Twins Minor League Report (5/4): Wallner Again and the DBoShow

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Saints got out to an early lead and completed things with another big homer. Darren Bowen shoved for Cedar Rapids and led them to a victory. A full day on the farm had plenty of big performances.

TRANSACTIONS
None to report

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 9, Louisville 6
Box Score

Ryan Jensen worked as the opener for the Saints before giving way to Randy Dobnak on Saturday. After recording the first three outs, St. Paul made sure their starter had some breathing room with a seven run first inning. Playing in the Charlie Brown inspired Peanuts uniform, Dobnak worked five innings allowing four runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out seven.

Matt Wallner drove in DaShawn Keirsey Jr. with a sacrifice fly before a bases-loaded walk of Yunior Severino allowed Anthony Prato to come home. Chris Williams followed with a walk scoring Michael Helman, and Diego A. Castillo walked to score Tony Kemp. A wild pitch then brought home Severino before Keirsey singled home Williams and Castillo.

After the Bats got a run back in the 2nd inning, Michael Helman doubled home Anthony Prato to make it an 8-1 game in the 4th inning. Louisville answered again with three runs in the 5th inning, but St. Paul had a lead to keep them with comfortable breathing room.

By the 8th inning Louisville had pulled near-even making it an 8-6 ballgame. Matt Wallner homered again, this time his fourth, to make it a 9-6 score that would hold for the final.

Castillo was 3-for-3 while Helman, Wallner, and Keirsey Jr. all had a pair of hits each. It was Wallner’s second straight day with a homer, and Diego Castillo picked up the save in consecutive days as well. He now owns a 1.50 ERA and has 13 strikeouts in 12 innings.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, NW Arkansas 7
Box Score

The Wind Surge turned to Nick Wittgren as an opener on Saturday night. He worked two innings of scoreless baseball allowing just two hits before giving way to Aaron Rozek. 

Kala’i Rosario kicked off the scoring with his 8th double in the 1st inning to make it 1-0 as Emmanuel Rodriguez came around to score. Jeferson Morales doubled in the 2nd inning to clear the bases with Kyler Fedko, Jorel Ortega, and Alerick Soularie all touching home. Now up 4-0, the Wind Surge had breathing room.

In the 3rd inning Ben Ross drew a walk on a wild pitch and Carson McCusker scampered home. Ortega then lofted a sacrifice fly that scored Jake Rucker and made it a 6-0 game. Adding again, it was an Ortega 5th inning single that brought Ross home and put Wichita up 7-0.

McCusker doubled home Rodriguez in the 8th inning to make it 8-0, but Northwest Arkansas made things interesting in the bottom half by bringing home six of their own. Adding another in the 9th inning the Naturals made it a one-run game, but that was as close as they could get before Wichita closed things out. McCusker and Ortega were the only hitters to record multi-hit games on the evening. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, Peoria 4
Box Score

It was a full on D-Bo show tonight for the Kernels with Darren Bowen shoving on the bump. Working 5 2/3 innings, Bowen allowed only a single hit and didn’t give up any runs. He walked a pair but struck out eight.

The Kernels gave their starter some immediate run support with a pair of runs in the 1st inning. Danny De Andrade singled home Luke Keaschall, and then Jose Salas brought home Ricardo Olivar on a ground out. Adding again in the 2nd inning, Keaschall singled and brought Misael Urbina home in the process.

In the 6th inning Cedar Rapids added again. A pair of wild pitches gave both Salas and Urbina opportunities to cross the plate and the Kernels found themselves up 5-0. Agustin Ruiz then homered in the 7th inning, with his two-run shot making it a 7-0 game as Salas came in on the big fly as well.

The 8th inning saw the Chiefs crack the scoreboard, and they did so in a big way adding four runs. Cedar Rapids maintained a lead, but it had been halved and then some in just a single frame.

That’s where things ended on Saturday night and Keaschall was joined with a pair of hits by Olivar and Urbina. Gabriel Yanez recorded his first save of the season.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Bradenton 10, Fort Myers 3
Box Score

It was Ty Langenberg on the bump tonight for Fort Myers. Allowing nine hits, Langenberg gave up six runs (five earned), while walking just one and striking out five.

A three-run homer in the 1st inning put the Mighty Mussels up against it out of the gate. Maddux Houghton got them on the board with an RBI single to score Rafael Cruz in the 2nd inning, but another pair from Bradenton in the bottom half made it a 5-1 game.

The Marauders stretched their lead to 10-1 by the 7th inning, and the Mighty Mussels were up against a big deficit. Rayne Doncon launched a solo shot in the 8th inning, his third of the season, to make it a 10-2 game. In the 9th inning, Byron Chourio singled home Houghton in his first game back from the injured list to make it 10-3. That was as close as Fort Myers got though, and that’s where the final tally wound up.

Both Chourio and Houghton recorded a pair of hits on the evening. Rehabbing Josh Winder worked two innings of relief work. He gave up a pair of runs on three hits. Winder didn’t walk anyone and struck out four.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Darren Bowen (Cedar Rapids) - 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Hitter of the Day – Matt Wallner (St. Paul) - 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR(4), 2 K

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

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs Louisville (2:07 PM CST) – RHP David Festa (0-0, 2.18 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (2:05 PM CST) –RHP Travis Adams (1-2, 6.55 ERA)
Cedar Rapids vs Peoria (1:05 PM CST) – TBD
Fort Myers @ Bradenton (11:00 AM CST) – TBD

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

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[tgard]

FCL Twins played today as well according to MiLB. It'll be fun to start seeing the recap of those games on here too. 

I saw Yasser Mercedes (our top international guy from a couple years ago) was replaced in CF late in the FCL game and came here to see if you'd note why in the recap. 

[FlyingFinn]

Wallner with 3 straight games with a homer.

Bowen could end up being the gem in the Polanco trade and not Gonzalez. Anyway, nice start for him today.

For anyone on here who goes to Wichita Wind Surge games, I hope you have a good heart. 8-0 lead going to the bottom of 8 and it ends at 8-7 with the tying run on third. All too common for them this year. Oddly, it was really a bullpen game and the first two pitchers (Wittgren and Rozek) were fantastic.

[Jocko87]

4 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Wallner with 3 straight games with a homer.

Bowen could end up being the gem in the Polanco trade and not Gonzalez. Anyway, nice start for him today.

For anyone on here who goes to Wichita Wind Surge games, I hope you have a good heart. 8-0 lead going to the bottom of 8 and it ends at 8-7 with the tying run on third. All too common for them this year. Oddly, it was really a bullpen game and the first two pitchers (Wittgren and Rozek) were fantastic.

Three points very near what I thought about reading this.

Wallner heating up after looking like me for weeks.  Crazy game.

Bowen cracking the top 20 prospects would make a lot of takes look very poor.

I'll get to my first Wind Surge games this weeks home stand, I've been out of town for almost month so it will be nice.  I don't mind if they are struggling and don't much care about the AA bullpen as hopefully there is some learning going on.  It's a beautiful park in a beautiful setting, parking is easy and its a great place to watch a game and some of my favorite prospects.  Highly recommend.  I'm glad I'll get some E-Rod before he ascends to greatness.

[Dman]

Just an FYI those two walks for Bowen can at the end when he was around 80 pitches.  His control was great with the 8K's to that point.  He gave up just the one hit.  Very dominant game for him.  Hoping he stays consistent and moves up at some point this year.  Cedar Rapids has a really good rotation.

[Dman]

19 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Wallner with 3 straight games with a homer.

You said Wallner was going to heat up.  Might be a bit early to call him fixed but it sure seems like he is warming with the weather.  Hopefully he found his mojo for the rest of year.

[Guest]

A prediction:  Wallner ditches the leg kick (like Larnach, Jeffers and Buck) before he returns to the Twins.

[wabene]

28 minutes ago, Minderbinder said:

A prediction:  Wallner ditches the leg kick (like Larnach, Jeffers and Buck) before he returns to the Twins.

Yes I've been wondering about that. With today's velocity it seems to be a trend to quiet the pre-swing approach.

[DaveW44]

I hope Wallner figures it out as much as the next guy but he whiffed 4 times in Tuesday and 3 times on Wednesday so I think there’s still some work to be done. 

[terrydactyls]

Okay.  I gotta ask.  What the heck does "shove" mean?  I have figured out that it means that someone did well, but why "shove"?  Who's getting pushed around?  Does anyone get hurt when someone "shoves"?  

[Twinsrtheworst]

12 hours ago, tgard said:

FCL Twins played today as well according to MiLB. It'll be fun to start seeing the recap of those games on here too. 

I saw Yasser Mercedes (our top international guy from a couple years ago) was replaced in CF late in the FCL game and came here to see if you'd note why in the recap. 

Yup, great shout out.  And they won.  😃 

[Fat Calvin]

If we bring up Wallner--he bats left--who does he replace? Margot is a right handed batter.

[D.C Twins]

11 hours ago, Dman said:

You said Wallner was going to heat up.  Might be a bit early to call him fixed but it sure seems like he is warming with the weather.  Hopefully he found his mojo for the rest of year.

Still striking out too much though.... even in AAA... and even by the current standards of the SO happy MLB... still a ways to  go but rooting extra hard for our Minnesota native!

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

Okay.  I gotta ask.  What the heck does "shove" mean?  I have figured out that it means that someone did well, but why "shove"?  Who's getting pushed around?  Does anyone get hurt when someone "shoves"?  

It's the only verb the writers here know? One of my least favorite sports words.....

On a more serious note, some good players in this system, but I'm worried still no Jenkins 

[D.C Twins]

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

Okay.  I gotta ask.  What the heck does "shove" mean?  I have figured out that it means that someone did well, but why "shove"?  Who's getting pushed around?  Does anyone get hurt when someone "shoves"?  

was thinking the same thing and then realized that criticizing this 'cool' new term just makes us look like we are screaming at the youngins to get the hell off our lawn :)

[bean5302]

45 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Still striking out too much though.... even in AAA... and even by the current standards of the SO happy MLB... still a ways to  go but rooting extra hard for our Minnesota native!

Agreed. Wallner needs to find his whole game as it all went missing this year. Last 10 games.
.237/.302/.526 OPS .829. 7.0% BB, 34.9% K rate. Unimpressive for AAA, but at least there are some signs of life.

Even as a big Wallner fan, I wouldn't support giving him the call before June, even if he's raking.

[Craig Arko]

1 hour ago, D.C Twins said:

was thinking the same thing and then realized that criticizing this 'cool' new term just makes us look like we are screaming at the youngins to get the hell off our lawn :)

If any of them come on my lawn they’d best be prepared to play with the dog a while.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Fat Calvin said:

If we bring up Wallner--he bats left--who does he replace? Margot is a right handed batter.

Whoever gets injured next. He's not forcing his way back quite yet.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Okay.  I gotta ask.  What the heck does "shove" mean?  I have figured out that it means that someone did well, but why "shove"?  Who's getting pushed around?  Does anyone get hurt when someone "shoves"?  

I was thinking the same thing (and now saying it the same way as someone else), probably because it appeared in another thread or two within the past day.  Been seeing it all season.

Some years from now we'll run across an old thread using this term and think "that was SOOOO 2024."  Maybe as soon as 2025.

Yes, as others have noted in this thread, my lawn is nicely manicured and I would not like to see it stepped upon.

[RpR]

13 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Whoever gets injured next. He's not forcing his way back quite yet.

Long way from coming back.

[DJL44]

Is any team out there wishing they took Keirsey in the Rule 5 draft? He's having a very nice April.