Twins Minor League Report (5/28): Royce Lewis Catches a Flight

[Ted Schwerzler]

Noah Cardenas went off for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and Royce Lewis was off for the St. Paul Saints as he needed to catch a flight for the Minnesota Twins.

 

Image courtesy of Cedar Rapids Kernels

TRANSACTIONS
OF Willie Joe Garry Jr. place on the injured list with an oblique strain for High-A Cedar Rapids 
C Kyle Schmidt had been activated off the injured list for High-A Cedar Rapids 
RHP Zebby Matthews promoted from Low-A Fort Myers to High-A Cedar Rapids 
RHP Jose Olivares reinstated from the development list for Low-A Fort Myers
LHP Wilker Reyes reinstated from the injured list for Low-A Fort Myers

SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 10, Omaha 6
Box Score
Royce Lewis was given the day off today for the Saints. He will fly to Texas and is expected to be reinstated to the Minnesota Twins roster tomorrow.

The Saints turned to Simeon Woods Richardson and things again went poorly. Across just four innings, Woods Richardson gave up four runs on six hits while allowing a pair to reach on walks. He struck out just a single batter.

Trailing 4-0 after the top of the third inning, St. Paul finally found an opportunity to answer. Andrew Stevenson continued his ability for heavy lifting with a single that scored Jair Camargo. No longer were the good guys being blanked, and we had a 4-1 game.

In the fifth inning, things got worse for the Saints. Samad Taylor stole his 26th base and then scored on a throwing error from Tony Walters attempting to nab him at third base. A C.J. Alexander single then drove in Nate Eaton and the deficit grew.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Camargo looked to make things interesting. With the bases loaded, he hit a grand slam for his fifth dinger of the season. Scoring Chris Williams, Hernan Perez, and Ryan LaMarre, St. Paul was only down by a run. Former star prospect for the Royals, Jackson Kowar was on for Omaha and the wheels fell off.

Andrew Stevenson crushed his eighth double of the year to score Tony Wolters, and Jose Miranda scored Stevenson on a single to Brewer Hicklen. Hernan Perez then went deep for the fourth time this season scoring both Miranda and Williams to make it a 10-6 game. That's where things ended and Stevenson was matched by Perez and Camargo four multi-hit games.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Springfield 10,Wichita 5
Box Score

Chad Donato was on the bump and his coal was to shut down the opposite. Unfortunately, he allowed five earned runs on four hits across just two innings, and his 2/1 K/BB was rendered virtually useless. The Cardinals put up a five-spot against Donato in the bottom of the second inning and it became an uphill battle from there for Wichita.

Jacob Buchberger ripped his 8th home run of the season for the Cardinals and Springfield stretched their lead to 6-0 in the third inning. Anthony Prato did bring Alex Isola home on a fielding error in the fourth inning, but the Wind Surge allowed a Noah Medlinger homer in the bottom half of the inning to make it 9-1. Extended to 10-1 in the fifth inning, the deficit just got worse.

Looking for some sort of a rebound, Prato triple for the first time this season and scored Isola. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. then drove in Prato on a single and Will Holland scored Keirsey Jr. on his third double of the season. With it 10-4 going into the seventh inning, Wichita was trying to rally. Keirsey Jr. singled in Yoyner Fajardo to make it 10-5 in the eighth inning, but that's as close as the good guys got.

Isola recorded two hits as did Prato and Keirsey Jr. Working for something better next week is now the goal.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 9, Wisconsin 6
Box Score
Coming off the injured list, Christian MacLeod made the start for Cedar Rapids. He pitched only a single inning while giving up three runs on two hits and a walk.

Wisconsin raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Joe Gray Jr. blasted a three-run homer, his third of the year, to put the Timber Rattlers on the board. Trying to immediately answer, Noah Miller singled in Tanner Schobel making it a 3-1 game.

Gray Jr. blasted a two-run shot in the third inning to make it 5-1 before Cedar Rapids went to work. Noah Cardenas roped his ninth double of the season to score Emmanuel Rodriguez and shorten the lead. Miller’s fourth double then brought the Kernels within two before the inning ended.

During the fourth inning, Schobel singled in Jose Salas and the Kernels found themselves within a run at 5-4. Without being able to even it first, Gray Jr. doubled and put Wisconsin back up 6-4.

The Kernels answered in a big way during the fifth inning. Misael Urbana singled in Cardenas before a Jose Salas sacrifice fly scored Miller to tie the game. The Kernels looked to be back in command at that point.

In the sixth inning, Cedar Rapids decided to call game. Cardenas singled in both Schobel and Ben Ross. Then Urbina plated Cardenas and the lead had been stretched to 9-6.

Both Schobel and Cardenas opted for a pair of hits on the day. Urbina decided to join them while Miller grabbed three of his own.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Dunedin 7, Fort Myers 1 (Game 1/F/7)
Box Score
Looking to play a pair today, the Mighty Mussels sent Jose Olivares to the mound in Game 1. He worked 3 2/3 innings while allowing seven runs on six hits. The disastrous day only included a single strikeout and walk apiece.

Dunedin raced out to a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning, and the Mighty Mussels never flexed anything. Dylan Neuse recorded his fourth double in the seventh inning to make it 7-1, but the game was well in hand at that point.

Fort Myers 6, Dunedin 4 (Final/7)
Box Score
Wilker Reyes was on the bump for Game 2 as the Mighty Mussels twirled a pair. He worked 2 2/3 innings allowing two runs on two hits with three walks and no strikeouts.

Fort Myers jumped on the board first when Dalton Shuffield scored Jorel Ortega and Ricardo Oliver on a first-inning single. Rubel Cespedes then launched a two-run shot to right field, scoring himself and Shuffield, making it a 4-0 lead.

Dunedin added single runs in both the second and third innings before the Mighty Mussels responded. Mikey Perez ripped a single that scored Cespedes to make it 5-2 and that helped to preserve a lead when Dunedin added another.

Jorel Ortega homered for the fourth time this year when he went deep in the seventh, and that was plenty to hold the lead after a Blue Jays run in the seventh inning. Fort Myers held on for the victory.

Ortega was joined by Cespedes for two hits on the day.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Juan Mendez (Fort Myers) - 2.1 IP, 1 H 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Hitter of the Day – Noah Cardenas (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, 2B

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:

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, R, BB, 3 K
#4 - Edouard Julien (Minnesota) - 0-3, BB, 2 K
#7 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 4.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
#9 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - 2-2, 2 BB
#12 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, K
#13 - Noah Miller (Cedar Rapids) - 3-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B
#19 - Yunior Severino (Wichita) - 0-0, BB

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Buffalo (5:05PM CST) - TBD
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05PM CST) - LHP Blayne Enlow
Cedar Rapids @ Lansing (5:00PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya
St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:00PM CST) - TBD

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

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[D.C Twins]

Anyone seen SWR pitch recently? Thoughts on the major malfunction?

[Rosterman]

1 hour ago, D.C Twins said:

Anyone seen SWR pitch recently? Thoughts on the major malfunction?

Just overmatched. He is still only 22. The question is, send him abck to egt on track with the AA club and people closer to his age, or let him continue to learn by aking bumps at AAA. Kinda in the same position Balazovic was in last year.

[FlyingFinn]

Congrats to Zebby Matthews on an early promotion.

Miller with a very good ending to his week.

Jorel Ortega - I just noticed that he has 11 SB's to go with his great hitting this year. He really deserves to move up a level. I wonder if they will push Schobel to Wichita to make room, when Brooks Lee moves to the Saints.

Cardenas seems to be in line for a promotion to Wichita and Winkel (Isola almost never catches anyway and really shouldn't be listed as a catcher on the roster).

[mrtwinsfan]

18 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

Just overmatched. He is still only 22. The question is, send him abck to egt on track with the AA club and people closer to his age, or let him continue to learn by aking bumps at AAA. Kinda in the same position Balazovic was in last year.

We are his 3rd team already , Alot of teams stick with these Prospects because of what we gave up,i have more hope for the s.s. we got whos injured now,.

[Danchat]

I share similar concerns with SWR, he is really starting to scuffle. I don't care about the age, should we expect him to spend the next two years at AAA until he's 24 and then will arbitrarily be ready for the majors?

Looks like Rodriguez is off to a slow start being sub .700 OPS, hopefully he kicks things into gear soon.