Minor League Report (4/22): Jake Rucker and Dalton Shuffield Lead With Late-Inning Homers

[Matt Braun]

Life is a little more fun with dramatic heroics. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

 

TRANSACTIONS
C David Bañuelos transferred from AAA St. Paul to AA Wichita

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 11, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6
Box Score
Louie Varland: 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
HR: Ryan LaMarre (2), Hernán Pérez (3)
Multi-hit games: None

The Saints overcame a 4-0 deficit to easily win on Saturday.

A week and a day after starting against the Yankees, Louie Varland faced their Triple-A team—and performed a little worse. He still struck out eight, but was also touched for five runs as a 4th inning hit parade soiled his afternoon. Statcast clocked one of his fastballs at 98.7 MPH.

Fortunately for Varland, his bats ensured that he would not leave with a loss on his ledger. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s pitchers were wild all day, handing out walks like Costco samples, and the Saints exploited the free runners with glee. The 4th frame was their masterpiece, as—working with just a trio of extra-base hits—they scraped together a five-spot, surging ahead of the RailRiders with one effective attack. 

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tied the game quickly, but St. Paul piled on with three more two-run innings, eventually totaling 11 runs on the game—more than enough to best a RailRiders lineup stifled by the Saints’ bullpen. Jordan Balzovic was amongst the relief crew; he earned a 1-2-3 inning and lowered his season ERA to 1.59.

It was a strange offensive day, as six of St. Paul’s seven hits went for extra bases and no player earned multiple hits. They also walked more than they struck out. 

Elijah Dunham was the best prospect for the RailRiders on Saturday. The 18th-ranked player in the Yankees farm system, Dunham doubled twice and walked while playing center field. 

Alex Kirilloff did not play in Saturday’s game and neither did Josh Winder, whose last appearance came on April 19th. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 4, Tulsa 3
Box Score
Chad Donato: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
HR: Will Holland (1), Jake Rucker (3)
Multi-hit games: Jake Rucker (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI), Yunior Severino (2-for-4, R), DaShawn Kiersey Jr. (2-for-4, R), Will Holland (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI)

Wichita scrapped by their opponents on Saturday.

Chad Donato set the tone, working four quality innings—and recovering well after allowing a home run on the first pitch of his night. His only other blemish came via another homer in the 3rd inning.

Wichita’s bats had their hands full with Emmet Sheehan on the mound. The tall righty worked four frames as well, striking out eight batters to double his counterpart; his earned run total was half, as well. But fortunately, Sheehan burned out early, and the Drillers defense handed the Wind Surge plenty of chances to make up the difference.

Will Holland’s solo homer in the 2nd was no fluke, but when he grounded a ball to Tulsa third baseman Brandon Lewis and came up safe with Yunior Severino scoring, it was apparent that fortune was on his side. Brooks Lee’s strikeout-to-reach-base-to-score-another-run—somehow not the only one in the system on Friday—gave Wichita their first lead of the ballgame. 

The Drillers added another homer to their collection in the bottom of the innings, but all they did was set up the grand finale: a dramatic Jake Rucker 9th inning shot to hand Wichita a slim 4-3 advantage. They held on. With outstanding relief pitching allowing just one run over five frames, the Wind Surge claimed victory over the Drillers, giving them their seventh win of the year.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 1, Beloit 7
Box Score
Orlando Rodriguez: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Jeferson Morales (2-for-3, R), Ernie Yake (2-for-3, 2B)

The Kernels lost a decisive game on Saturday.

With much of the action limited to two innings—particularly brutal 4th and 5th frames for the Kernels—this was a classic quick event; the entire game lasted less than two hours. Beloit starter Luis Palacios controlled Cedar Rapids’ offense, allowing just three singles while punching out six over seven strong innings. His win was well-deserved.

The Kernels as a whole pitched better than their line suggests, only running into trouble when a Jose Salas error broke the dam in the 4th, plating the first of four runs that eventually drowned Cedar Rapids’ chance of winning. Iowa native Matt Mullenbach proved the most effective hurler of the day; he pitched a pair of scoreless frames with two strikeouts for his troubles. Charlie Neuweiler claimed an empty inning as well. 

Cedar Rapids’ bats were ineffective—tepid, if one were being mean. Outside of a strong back-end showing by Jeferson Morales and Ernie Yake, the lineup produced enough “1s” and “0s” to be mistaken as binary. Their lone run came in the 8th when Kala’i Rosario grounded out to plate Morales. 

The Sky Carp are led by Jacob Berry—a third baseman and the Marlins’ 2nd-best prospect according to MLB.com. He was drafted two spots before the Twins picked Brooks Lee. He singled and scored in four trips to the plate.

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 9, Jupiter 7
Box Score
Zebby Matthews: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
HR: Carlos Aguiar (3), Dalton Shuffield (2)
Multi-hit games: Dalton Shuffield (2-for-5, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI)

Fort Myers won on a walk-off on Saturday.

The Mighty Mussels struck first, handing starter Zebby Matthews an early 3-0 lead off of four 3rd inning walks and a double; Andrew Cossetti added a sacrifice fly for good measure. They went on to walk nine times in the game.

For Matthews—already cruising early, extending his scoreless streak to 13 frames—the runs seemed all he needed to carry the win. Jupiter did score in the 4th, finally snapping his record, but it appeared that Fort Myers was in good shape to hold their advantage. 

What they didn’t predict, though, was a four-run 5th, with a lead-off triple and back-breaking three-run homer that flipped a solid-looking lead the other way; Jupiter now commanded a two-run hold. 

And the Mighty Mussels were up to the challenge. Again forcing starter Jacob Miller to be his own enemy, Fort Myers hitters walked three times in the 5th, forcing a fresh arm to relieve the ineffective Miller from his post. With a new arm to target, Carlos Aguiar took aim and deposited a ball beyond the fence, handing his team a new one-run lead.

It lasted half an inning. Although, this time there was no response; both teams settled into an extended siege.

The tie broke in the 10th, as Jupiter plated their Manfred Man and placed pressure onto the Mighty Mussels to force an ultimatum. They did—but not in the way the Hammerheads wanted, nor in any way that could have been predicted. A wild pitch advanced Danny De Andrade—already gifted second base—to third with one out. As Aguiar struck out swinging, the ball bounded past the catcher’s reach, coaxing De Andrade home as Aguiar scampered to first, somehow eliciting a positive outcome from his actions. With hilarity, Dalton Shuffield swung at the second pitch he saw and blasted a 402 foot walk-off homer to end the game. So it goes. 

Credit must go to Fort Myers’ bullpen as well: the collection of Gabreil Yanez, Juan Mendez, and Zach Veen worked 5 ⅓ innings with just one earned run. Mendez was especially crucial, firing off 96 MPH darts over his three scoreless frames; he struck out a trio. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Juan Mendez, Fort Myers
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Dalton Shuffield, Fort Myers 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 - Brooks Lee (Wichita) - 0-5, 2 K
#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, BB, K
#6 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Minnesota) - 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, K
#9 - Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
#11 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 0-3, R, 2 BB, K
#16 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2 K
#20 - Miseal Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre @ St. Paul (2:07 PM) - TBD
Wichita @ Tulsa (1:05 PM) - RHP Carlos Luna
Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (1:05 PM) - RHP Pierson Ohl
Jupiter @ Fort Myers (11:00 AM) - RHP Tomas Cleto

 

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[FlyingFinn]

Balazovic really isn't "ramping up" as far as innings. And he is doing better. Maybe he will be used in the bullpen. With the way Pagan and Moran are pitching, there is an opening here.

[Seth Stohs]

12 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Balazovic really isn't "ramping up" as far as innings. And he is doing better. Maybe he will be used in the bullpen. With the way Pagan and Moran are pitching, there is an opening here.

I think that would be wise. 

[gman]

I don't think they will or should "ramp up" Balazovic until he regains the weight he lost from the broken jaw. He mostly was on a liquid diet for a month and lost quite a bit of weight. About 20 lbs(?). He is basically pitching in spring training mode with an inning to 2 innings. I hope that by the end of May he is pitching starter innings. He still has the talent to be a major league starter.

[jkcarew]

I'm confused on what they're doing with Balazovic. This is not a pattern of ramping up...and if the weight thing was an issue, they would still be 'ramping'...just slowly and conservatively. But there is zero ramping going on based on game appearances. Maybe they're using bullpen sessions...and the short relief stints are used as "feedback" from his bullpen work? Or he's a reliever now?