Minor League Report (5/12): Power Hitting and Solid Pitching Leads to Affiliate Wins

[Sherry Cerny]

All four affiliates ended up in the Win column on Friday night with some savage offense and outstanding pitching. Saints fans got a great opportunity to see heavy hitters like Jose Miranda, Kyle Garlick and Trevor Larnach, Yunior Severino and the Surge powered past the competition with 12 runs. The Mussels extended their win streak. The Kernels threw a shutout.

Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily

TRANSACTIONS

• Infielder Michael Helman placed on the 7-day IL with left shoulder dislocation
• Infielder Hernán Pérez moved to the active roster from the developmental list
• Pitcher Ronny Henriquez was activated by the Twins and optioned to St. Paul
• Outfielder Ryan LaMarre has been placed on the Saints development list
• Infielder Keoni Cavaco has been placed on the 7-day IL with a concussion.
• Outfielder Kyler Fedko has been activated off the Development List for Cedar Rapids

Saints Sentinel
Box Score
St. Paul 2, Indianapolis 1
The Friday night lineup for the Saints was power packed. Trevor Larnach and Jose Miranda, along with Matt Wallner, put the pressure on Indianapolis, scoring two runs right away in the top of the first. 

Wallner continues to be a force of nature for the Saints. In Friday night's game against Indianapolis, Wallner knocked in his 13th run. The Saints only had eight hits and two runs, but it was enough to carry a lead throughout the game. 

Saint starting pitcher Brent Headrick began this appearance with a 1-2-3 first inning, striking out the first batter, Nick Gonzales, to set the tone. The lefty only allowed one earned run - on a solo homer by Malcolm Nunez - and that was the only run that Indianapolis scored. Headrick struck out six batters. 

Austin Schulfer tossed a scoreless sixth inning, and Randy Dobnak recorded a three-inning save to close it out. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 13, Frisco 5
Box Score 
Blayne Enlow made his sixth start of the season on Friday night in Frisco. He ran a smooth first three innings, striking out four batters and keeping the RoughRiders scoreless. Then came the fourth inning. Frisco was able to capitalize on a couple of singles and a walk that loaded up the bases. Unfortunately, Enlow gave up a grand slam to tie the game.  But there would be just one more run for Frisco.

Surge reliever Hunter McMahon came in out of the bullpen to keep the RoughRiders at bay, holding them to one run in his four innings pitched. 

The Surge continued their thrashing In the sixth inning with a pair of doubles from Armani Smith and David Banuelos, and Jake Rucker pushed the Surge lead to 9-4 with a three-run home run. 

Yunior Severino also loaded up the scoreboard. Severino added to his 8th and 9th home runs of the season. He hit a two-run home run early in the game and a solo home run in the seventh that helped widen the lead to 11-4. 

The Surge got two more runs in for good measure ending the night at 13-5 and winning their fourth game in a row.

Kernels Nuggets
Cedar Rapids 1, Quad Cities 0
Box Score 
There was a pitcher’s duel in Davenport on Friday night. Fortunately, the Kernels came out on the ‘right’ side of a 1-0 ballgame. 

Twins Daily’s #4 prospect, Marco Raya, made the start for Cedar Rapids and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit and struck out four batters. Lefty Jaylen Nowlin came on and worked the next five innings, holding the shutout with seven strikeouts. Right-hander John Stankiewicz made things interesting in the ninth inning, allowing the bases to be loaded on a hit and two walks, but he closed the door to record his first save of the season. 

The Kernels offense was pretty quiet throughout the night as well. In fact, the lone run of the game came on Gonzaga alum Ernie Yake who hit his first homer of the season. Cedar Rapids had only five other hits, and two walks, in the game. Noah Cardenas had two hits. Tanner Schobel had a single and a walk. Kala’i Rosario had the only other extra-base hit, a triple. 

Mussels Matters
Fort Myers 12, Tampa 1
Box Score
Mussels starter C.J. Culpepper pitched very well and was the beneficiary of a huge night from the offense. The 2022 draft pick gave up just one run on four hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. Jarret Whorff was added to the Mussels roster on Tuesday after signing with the Twins out of an independent league on Monday. The lefty recorded five outs without allowing a run or a hit. Juan Mendez struck out three batters over two scoreless, hitless innings. 

The Mussels fell behind 1-0 after a half-inning but responded immediately thanks to a string of hits from Jorel Ortega, Danny De Andrade, and Ricardo Olivar who all scored when Rafael Cruz hit a double on a sharp line drive to left. The party continued as Dalton Shuffield singled to right field to score Cruz. He advanced to second on an error. In scoring position, he scored on a wild pitch to give the Mussels a 5-1 lead through just one inning.  

Rafael Cruz, the younger brother of Pirates shortstop O’Neil Cruz, was promoted from Extended Spring earlier this week. The 19-year-old from the Dominican Republic had a fantastic night. He drove in five runs. He got things going early with a bases-clearing double. Then he had an RBI double. Finally, he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a likely-more-painful RBI. 

The Mussels broke the game wide open in the sixth inning when they had their second five-run inning. The Mussels scored after two hit batters and a wild pitch giving the Mussels another five runs and the score 12-1. 

Culpepper gets his first win of the season and the Mussels continue their wins extending it to four after Friday night's game. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Brent Headrick (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K
Hitter of the Day – Rafael Cruz  (Fort Myers) - 2-for-5, 2-2B, 2 R, 2K, 5 RBI.

PROSPECT SUMMARY
The Twins Prospect Tracker  is the best way to see how each of the Twins top prospects performed during their games; but in case you wanted a quick look, Here is how each of the top 20 performed today: 

#2 - Royce Lewis (Minnesota) - *expected to play Saturday (SS, 7 innings) and Sunday (3B, 5 innings)
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) -1-4, 3K
#4 - Marco Raya (Cedar Rapids) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. 38 pitches, 24 strikes. 
#5 - Edouard Julien (St. Paul) - 2-3, HBP
#8 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2K
#11 - Matt Wallner (St. Paul) -  2-4, RBI, K
#14 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 3 K
#18 - Tanner Schobel (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, RBI, BB
#20 - Misael Urbina (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, BB, K 

SATURDAY SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE STARTERS: 
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) - RHP Aaron Sanchez (1-3, 5.61 ERA)
Surge @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST): RH David Festa (1-2, 5.40 ERA) 
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - RHP Kyle Jones (1-2, 3.70 ERA)
Tampa @ Fort Myers (6:30 PM CST) - LHP Wilker Reyes (1-0, 6.55 ERA) 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss today’s game! Did you watch any of them? 

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[FlyingFinn]

Reminder, if anyone wants to vote for the TD minor league prospect rankings, go to the Minor League forum.

Some very good performances tonight - Raya (time to let him go more than 3 innings), Nowlin, Headrick, Culpepper and plenty of relievers as well. 

Too bad for Helmin. Gets back from injury and is having a great season and he dislocates his shoulder.

[jkcarew]

fyi…

Jarett Whorff, the undrafted recent signee out of independent ball, is a RIGHT-HANDED pitcher, not left-handed. A Louisiana Tech kid who apparently hooked up with a velocity guru after having graduated. 24 years old…probably doesn’t figure to stay in Fort Myers too long…one way or the other.

[Doctor Wu]

7 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Reminder, if anyone wants to vote for the TD minor league prospect rankings, go to the Minor League forum.

Some very good performances tonight - Raya (time to let him go more than 3 innings), Nowlin, Headrick, Culpepper and plenty of relievers as well. 

Too bad for Helmin. Gets back from injury and is having a great season and he dislocates his shoulder.

Yeah, what's the deal with Raya only pitching 3 innings? I haven't paid much attention to his outings, but has that been the norm for him so far this season? or was this game a shorter one for him for some reason?

[Doctor Wu]

Great game for Rafael Cruz. If he's anything like his older brother we may have a good one!

[FlyingFinn]

24 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

but has that been the norm for him so far this season? or was this game a shorter one for him for some reason?

Injured early so I understand the start but I sure would like to see Raya building up. 4 starts - 2.2, 3, 3, and 3 innings. But this time he had only 1 combined hit/BB (compared to 4, 4, and 3 in his first three starts) so I'm thinking his pitch count was lower (I can't find that). 

[Doctor Gast]

Fort Meyers has some pretty good unexpected hitters

[DJL44]

52 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Fort Meyers has some pretty good unexpected hitters

Dalton Shuffield is way too old for Fort Myers. He should probably be in Wichita. The young prospects got moved up to Cedar Rapids to challenge them and the Fort Myers roster was filled with 22-25 year old "org guys".

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

Injured early so I understand the start but I sure would like to see Raya building up. 4 starts - 2.2, 3, 3, and 3 innings. But this time he had only 1 combined hit/BB (compared to 4, 4, and 3 in his first three starts) so I'm thinking his pitch count was lower (I can't find that). 

According to the provided box score link, Maya threw 38 pitches - 24 strikes and 14 balls.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Good report. Thanks. I hope Lewis starts hitting today. 3 SO's in his last game was not so hot.