Twins Minor League Report (8/4): Lee Debuts for Saint Paul

[Ted Schwerzler]

It wasn’t a good outcome Friday for the St. Paul Saints, but Brooks Lee made his Triple-A debut and entered the game making a quick impact. Ben Ethridge was the star on the mound for the Mighty Mussels.

 

TRANSACTIONS

• INF Hernan Perez activated off IL by St. Paul

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Columbus 7, St. Paul 0
Box Score
After being promoted yesterday, Brooks Lee, DaShawn Keirsey Jr., and Yunior Severino all made their Triple-A debuts for St. Paul on Friday night. Blayne Enlow was on the bump. It was a tough start as he lasted just three innings and gave up four runs (3 earned) on four hits and four walks. Enlow struck out two.

Lee started at shortstop and batted second in this game. In his first Triple-A at-bat, he singled.

Keirsey Jr. followed his lead with a single back up the middle. Unfortunately by the sixth inning, the Saints were trailing 6-0. In the seventh inning, the Clippers added another.

Severino went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his Triple-A debut.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Tulsa 14, Wichita 7
Box Score
If Friday is the worst start of Marco Raya’s career that would be good. He didn’t record an out and allowed six runs, four earned, on four hits. Raya also walked one with no strikeouts.

The Drillers put up a nine-spot to open the first inning and had Wichita way behind the eight ball. The Wind Surge responded with three of their own on an Alerick Soularie walk and a Willie Joe Garry Jr. single, his first Double-A hit. The former brought home Yoyner Fajardo with the latter bringing in Tanner Schobel.

The Wind Surge watched that effort evaporate as they gave up three more runs in the second inning. Wichita responded with two in the bottom half on a Schobel double that scored Fajardo and a Patrick Winkel single drove in Schobel.

They gave up a run in the fourth and in the seventh inning to extend the deficit, but added one of their own in the eighth and ninth innings. Soularie took a bases-loaded walk, scoring Fajardo in the eighth before Fajardo grounded out to score Garry Jr. in the ninth.

Fajardo recorded three hits, and Schobel added a pair of his own.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 8, Lansing 5
Box Score
Christian MacLeod was on the bump Friday for Cedar Rapids and turned in five solid innings. He gave up three runs on six hits, but walked just one and struck out three.

After giving up a run in the third inning, the Kernels answered back with three of their own in the bottom half. Mikey Perez came home on a wild pitch before Noah Cardenas singled ing Kala’i Rosario and Jorel Ortega.

The Lugnuts tied it in the fourth inning, but Cedar Rapids regained the lead during the fifth inning. Ortega tripled to bring home Rosario, and Andrew Cossetti followed with a double to drive him in. Keoni Cavaco then drew a walk on a wild pitch that allowed Cossetti to cross the plate.

After giving back a pair in the sixth inning and making things close, the Kernels pulled away during the seventh inning. Misael Urbina singled home Cardenas before Ben Ross reached on a fielder’s choice with Urbina crossing the plate. The 8-5 lead was enough to hold up.

Ortega recorded three hits on the day with Cardenas and Urbina both grabbing a pair on their own.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 5, Dunedin 0
Box Score
Ben Ethridge made the start Friday night for the Mighty Mussels and worked 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. He gave up only three hits and walked two while striking out five. Ethridge lowered his ERA to 2.18 on the season.

Scoreless through five innings, Fort Myers changed things in the sixth inning. Rubel Cespedes doubled for the 23rd time which drove home Luke Keaschall and Nate Baez. Cespedes then crossed the plate thanks to a Dunedin throwing error.

Looking to add to their lead in the ninth, Dylan Neuse singled in Maddux Houghton. Then Danny De Andrade singled to bring Neuse home and make it a five-run game

Jackson Hicks finished the game with a two inning save, his third save of the season.

Cespedes had three hits. Baez had a pair of his own.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Red Sox 7, FCL Twins 5
Box Score
Walker Jenkins got the day off after making his professional debut on Thursday.

Carlos Gutierrez took the ball for the Twins on Friday and turned in five innings of three-run baseball. He allowed four hits, walked three, and struck out seven batters.

Down 3-0 through four innings, the Twins got on the board in the fifth inning. Byron Chourio reached on an error which allowed Jankel Ortiz to cross the plate. After allowing a three-spot in the top of the sixth inning, the Twins scored three of their own during the bottom half.

Harold Grant crushed his third home run of the year which drove in Brandon Winokur and Jose Rodriguez to make it a 6-4 game. The Red Sox added another run in the top of the seventh inning, but Minnesota responded with Ortiz scoring on an Isaac Pena sacrifice fly.

Bryan Acuna walked to lead off the ninth inning, and Pena drew a two-out walk to bring up the winning run. However, the Twins came up just short.

Chourio was the lone batter to record two hits.

DOMINICAN DAILY
The Twins were scheduled to play the DSL Guardians Red squad today but action was suspended due to weather.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Ben Ethridge (Fort Myers) - 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Hitter of the Day – Jorel Ortega (Cedar Rapids) - 3-5, 2 R, RBI, 3B

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:

#1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 1-4, K
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5
#4 - Marco Raya (Wichita) - 0.0 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 1 BB
#5 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - 0-2, 2 K, BB
#10 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K
#12 - Luke Keaschall (Fort Myers) - 1-5, R, 2 K
#13 - Brandon Winokur (FCL Twins) - 1-5, 2B, R, 2 K
#16 - Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) - 0-3, 2 R, 2 BB, K
#17 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-3, K
#20 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL Twins) - 1-3, R, BB, K

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (6:05PM CST) - RHP Louie Varland
Tulsa @ Wichita (6:05PM CST) - RHP Jaylen Nowlin
Lansing @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - RHP Andrew Morris
Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30PM CST) - RHP Jack Noble

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

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[FlyingFinn]

Nice for Lee and Keirsey to get their first hit in AAA.

Wichita wasn't ready to play. Raya was terrible and his defense makes 4 errors in the 1st inning.

Ethridge has been pitching really well for Fort Myers.

[jmlease1]

Schobel needed this game, he's been scuffling in AA so far.

Hopefully this is just a blip for Raya (and not a sign he's hurt)

Congrats to Brooks Lee on the first AAA hit, looking forward to seeing how he does the rest of the season.

[terrydactyls]

Why is Joey Gallo still on the Twins' roster? 

I know this has nothing to do with the minor league report, but isn't that sentence required to be in the comments of every article?  It sure seems like it.

[stringer bell]

I don't know how much anyone playing for the Saints right now will impact the current Twins season, but several players (Severino, Kiersey, Lee, Larnach, Martin, Varland, Woods Richardson and Funderburk) really impact 2024.

[RpR]

Columbus pitcher made Saints best look like rookies; maye we can trade Gallo for him?

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

I don't know how much anyone playing for the Saints right now will impact the current Twins season, but several players (Severino, Kiersey, Lee, Larnach, Martin, Varland, Woods Richardson and Funderburk) really impact 2024.

Haven't needed him this year but I don't think the odds are great that our catchers won't get injured for two straight years. So Camargo could be needed as well. 

Shows how far Celestino has fallen as he can't even get mentioned in this group.

[FlyingFinn]

16 minutes ago, RpR said:

Columbus pitcher made Saints best look like rookies; maye we can trade Gallo for him?

Great idea but only the Columbus pitcher can be traded after the trade deadline. Gallo would be ineligible to be traded.