Twins Minor League Report (4/9): Saints Bested on Easter

[Ted Schwerzler]

While the rest of the Twins minor league affiliates had Easter Sunday off, the St. Paul Saints were in action across from their big league counterparts in Minneapolis. Unfortunately the result wasn’t as nice as the weather.

 

Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

TRANSACTIONS

• None to report

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Iowa 11, St. Paul 2
Box Score

Due to the plethora of arms at Toby Gardenhire’s disposal, he has had to juggle a multitude of starters for the Saints this season. Sunday was the first action Simeon Woods Richardson has seen this season and he put up decent results across 3 2/3 innings.

The talented prospect got some run with Minnesota in big league camp this year, and parlayed that into a debut that featured six strikeouts at CHS Field. Woods Richardson allowed three runs (only two earned) on four hits. He did walk two and was touched up for a solo homer by Nelson Velazquez.

Despite notching seven hits on the day, St. Paul only managed to plate a pair of runs. Trailing 3-0 in the 4th inning, Jair Camargo singled to drive in Andrew Stevenson. After giving that run back in the 5th inning, Edouard Julien negated the Cubs' scoring by drawing a walk on a wild pitch that sent Chris Williams scampering home.

Austin Schulfer grabbed seven outs for the Saints before Trevor Megill had a tough time during his inning of work. Allowing five runs on just three hits, it was a trio of walks that really set up the damage. David Bote blasted a grand slam against Megill, and it was the second time this series that Iowa accomplished that feat. Slugger Matt Mervis crushed a grand slam off of Brent Headrick on Thursday during the home opener action.

Kyle Garlick and Hernan Perez were the lone Saints to go hitless on the day, and Andrew Bechtold was the only St. Paul batter to record a pair of base hits. None of the base hits resulted in extra bases.

St. Paul will head back out on the road this week as they move on to a series with Indianapolis.

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. 

Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed:

#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 1-2, 2 BB
#6 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
#11 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - 0-2, K, HBP

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:05PM CST) - LHP Brent Headrick
NW Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05PM CST) - TBD
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - TBD
Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30PM CST) - TBD

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

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[mikelink45]

Hard to call RIchardson's outing a success - but when a team gives up 11 runs you have to find something positive and it sure wasn't Megill. 

[Ted Schwerzler]

23 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Hard to call RIchardson's outing a success - but when a team gives up 11 runs you have to find something positive and it sure wasn't Megill. 

Ding. Ding. Ding.

[miracleb]

A lot of you were higher than I was on this Saint's pitching staff.....but hopefully they can turn it around.  At least Julien "seems" to be heating up!

[stringer bell]

10 minutes ago, miracleb said:

A lot of you were higher than I was on this Saint's pitching staff.....but hopefully they can turn it around.  At least Julien "seems" to be heating up!

St. Paul seems to have a runs-friendly ballpark. Lots of homers and lots of high scores. Also, it seems based on balls are a major concern for the Saints. 
 

Julien does fan a lot, but draws a lot of walks and puts up a satisfactory batting average. I could see him leading off at DH (with Buxton in center) in a month. 

[Seth Stohs]

Ober, Varland and SWR are the ones we're most paying attention to. I Know Ober and SWR have had their rough starts, but nothing to make anything out of yet. Headrick will be starting there as well. With all the postponements, he was just thrown into long relief to get his innings. 

Obviously there are no guarantees with any of them, but it's so much more fun watching prospects than veteran, isn't it? Even though at AAA, it's typically those veteran teams that win the most. But it's a great challenge for those younger guy.s. 

[roger]

Julien 1-2 with two walks.  And a couple hits from Bechtold.  He seems to not only be playing well, but getting more attention from those who matter.