Twins Minor League Report (5/3): Couple of Starters Shove

[Ted Schwerzler]

With a couple of starting pitchers dominating from the get go, the Twins farm system found themselves in a position to do damage across the board on Friday evening.

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Adam Plutko signed to minor league contract by Minnesota
• Util Austin Martin recalled by Minnesota
• RHP Jorge Alcala recalled by Minnesota
• INF Dalton Shuffield transferred to St. Paul from Wichita
• RHP Cory Lewis transferred from the 7 to 60 day IL by Wichita
• OF Byron Chourio reinstated from the 7 day IL by Fort Myers
• OF Gregory Duran placed on the 7 day IL by Fort Myers with a lumbar spine strain

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 4, Louisville 0
Box Score

Louie Varland was on the bump Friday night for the Saints and he was nothing short of exceptional. Working seven scoreless innings, the Minnesota native punched out eight while walking none and giving up just three hits. Looking to work his way back into the Twins favor, starts like this one are the way to do it.

The sides remained scoreless through the first five innings of the game before St. Paul broke through in the 6th inning. Anthony Prato’s sacrifice fly drove in Yoyner Fajardo before a passed ball allowed DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to score. Matt Wallner then homered for the third time on the year, and the second consecutive night, to make it a 3-0 game. Tony Kemp’s 7th inning ground out drove in Yunior Severino and gave the Saints their eventual game-winning 4-0 tally.

With just five hits on the evening, Wallner recorded two of them.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
NW Arkansas 7, Wichita 6
Box Score

Pitching prospect Marco Raya was on the bump for the Wind Surge tonight and he turned in 3 1/3 innings of work. Allowing two runs on three hits he walked a pair and struck out five on the evening.

Down 2-0 into the 6th inning, Wichita finally got on the board. Kala’i Rosario doubled for the sixth time this season and scored Noah Cardenas and Carson McCusker in the process. Alerick Soularie then launched his first home run, a two run shot, to make it a 4-2 ballgame.

Another Rosario double, this time in the 7th inning, brought home Emmanuel Rodriguez and McCusker to make it a 6-2 game. Wichita was comfortably in the lead while entering the late innings.

The Wind Surge gave up a pair in the 7th inning and then allowed a trio in the 8th inning. The five runs in the late frames were enough to do Wichita in. Of the six hits on the night, only Rosario recorded more than one with a pair of his own.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 1, Peoria 0
Box Score

Zebby Matthews was Friday night’s starter for the Kernels and he was little short of perfection. Allowing three hits during seven innings of work, he struck out nine while giving up no runs or walks. It was truly a dominant start for the Cedar Rapids pitcher.

The sides remained scoreless until the 9th inning when Misael Urbina reached on a fielding error that allowed Danny De Andrade to score and walk it off for the good guys.

Cedar Rapids grabbed just four hits on the night, but it was enough to come up victorious.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Bradenton 4, Fort Myers 0
Box Score

Paulshawn Pasqualotto was on the bump Friday for the Mighty Mussels and he started hot out of the gate. With five strikeouts through his first two innings it looked like Fort Myers was going to be in good hands. Unfortunately he got beat in the 4th and 5th innings to finish with three runs on eight hits. He struck out six and allowed a walk.

Fort Myers managed just four hits, and with no runs crossing the plate, the four they gave up did them in.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (St. Paul) - 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Hitter of the Day – Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) – 2-3, R, 4 RBI, 2 2B, BB, K

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) – 1-3, R, 2 BB, K
#5 – Marco Raya (Wichita) – 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
#7 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-1, R, K
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 0-4, K
#11 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-4, 2 K
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 0-4, 2 K
#13 – Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) – 2-3, R, 4 RBI, 2 2B, BB, K
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 1-3, R, K
#16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 1-3, R, 3B, 2K
#17 – Matt Canterino (IL) – Shoulder injury
#18 – Connor Prielipp (IL) – UCL Surgery
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-4

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs Louisville (2:07 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (1-3, 5.96 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (6:05 PM CST) –RHP Aaron Rozek (0-1, 0.75 ERA)
Cedar Rapids vs Peoria (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (1-2, 5.84 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Bradenton (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (0-2, 4.70 ERA)

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

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[FlyingFinn]

Varland and Matthews were sensational. Nice to see Wallner hit homers in consecutive games.

[Paul Walerius]

The wrong Box Score is link for each affiliate. 

[Rosterman]

Poor Dalton is spending more time travelling between St. Paul and WEichita than he is spending in actual clubhouses.

[Ted Schwerzler]

47 minutes ago, Paul Walerius said:

The wrong Box Score is link for each affiliate. 

Addressed

[Jocko87]

It will be interesting to see Varlands locations on Savant tomorrow.  He can blow AAA away in any random start but my feeling is that he needs to be spotting 95 before he comes back.  98 when needed.  No need to live at 97.

[Tiantwindup]

I don’t disagree at all with the choice for pitcher of the day, but it’s not every day that a pitching line like Zebby’s falls short of the prize!

60 day for C Lewis?  That can’t be good…

[D.C Twins]

Great day! Three points:

1. E Rod needs to move up. 0.494 OBP and 1.139 OPS.... good lord.  He needs to start adjusting to pitches in the zone. He is either being pitched around in AA or the AA pitchers do not have enough command/control. Either way, he needs practice against more MLB-like pitching

2. Zebby M. is 23 y/o dominating in A, not a young prospect.  He also needs to be moved up yesterday and challenged.

3. Raya up from 40s to 50s for pitches. Hopefully that number will keep rising over the season

[terrydactyls]

When pitchers "shove", are they in danger of being arrested for assault?

[jimbo92107]

UCL surgery for Prielipp

"Shoulder injury" for Canterino

60-day IL for Cory Lewis.

Damn. Pitching is dangerous.

[Fatbat]

Rosario is heating up. Erod needs to move up to St. Paul.  Zebby is going to be a Saint soon too!

[LambchoP]

I'd like to see how ERod does against AAA pitching. It'd also be nice if Festa and Raya finally start to stretch out and throw five inning per start at least. Either that,or they don't have the stamina and will have to settle for the bullpen, which would really hurt both their values...

[Guest]

No word on the severity of Cory Lewis' shoulder impingement?  Prielipp and Canterino are like waiting for Godot.

[Dman]

Matthews is just relentlessly aggressive and still striking guys out.  Even with the 9 K's through seven innings he threw only 84 pitches. Very efficient work!  I don't know what more he can show at High A.  AA could use arms so I think it is time to see what Matthews can do there.

Really nice to see Louie so dominant.  Just need to make sure he can keep it going and he can earn his way back up again,

[tony&rodney]

Emmanuel Rodriguez is being pitched around, no question. He might see one or two fastballs in some games and most are off the plate. The breaking stuff is almost always on the edges of the plate with a number of low pitches called strikes. Yes, Em-Rod still has to work on some things, but it is looking like even highly rated pitchers are just pitching around him in AA, thus a move to AAA might be necessary for him to work on his game. 

On a separate note, where is Walker Jenkins? I saw the play when he was injured and he came off the field looking normal but also with what appeared as a hamstring injury. Apparently the injury must have been worse than it appeared. Having witnessed many hamstring injuries of varying degrees, I cannot recall someone running so normal and walking off the field in such a relaxed fashion suffering a serious tear. I haven't found anything to clarify or explain his current condition and Jenkins is a pretty high profile prospect. I guess I'm just curious when Walker will return to the Ft. Myers lineup.

[jmlease1]

rotten news about Lewis. had real hopes for him, and the move to the 60-day is bad bad news. so hard to keep pitchers healthy. Maybe they really are taking the right approach with Raya?

[2wins87]

22 2/3 innings, 28 Ks, and yet to surrender a single walk or HBP this season for Matthews.

Can't really pitch any better that.

Definitely think he should get to AA this month.