Article: Twins Minor League Report (5/27): Royce Lewis For President!

[Cody Christie]

Welcome to summer! Nothing seems to go together quite like grilling out and watching a baseball game. Memorial Day weekend is typically the unofficial kick-off to summer. Most teams are starting to figure out if they are pretenders or contenders. There is a lot of baseball left to be played in the coming months but teams are starting to figure out their roles.

 

Entering play on Sunday, almost every team in the system was within striking distance of a .500 record. Rochester had a scheduled doubleheader and sat four games above .500. Cedar Rapids also had a doubleheader and they started the day one game under .500. Chattanooga has the best winning percentage in the organization with a 30-19 record. So who was able to come out on top on Sunday?RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Buffalo 11 (Game 1- 7 Innings)

Box Score

Trevor May is getting closer to returning to the big league roster but he certainly didn’t look ready based on what he did in this contest. May started and didn’t make it out of the third inning. He pitched 2 2/3 innings while allowing seven runs on five hits. He struck out five but he also walked four. There were some control issues as he threw 77 pitches in under three innings and 42 pitches were for strikes.

 

D.J. Baxendale was pressed into service after May’s early exit. He pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits. He struck out four and didn’t allow a walk. Luke Bard finished the final 1 2/3 innings by surrendering one earned run. He compiled three strikeouts and no walks.

 

Rochester didn’t have much offense to talk about. Zack Granite and Jake Cave each reached base twice. Willians Astudillo went 1-for-3 with the team’s lone extra-base hit, a double. Taylor Featherstone reached base twice, scored a run, and stole his seventh base. Recently promoted Nick Gordon went 0-for-3 with an RBI.

 

Rochester 1, Buffalo 3 (Game 2- 7 Innings)

Box Score

Rochester’s offense continued its struggle in this one as the team put together only seven hits. Zack Granite went 2-for-4. Jermaine Curtis collected the team’s lone extra-base hit, his fourth double. After going hitless in the opening game, Nick Gordon went 1-for-4 with a single.

 

On the mound, the Red Wings got five decent innings from Adalberto Mejia. He allowed three earned runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking two. John Curtiss finished the game with two shutout innings. He struck out four and walked one.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 1, Montgomery 7

Box Score

Chattanooga almost matched Montgomery in hits (7 to 10) but the Biscuits managed to compile three extra-base hits including two home runs to get out with a comfortable win. Cody Stashak started and went three innings without allowing an earned run. He gave up only one hit and struck out three. Ryan Eades ran into some trouble. He allowed three runs on five hits in his three innings of work.

 

Tyler Jay surrendered one run on two hits out of the bullpen. He last 1 2/3 innings and struck out one. Zack Jones tried to stop the bleeding but he allowed three runs, all unearned, on two hits with four strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. After the error, he allowed a home run.

 

Offensively, there wasn’t much to write home about either. Ryan Walker went 2-for-3 and was the only batter to have multiple hits. Tanner English collected the team’s only extra-base hit, a double. Brian Olson reached base twice and scored a run.

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers --, Charlotte --

The Miracle were scheduled to play a doubleheader on Sunday but their games against Charlotte were cancelled due to rain. Both games were supposed to be played on Friday evening so weather has gotten in the way of these games on multiple occasions.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 4, Clinton 9 (Game 1)

Box Score

It was a long time between home runs for Royce Lewis. His first home run of the season came in the team’s fifth game. Sunday’s first game of the doubleheader was game 35. He finally collected his second home run and fans wouldn’t have to wait long for his third long ball. In the first inning, he smack a one-out solo home run to give the Kernels the early lead. In the third inning, he collected his second homer of the game, a two-run bomb.

Jacob Pearson lead-off for the Kernels and went 2-for-5 with a triple, his first extra-base hit since being promoted. He has multiple hits in three of his first five games with the Kernels. Alex Kirilloff crack his 14^th double and reached base twice. Ben Rortvedt continued his hot hitting with a 2-for-4 effort.

 

Edwar Colina struggled to find the plate as he walked six batters in five frames. He allowed three runs on two hits with five strikeouts. Jared Finkel pitched three innings and didn’t allow an earned run but he did allow an inherited runner to score. He struck out two and walked a pair. Moises Gomez took the loss as he allowed six runs, four earned in the tenth inning.

 

Cedar Rapids 0, Clinton 1 (Game 2- 8 Innings)

Box Score

After a marathon in Game 1, the second game of the double header must have felt like a breeze. However, things would get dicey from there. Clinton scored quickly on Randy Dobnak by pushing across a run in the first frame. He settled in nicely from there and pitched seven strong innings. He allowed one run, a solo home run, on three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.

 

Cedar Rapids waited until the seventh inning until they mounted their comeback. Jose Miranda and Jean Carlos Arias singled with one out in the inning. Ben Rodriguez then drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly. This sent the game to extra-innings.

 

Clinton scored in the top of the eighth inning off of Nick Brown, who replaced Dobnak. But this day was reserved for Royce Lewis. Andrew Bechtold started the eighth with a walk to put two runners on base. David Banuelos bunted to move runners into scoring position. Jacob Pearson drove in the first run with a single. Royce Lewis capped off his day with a walk-off sacrifice fly.

 

STARS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Hitter of the Day: Royce Lewis, Cedar Rapids (3-8, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R)

Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day: Randy Dobnak, Cedar Rapids (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 K, 1 BB)

 

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Rochester vs. Buffalo (12:05 CST) – TBD

Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (6:30 CST) – LHP Tyler Watson (2-2, 3.94 ERA)

Please feel free to ask any questions about Sunday’s games, or ask any questions you may have.

 

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[goulik]

.???

Game two of the kernels double header has the score 1-0 Clinton but you discuss a Kernels come back win... Final score 3-2 Kernels?

[ashbury]

.???

Game two of the kernels double header has the score 1-0 Clinton but you discuss a Kernels come back win... Final score 3-2 Kernels?

MiLB.com offers a nice Scores by Affiliation feature which I keep bookmarked for easy reference. It has the linescores, plus links to the box scores that Cody and others provide in these reports - just a different format/interface to use for some purposes.

[Han Joelo]

I was going to ask when Lewis' power would start emerging.  Apparently, he was waiting for Seth to be in attendance.