pair of hits. Kihle hit his second home run of the season. The triple was Wiel's tenth of his career in just 150 professional games.

 

Keaton Steele gave up seven runs, but only five earned, over five innings for Fort Myers. The bright spot on the mound for the Miracle was Sam Clay, who pitched a perfect eighth inning while striking out two. Clay had a disastrous first appearance of 2017, but has bounced back to throw three shutout innings to go with five strikeouts.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 0, Wisconsin 6 (5 1/2 Innings)

Box Score

 

The start of the game was delayed 45 minutes, and there were other delays throughout the contest. As if the rain wasn't enough to contend with, Cedar Rapids also faced off against a pitcher who had no-hit stuff.

 

Timber Rattlers' starter Braden Webb had a perfect game going until Mitchell Kranson hit a two-out triple in the fourth. The Kernels added just one more hit, an Aaron Whitefield double, before the game was called.

 

Kernels starter Alex Schick surrendered six runs over his 3.1 innings of work. Domenick Carlini made his Cedar Rapids debut, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings while racking up four strikeouts.

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Felix Jorge (5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K)

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jose Gonzalez (2-for-4, HR, BB, 4 RBI, 2 R)

 

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Syracuse @ Rochester (12:35 CT, Game 1): Jason Wheeler (7.20 ERA, 1.60 WHIP)

Syracuse @ Rochester (Game 2): Aaron Slegers (0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP)

Chattanooga @ Jacksonville (2:05 CT): Paul Clemens (6.75 ERA, 1.75 WHIP)

Fort Myers @ Daytona (12:05 CT): RHP Randy LeBlanc (0.00 ERA, 0.71 WHIP)

Cedar Rapids: OFF

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games.

 

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[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Cedar Rapids and the whole Midwest league has Sunday off FYI

[Bob Sacamento]

In the Twins Extended Spring Training game, the club took on the Red Sox at Bill Smith Field at Centurylinks SportsComplex.  Recent signee and former first rounder Chris Anderson started the game going three innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.  Anderson's fastball velocity sat around 91-92 mph with a little late movement but his slider was his strikeout pitch with late bite at 83-85 mph.  He also worked in a couple of changeups around 77-79 mph.  In the 3 innings, he threw 50 pitches, 32 being for strikes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRqaXH-qp-8

 

The Twins recent signing minor leaguer Bradley Strong hit a two run triple to break open the game giving the Twins the win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kydGT5Ay9FI

 

I'll make a full post later on the weekend games.

[USNMCPO]

The Twins could be strong up the middle in years to come if Vielma and Gordon can hit. It is going to be fun watching them mature.

[ashbury]

Gordon has the potential to surpass the "Greg Gagne Line", which would mean being more than sufficient for a WS winning team to hold onto (shifting to 2B if need be).

 

Vielma worries me that he'll be more like Chico Escuela with the bat, which would lead to some kind of career given his glove but not be a championship mainstay. I'm rooting for him, though; hitting well enough to play every day at SS would be awesome for the defense.

[MN_ExPat]

Saw the game with Jacksonville last night. Felix looked sharp again, Gordon was as good as ever, Vielma actually had good, productive at bats. Burdi came on in the ninth. Ball was positively jumping out of his hands and consistently hitting 97-98. Overall a very good game by Chattanooga.