Twins Minor League Report (7/1): Rucker Drives Surge to Win; Carr Cruises for Kernels

[Ted Schwerzler]

Not many games are played on Monday's at the minor league level, but everyone was in action outside of the Saints for the Minnesota Twins farm system today.

Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 47-37
St. Paul Saints: 41-39
Wichita Wind Surge: 34-42
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 44-30
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 37-36
FCL Twins: 19-22
DSL Twins: 11-10

TRANSACTIONS

• INF Tony Kemp released by Twins from St. Paul (exercised 7/1 opt out)

SAINTS SENTINEL
The lone Twins affiliate not in action on Monday, the Saints will welcome Gwinnett to CHS Field this week.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 12, Tulsa 5
Box Score

Sent between St. Paul and Wichita all season, it was Aaron Rozek again for the Wind Surge. Working five innings, he allowed just one run on two hits while walking three. Rozek struck out six.

Wichita scored first with a pair of first inning runs. Jefferson Morales doubled home Jake Rucker before he scored on a balk with Aaron Sabato at the dish. The Drillers got their first run in the second inning, but the Wind Surge scored both Rucker and Sabato on Carson McCusker’s third inning double.

Ben Ross scored McCusker on a sixth inning groundout before Luke Keaschall singled home Andrew Cossetti to make it 6-1 in the sixth inning. Ross then reached on an eighth inning error to bring McCusker in yet again and Jorel Ortega singled home Tanner Schobel to make it an 8-1 game. Rucker kept the good inning going with a single that scored Ross and Ortega before Morales grounded out and plated Keaschall. Sabato's tenth double of the season brought Rucker home and Wichita led 12-1 heading into the ninth inning.

Tulsa clawed back with four runs, but it certainly wasn't enough to do Wichita in. Scott Engler and Miguel Rodriguez recorded the final four outs to end the game while John Stankiewicz picked up his fourth hold. Rucker had three hits and each of Sabato and McCusker had two.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Quad Cities 1, Cedar Rapids 0
Box Score

Jordan Carr got the start and he left without allowing a run. Pitching 5 2/3 scoreless, Carr worked around six hits and two walks. He struck out four and just needed his lineup to get him some production.

A seventh inning wild pitch from Kyle Bischoff allowed the game’s first run as the River Bandits capitalized. Unfortunately that was the only run to score during the contest and the Kernels fell short.

Ricardo Velez took the loss after allowing the baserunner that came around to score. Cedar Rapids recorded just five hits and no one recorded a pair. None of them went for extra bases either.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Bradenton 6
Box Score

Playing on a Monday allowed the Mighty Mussels to actually get a game in without weather. Cesar Lares started and worked four innings allowing a pair of runs. He gave up four hits and walked none while striking out five.

Daniel Pena kicked off the scoring by blasting his first Fort Myers home run in the second inning. The Marauders evened things at one in the second inning. A four-run fourth inning gave the Mighty Mussels some breathing room, and they combined to hit for the cycle during the frame.

Poncho Ruiz doubled and scored Rixon Wingrove before Carlos Aguiar’s triple brought him home. Nick Lucky then went yard, a two run shot, and made it a 5-1 game. Bradenton added runs in the fourth and fifth innings to draw closer, but Isaac Pena made it a 6-3 contest with a seventh inning single that scored Yohander Martinez.

Julio Bonilla and Xander Hamilton gave up runs that allowed Bradenton to even the score, and the sides were headed to extras. Playing through a scoreless tenth inning, Fort Myers made their mark in the eleventh. A fielding error scored Aguiar on a Martinez batted ball before Byron Chourio drove home both Martinez and Maddux Houghton with a single.

Samuel Perez came on to close out the contest, and he struck out one while keeping the 9-6 lead intact.

Eight of the nine Fort Myers batters recorded a hit, despite them registering 15 strikeouts on the night. Pena and Houghton were the only players to record two hits. Walker Jenkins got a night off and Brandon Winokur remained out of the lineup.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 7, FCL Pirates 3
Box Score

Juan Cota started on Monday and worked three innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed a single hit while striking out two. Anthony Narvaez got the win working four innings of relief. While he gave up three runs, only one was earned.

Jayson Bass kicked off the scoring with a first inning single that scored Bryan Acuna. They added in the third inning when Moises Lopez drilled his second home run of the season. Ariel Castro took a bases loaded hit by pitch to score Acuna, and Yilber Herrera walked in Bass to make it 4-0.

In the fourth inning Bass continued to make his presence felt. A triple drove home Yasser Mercedes and pushed the Twins lead to 5-0. The Pirates got a pair back in the bottom half of the frame, but Lopez scored Castro on a ground out and pushed the score to 6-2.

Another run scored for the Pirates in the fifth inning. Javier Roman answered with a sixth inning double that scored Bass, and the Twins held on for a 7-3 victory. Bass finished 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, runs, and RBI. Ricardo Pena went 3-for-3.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 13, DSL Miami 12
Box Score

It was a mess of offensive explosions on both sides for the Twins and Miami. The teams combined for 25 runs on 24 hits. Entering the ninth inning trailing by two runs, the Twins got walks from Luis Fragoza and Nestor Urbina before Luis Rodriguez reached on an error to load the bases.

Miami pitcher Melvin Cuevas walked Irvin Nunez to bring Fragoza home and shrink the lead to one. A Daiber De Los Santos walk then tied the contest before Merphy Hernandez struck out and finally gave Miami a chance to slam the door. Eduardo Beltre singled off of new pitcher Jeyson Mejia and scored Rodriguez to walk it off for the Twins.

The Twins used seven pitchers on the afternoon, and they combined to walk ten batters while striking out just eight. De Los Santos, Hernandez, and Beltre all recorded a pair of hits for the Twins.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Jordan Carr (Cedar Rapids) - 5.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Hitter of the Day – Jake Rucker (Wichita) 3-5, 3 R, 2 RBI

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. 
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-4
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-4, RBI, BB, 2 K
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-3, R, BB
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 1-3, BB

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs Gwinnett (7:07 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (6-5, 4.05 ERA)
Wichita vs Tulsa (7:05 PM CST) – TBD
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) –RHP Andrew Morris (3-1, 1.41 ERA)P Mike Paredes (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Bradenton (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Ricky Castro (2-1, 3.38 ERA)

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

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[mikelink45]

As I read these summaries I get the impression that our best overall lineup is in Wichita.

[Doctor Gast]

Carr didn't do all that much but he got outs. That counts for something.

I saw the FM high score  & went to check to see how Jenkin did. He didn't play 😑.

[Dman]

Sad to see Kemp go.  He was always animated and fun to watch.  I get it though.  He wasn't gonna get a shot with Minnesota.  Still his attitude was great and he was generally a tough out at the plate.  I wish him the best going forward.

[roger]

Does anyone know why Jenkins is not playing regularly?  

[LambchoP]

Glad that Gabriel Gonzalez is playing again, even if he hasn't done much this year. Walker Jenkins has me a little worried. He hasn't been playing much and when he has been on the field he hasn't really been hitting. One home run on the year? On the other hand Keaschal has really broken out. Anyone know when Emmanuel Rodriguez will be back? He was looking like our minor league hitter of the year before getting hurt...

[D.C Twins]

Brian Dinkelman deserves a promotion to make sure the Twins don't lose him from their organization. 

Cedar Rapids has significant turnover as high-level prospects get promoted and his teams just keep on winning.

[D.C Twins]

Did I miss a Jenkins injury?

[FlyingFinn]

3 hours ago, roger said:

Does anyone know why Jenkins is not playing regularly?

The Twins are generally very cautious with players coming back from injury. Royce Lewis still takes more days off and plays DH more than normal. Plus, it has been raining so much in Fort Myers. Do we really want to risk Jenkins reinjuring himself because of that. I think that's why he's DH'ing more. Could be totally wrong and there's still some minor injury but there is no need to rush things this year IMO.