Twins Minor League Report (5/1): Mussels Lose No-Hit Bid in 8th Inning

[Seth Stohs]

No-hitters are pretty cool. In the minor leagues, even near no-hitters can get some players' names on the watch lists of prospect fans. Tonight's name to know is Cesar Lares. 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Cesar Lares)

The Mighty Mussels have completed a couple of no-hitters in recent years. On Wednesday night, lefty Cesar Lares and gave them another shot, but they had to settle for a one-hitter. St. Paul and Wichita made big comebacks and held on for wins. Cedar Rapids got an early homer and held on thanks to some strong pitching 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 17-13 
St. Paul Saints: 11-16 
Wichita Wind Surge: 8-15 
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 11-11
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 8-12    

Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. 

TRANSACTIONS
On Wednesday morning, the Twins announced that they had purchased the contract of Caleb Boushley from the Saints. 

To make room for Boushley on the active roster, LHP Kody Funderburk was optioned to St. Paul. 

St. Paul also placed catcher Jair Camargo on the 7-Day IL with a right forearm strain. Chris Williams, who was placed on the development list on Tuesday, was activated on Wednesday. 

Saints infielder Tanner Morris decided to retire. 

The Kernels placed RHP C.J. Culpepper on the temporarily inactive list.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 8, Nashville 5
Box Score
The Saints used a big-inning to take the mid-innings lead and the bullpen came through with six straight scoreless innings to end the game. 

Joe Gunkel got the start for St. Paul. He gave up five runs (4 earned) on seven hits (2 homers) and a walk. Down 5-0 already, and with two runners on base, Jordan Balazovic came into the game. He got out of that third inning and threw a scoreless fourth inning too. Austin Schulfer gave up two hits and walked two batters, but he also struck out two hitters over two scoreless innings. Ryan Jenson walked two and struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. Diego Castillo struck out two in a perfect ninth inning to record his second save since joining the Saints.  

Down 5-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Saints put together a huge inning. It all began with two outs. Anthony Prato was hit by a pitch. Diego A. Castillo walked. Prato scored on a DaShawn Keirsey single. Austin Martin followed with an RBI ground-rule double. A fielding error allowed Keirsey and Martin to score. The Saints were still down 5-4. 

Michael Helman came to the plate and launched a two-run home run that gave the Saints a 6-5 lead. 

With one out in the seventh inning, Yunior Severino singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He moved up to third base on a ground out. Chris Williams and Prato worked out walks to load the bases. Then Diego Castillo walked which scored the team’s seventh run. After a pitching change, a Keirsey walk scored Williams with the eighth run. 

Martin had two doubles in five at-bats. Helman was 2-for-4 with a walk and his third home run. Severino went 2-for-4 with a walk. Castillo walked three times. 

For Louisville, right-hander Casey Legumina worked 2 1/3 innings of no-run, no-hit ball. He walked two and struck out two batters. Legumina was traded to the Reds in the Kyle Farmer deal. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Northwest Arkansas 5                                                                                                                                                                                               Box Score
Let’s start with the good news of the day. Emmanuel Rodriguez was back in the lineup, leading off and playing center field. He went 1-for-5 with two RBI. 

The Wind Surge fell behind 5-0 after four innings thanks to some poor defense. Pierson Ohl made the start and went the first six innings. He was charged with five runs, though just one run was earned. He gave up five hits, walked none and struck out four batters. Always a strike thrower, 61 of Ohl’s 81 pitchers were strikes, 75.3%. 

In the top of the fifth inning, the Wind Surge started their slow and gradual comeback. Carson McCusker doubles and scored on a Jake Rucker triple. Rucker scored on a ground out by Rodriguez. 

Down 5-2 in the seventh inning, Rodriguez came to the plate with runners on first and second. He hit a ground-rule double that scored Jeferson Morales. Tanner Schobel walked to load the bases, and Noah Cardenas walked to score Rucker and make the score 5-4. 

Nick Wittgren struck out two batters in a scoreless seventh inning.

With two on and two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Jake Rucker doubled to drive in Alerick Soularie and Carson McCusker and give the Surge their first lead of the game.

Miguel Rodriguez came on in the eight to protect a 6-5 lead. He pitched two perfect innings with one strikeout to record his first save of the season. 

Morales went 2-for-3. Rucker went 2-for-3 with a walk, his fifth double and his first triple. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 1
Box Score
The Kernels have been getting some good pitching of late. Brooklyn Park’s John Klein made the start on Wednesday against Peoria. He gave up one run on four hits and a walk over five innings. He had five strikeouts. He was a strike-throwing machine. 54 of his 76 pitches were strikes, an impressive 71%. 

Jordan Carr came on and tossed a scoreless inning. Kyle Bischoff gave up one hit over two scoreless innings. With a 2-1 lead, the Kernels turned to Ricardo Velez and he came through. He struck out two batters in a perfect ninth to record his fifth save. 

It’s a good thing that the pitching was so strong because the offense really wasn’t. In fact, the Kernels took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Following a leadoff walk by Agustin Ruiz, Keoni Cavaco drilled his second home run of the season. 

The only other hit that the Kernels had in this game was a fifth-inning double by Luke Keaschall . The 2023 second-round pick was also hit by a pitch and stole his 10th bag. 

Gabriel Gonzalez, who left Tuesday night’s game with back spasms, did not play in this game, though had it gone longer, he was going to enter the game as DH.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Bradenton 0
Box Score
Fort Myers likes throwing no-hitters. Over the past couple of years, they have thrown a couple of combined no hitters. Wednesday was nearly another no-no for the Mussels. 

Lefty Cesar Lares started and tossed six scoreless, no-hit innings. He had no walks and struck out two batters. There was a second-inning error that allowed a baserunner, but he was quickly retired on a double play ball. He did hit one batter in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Lares proceeded to pick him off of first. In his six innings of work, just one ball even left the infield, a line out to left field. He got groundouts and infield pop ups in a dominating outing. 

Danny Moreno came in for the seventh inning. After a fly out to right field, Moreno committed a fielding error. After a strikeout, he hit a batter. But he got another ground out to end the inning. Shutout and no-hitter still intact. Moreno came back out for the eighth inning and was throwing gas, sitting 94-95 mph. He struck out the first two batters of the inning. However, with two outs, Javier Rivas lined a single to center to end the no-hit bid. 

Julio Bonillo came on and got a groundout to end that inning. He got a grounder and two strikeouts in the ninth to secure the first Win of the season for Cesar Lares. It was his third Save of the year, and he’s only been with the Mussels for two weeks. 

The game was always close, so there was always no-hit drama, but also maintain-a-small-lead drama too. In the top of the third inning, Brandon Winokur singled to center that scored Omari Daniel (who reached on a ground-rule double) with the game’s first run. 

Fast-forward to the top of the sixth inning, and with one out, Jose Rodriguez lined a homer over the wall in left field. It was his third home run of the season and gave the team a 2-0 lead. 

Eight out of nine Mussels had at least one hit in the game. Poncho Ruiz went 2-for-3 with a walk and his fourth double. A rehabbing Aaron Sabato went 1-for-3 with two walks. They certainly had more opportunities to expand the lead, but they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. On the other side, the Marauders went 0-for-1 with a runner in scoring position and left just three runners on base in the game. 

Lares, a 20-year-old from Venezuela has been really good of late. In his previous start, he gave up zero earned runs over five innings. In the start before that, he tossed four innings of one-hit ball. In 19 2/3 total innings, opponents are hitting just .174 off of him. The Twins signed him in May of 2022. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day – Jake Rucker (Wichita) - 2-for-3, BB, 2B(5), 3B(1), 2 R, 3 RBI, SB(5).  
Pitcher of the Day – Cesar Lares (Fort Myers) - 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, HB, 69 strikes, 41 pitches (59.4%).  

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. 

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(7), 2 RBI
#7 – Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, 2-2B(2), R, RBI, 2 K.
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K
#11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 3 K.
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, HBP, 2B(6), SB(10).
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K.
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, BB
#16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, 2 BB, K.

WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
Rochester @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) - TBD
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 PM CST) - RHP A.J. Alexy (1-1, 4.40 ERA)
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Miguelangel Boadas (1-2, 5.14 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Bradenton (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Charlee Soto (0-1, 2.08 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics!

 

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[Jocko87]

Small nitpick, 69 strikes on 41 pitches would be 168%. I believe that would be a record.

Also the big rally for St Paul included the two run error on a ball hit by Wallner, barely. Man he looks uncomfortable. Pulling for ya big guy.

[Doctor Wu]

Obviously a very good performance by Cesar Lares. As Seth noted, games like this one will suddenly make more people aware of you. Let's hope this kid continues to pitch well. 

[Karbo]

Any news on how Jenkins is doing or a timeline for his return?

[Dman]

Laras is going to be an interesting pitcher.  He has been pretty successful everywhere he has been so far. He is not going to be a flamethrower, but from what I can see his pitches get a lot of side to side movement and spin.  This seems to allow him to get lot's of pop ups and ground balls.  All the numbers look good right now except K rate which is a little concerning.

I watched his game on MiLB.tv and came away less impressed than I thought I would.  He's a solid looking 6' pitcher with a live arm, but he didn't miss a ton of bats.  The first hitter drilled a ball right at him at what had to be 100MPH which if he hadn't caught for an out would have been a hit.  Several good defensive plays were made for him as well to either get quick outs or save hits.  It was one of those games where everything goes right for the pitcher. I am not trying to take away from his 6 no hit inning's as that is an incredible accomplishment.  Really hard to do in pro ball.  Still in my mind I was hoping for a certain level of dominance that I did not see from him.  He didn't appear to have great control.  He didn't strike out many hitters.  While he generated a ton of weak contact he also gave up some pretty hard contact that fortunately was right at his fielder's. His game felt more lucky than good, but hey that is what good pitchers do.  Make it tough on hitters and get outs.  I was just expecting different things from him I guess.

Like I said it is an interesting mix.  For 20 years old he is doing exceptionally well.  I just have some nagging concerns that maybe will go away as the season moves on.

[Patzky]

I know the Saints wish to put out a competitive lineup but I was a bit surprised to see Austin Martin playing. I expect the news about Buxton won't be good and Martin will sit tonight.. 

[FlyingFinn]

28 minutes ago, Dman said:

Laras is going to be an interesting pitcher.  He has been pretty successful everywhere he has been so far.

I know nothing about Laras but see he had an 8.13 ERA in 2023. 43/8 K to walk ratio though that year.

[Dman]

I have been really tough\down on the bullpens in the minors so far this year, but want to give them a shout out as the pen's held the leads for all the affiliates last night.  I can eat a little crow today.

Sad to hear Tanner Morris retired.  Obviously I don't know the reason(s), but it had to be hard dealing with a slow start and stuck in system with Lee, Prato and Helman with more guys on the way.  Still while his numbers were down that happens to a lot hitters when starting in colder climates.  At any rate I wish him the best of luck as he had a very successful minor league career to this point.

Martin with a really nice night for the Saints. Good to see him keeping that bat going. He might be back up with MLB shortly.

Klein continues to pitch well would just like see that K rate a bit higher, but he has been effective this year.

Nice to Rodriguez is back and with an extra base hit,  

Pitching seems to be dominating recently.

 

[Dman]

2 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I know nothing about Laras but see he had an 8.13 ERA in 2023. 43/8 K to walk ratio though that year.

You are correct but his K rate was really good that year which can be an indicator of future success.  We'll see how he does as this season goes on, but I don't believe that Bradenton team has a ton of good hitters and he only K'd two guys last night.  Still the weak contact was impressive.  He appeared very hard to barrel up last night.

He is an enigma for me right now, but that weak contact with a little more refinement to get more K's and he could be really good.  Pretty SSS so far, we'll see what the full year looks like, but he is off to an impressive start for being younger than most in his league.

[tony&rodney]

50 minutes ago, Patzky said:

I know the Saints wish to put out a competitive lineup but I was a bit surprised to see Austin Martin playing. I expect the news about Buxton won't be good and Martin will sit tonight.. 

No reason why Austin Martin should sit tonight. St. Paul faces Connor Phillips (#4 Reds RHSP) tonight and the at bats versus a bonafide pitcher can only help Martin improve his game. He can show up tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in the Target Field clubhouse and slip into his Twins uniform prepared to face some good Red Sox pitching. It's not far from St. Paul to Minneapolis, as far as the distance driving goes. I doubt Martin wants a day off.

[jmlease1]

48 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

No reason why Austin Martin should sit tonight. St. Paul faces Connor Phillips (#4 Reds RHSP) tonight and the at bats versus a bonafide pitcher can only help Martin improve his game. He can show up tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in the Target Field clubhouse and slip into his Twins uniform prepared to face some good Red Sox pitching. It's not far from St. Paul to Minneapolis, as far as the distance driving goes. I doubt Martin wants a day off.

seriously. this isn't like when you need a pitcher, especially a starter. position players can go every day and you can literally hop the light rail to get from CHS to Target Field.

Best news is the Emma was back in the OF. Glad it wasn't a serious injury. Looking forward to him resuming his destruction of AA.

[roger]

2 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

No reason why Austin Martin should sit tonight. St. Paul faces Connor Phillips (#4 Reds RHSP) tonight and the at bats versus a bonafide pitcher can only help Martin improve his game. He can show up tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in the Target Field clubhouse and slip into his Twins uniform prepared to face some good Red Sox pitching. It's not far from St. Paul to Minneapolis, as far as the distance driving goes. I doubt Martin wants a day off.

You missed a story from this spring's Strib, tony.

Martin and his gal friend (don't remember if they are engaged) rented a unit in the new high rise behind the Target Field left field wall.  So he doesn't have to drive at all to get Target Field.  Recall when they were looking at the unit, the realtor commented that he would have a good view of Target Field.  Remember Martin's response was that he expected to have a much better view, ie, the dugout.

[Obsvr]

just looking at the rankings...

1,2,4,5,6,8,9,14,17,18,20 are all out with injuries.

Not a comment about anything other than...

WOOF.

This is by far my favorite content on this site...such a bummer all these guys are on the shelf.

[tony&rodney]

19 minutes ago, roger said:

You missed a story from this spring's Strib, tony.

Martin and his gal friend (don't remember if they are engaged) rented a unit in the new high rise behind the Target Field left field wall.  So he doesn't have to drive at all to get Target Field.  Recall when they were looking at the unit, the realtor commented that he would have a good view of Target Field.  Remember Martin's response was that he expected to have a much better view, ie, the dugout.

Excellent, even better. I guess I heard that on the radio but forgot about it. Good add. Martin has plenty to prove at the MLB level but I must admit I like his game.

[TwinsAce]

2 hours ago, Obsvr said:

just looking at the rankings...

1,2,4,5,6,8,9,14,17,18,20 are all out with injuries.

Not a comment about anything other than...

WOOF.

This is by far my favorite content on this site...such a bummer all these guys are on the shelf.

I'm either looking at the wrong rankings or unaware of some injuries.

1 is Jenkins and 2 is Lee, which makes sense. 

4 is Gabriel which seems temporary and not really an issue. 

5 is Raya - I think I missed his injury? When did he get injured?  He's active and was just pitching recently, so I think he is still healthy, right?

6 is Festa - He just did his 10 strikeout game, right? I'm not seeing any injury news on him either.

8 is Cory Lewis, which has been a sad loss with his shoulder injury.

9 is Soto - I'm not seeing any injury news on him either?

14 is Culpepper and he went on the temporary inactive list.  But I didn't think this was used for injuries? So wouldn't this be something else?

17 Canterino was unfortunate.

18 is Prielipp and also unfortunate.

20 is SWR. He just pitched and last I knew wasn't injured?

 

So 1, 2, 8, 17, and 18 are injured, but the others I'm either unaware of or they aren't injured or were only out a few games.

[Dave Mona]

Any 2024 word on Bryan Acuna? He hit .310 in 2022 and just .185 last year. Thanks.

[Obsvr]

2 hours ago, TwinsAce said:

I'm either looking at the wrong rankings or unaware of some injuries.

1 is Jenkins and 2 is Lee, which makes sense. 

4 is Gabriel which seems temporary and not really an issue. 

5 is Raya - I think I missed his injury? When did he get injured?  He's active and was just pitching recently, so I think he is still healthy, right?

6 is Festa - He just did his 10 strikeout game, right? I'm not seeing any injury news on him either.

8 is Cory Lewis, which has been a sad loss with his shoulder injury.

9 is Soto - I'm not seeing any injury news on him either?

14 is Culpepper and he went on the temporary inactive list.  But I didn't think this was used for injuries? So wouldn't this be something else?

17 Canterino was unfortunate.

18 is Prielipp and also unfortunate.

20 is SWR. He just pitched and last I knew wasn't injured?

 

So 1, 2, 8, 17, and 18 are injured, but the others I'm either unaware of or they aren't injured or were only out a few games.

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(7), 2 RBI
#7 – Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, 2-2B(2), R, RBI, 2 K.
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K
#11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 3 K.
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, HBP, 2B(6), SB(10).
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K.
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, BB
#16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, 2 BB, K.

 

Just filled in the gaps.  Didn't look that deep into it.

[Castinofan]

Is Kiersey ever going to get a chance with the big club?  With Buxton out, he seems to have the tools needed.  Much rather watch him than Margot. 

[TwinsAce]

7 hours ago, Obsvr said:

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(7), 2 RBI
#7 – Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, 2-2B(2), R, RBI, 2 K.
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K
#11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 3 K.
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, HBP, 2B(6), SB(10).
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K.
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, BB
#16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, 2 BB, K.

 

Just filled in the gaps.  Didn't look that deep into it.

I think it varies by who writes these articles up each day, but most of the time they only show the players who played that day.  So in other words, if someone is not pitching, they aren't included.  Or if someone has a day off, they would also not be listed.  So thankfully not that many injuries.  Hope that helps!