Twins Minor League Report (7/3): Rayne Doncon's Double Dinger Game Leads Kernels to Split

[Seth Stohs]

Making it Rayne for the Kernels on Tuesday. There were a couple of blowouts and some great

Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X)g

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 48-38
St. Paul Saints: 42-40
Wichita Wind Surge: 35-43
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 45-31
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 39-37
FCL Twins: 20-22
DSL Twins: 11-10

TRANSACTIONS
As expected after he left last night’s game, Royce Lewis has been placed on the 10-Day Injured List by the Twins with an adductor strain. Taking his spot on the Twins active roster is infielder Brooks Lee who was also added to the Twins 40-man roster. He had been selected to play in the Futures Game this coming weekend, but I’m guessing he’s just fine with skipping that. To make room on the Twins 40-man roster, RHP Brock Stewart was placed on the 60-Day IL. 

LHP Aaron Rozek is heading back to St. Paul to join the Saints from Wichita. 

RHP Ricardo Velez has been promoted from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. 

Cedar Rapids shortstop Danny De Andrade was transferred from the 7-Day Injured List to the 60-Day Injured List. 

In addition, the Twins have signed free agent OF Tyler Dearden. The 25-year-old reached Triple-A with the Red Sox in 2023. Unsigned, he played 55 games for Twins legend Lew Ford and the Long Island Ducks in the independent Atlantic League. He was hitting .361/.410/.634 (1.044) with 19 doubles and 12 homers.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Gwinnett 21
Box Score
On Wednesday afternoon, the Saints learned the great news that their shortstop, Brooks Lee, was going to the big leagues. The Saints celebrated with six runs on 13 hits, which normally is a pretty good outcome, but on this night, they lost by 15.  But let me reiterate… Brooks Lee was called up. Then he started and went 2-for-4. He was able to record his first hit and his first RBI. 

Seven out of nine Saints batters had at least one hit. Seven out of the Stripers nine hitters had at least two hits (all nine had at least one). Veteran Eli White went 6-for-7 with two doubles, two home runs, and seven RBI. 

Maybe let’s stick to the Saints. Caleb Boushley was on the mound, and obviously he has been fantastic for the Saints this year. Coming into this game, he was 8-2 with a 3.48 ERA in 14 starts. In this game, he gave up nine runs on 13 hits and a walk over the first four innings. Scott Blewett gave up a run in the fifth frame. Ryan Jensen got four outs and gave up three runs. Austin Brice gave up two runs and recorded two outs. Hobie Harris gave up two runs in the eighth inning. Then infielder Diego A Castillo got to pitch the ninth; he gave up four runs on two hits and two walks. All four runs came on a grand slam. And just to think, Gwinnett left 12 runners on base and ‘only’ went 11-for-26 with runners in scoring position. 

Alright, let’s talk about the good stuff. Alex Isola led the offense with three hits in the game, including his eighth double. 

Chris Williams was 2-for-5 with his sixth homer. 

Patrick Winkel was 2-for-4 with his third home run.

Matt Wallner had two doubles in four at-bats and now

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 2, Tulsa 3  (10 innings)
Box Score
It was Zebby Day in Wichita on Wednesday, and the right-hander provided another Quality Start. In six innings, he gave up two runs on four hits. Zebby Matthews had six strikeouts and, of course, no walks. 

Regi Grace continued his strong run of outings with two scoreless innings. Miguel Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts. 

Ricardo Velez was thrown right into the fire in his Surge debut. He came on for the 10th inning and gave up the Manfred Man to score to put the Surge down a run. They were unable to answer in the bottom of the inning. 

The Wind Surge managed just five hits in this contest. Carson McCusker went 2-for-4 with his 14th double which sent the game to… Overtime! 

Ben Ross was 2-for-4. Tanner Schobel had the lone extra base hit, his 12th double.  https://x.com/WindSurgeICT/status/1808662238544224421 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Game 1: Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 2
Box Score
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Kernels jumped ahead only to see their lead disappear in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

The Kernels grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Payton Eeles led off with a single and stole second. Ricardo Olivar lined a single to right field. Eeles scored on a sacrifice fly (to the second baseman, though running away from the plate in foul territory). 

Jeremy Lee started for the Kernels and put together his best start yet. He tossed five shutout innings. He gave up four hits, walked one, and struck out five batters. 

The score remained the same until the top of the sixth inning when Gonzalez welcomed Connor Fenlong with his second home run of the season. 

Gabriel Yanez came in and threw a 1-2-3 sixth inning. He came out for the bottom of the seventh and gave up a leadoff single. However, he got a strikeout and an infield pop out to put the Kernels one out from the win. Unfortunately, the next batter doubled so there were runners on second and third base. That was followed by a two-run single that tied the game. The batter advanced to second on a throwing error. Jared Dickey came to the plate and lined a single to right to drive in the game-winning (or game-losing) run. 

The Kernels managed just five hits in Game 1. Gonzalez went 1-for-2 and drove in both runs. 

Game 2: Cedar Rapids 5, Quad Cities 0
Box Score
The Kernels again jumped out to a quick lead in Game 2. They scored all of their runs over the first two innings - on two big blasts - but this time they held on for the win, and the shutout. 

But let’s start with the pitch because, I mean, they tossed a shutout. It was a bit of a bullpen game  for Cedar Rapids. Mike Paredes and Jarret Whorff, both who have made several starts in their careers, world the first six innings. Paredes gave up four hits and a walk over 3 1/3 innings. He had five strikeouts. Whorff gets the Win. He gave up just one hit over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Juan Mendez came on for the seventh inning and was perfect, including one strikeouts. 

The first three games of this series have been played at the picturesque Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport. The next three games of the series will be played in front of the good folks of Cedar Rapids. 

Oh, you want to know who that hitting hero was and generally how the offense did? Let’s start in the first inning. Eeles again started things with a single in the top of the first. Rayne Doncon followed by launching his fourth homer since joining the Kernels. 

With two outs in the second inning, Dillon Tatum and Payton Eeles each singled. That brought Doncon back to the plate, and this time he put three runs on the scoreboard with his fifth homer. 

Eeles went 2-for-4 and his hitting .275 with an OPS of .898 since joining the Kernels. But Doncon was the story in this game, going 2-for-4 with two homers and five RBI. That’s a pretty solid day! 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 5, Bradenton 10 
Box Score
The Mussels had 12 hits in this game, and they got off to a fast lead in the top of the first inning, but it just wasn’t enough on a rough day for the pitchers. 

In the top of the first, Walker Jenkins led off with a walk. Byron Chourio singled him to third, and then he stole second. After one out, Matthew Clayton doubled to drive in both runners. Nick Lucky followed with an RBI triple. Following a walk, Maddux Houghton drove in Lucky with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. 

That was about it for highlights for the Mussels. Ross Dunn started and gave up six runs on six hits (including two home runs) and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. A rain delay slowed the momentum. Ben Ethridge came on and calmed things a bit. He gave up one run on four hits and two walks over the next three innings. Sam Perez gave up three runs on three hits and four walks in his 1 2/3 innings. He struck out two batters. Jack Noblegave up one hit, but he got the final two outs. 

The Mussel bats stayed quiet until the top of thgge ninth. After there were two outs, Angel Del Rosario singled, and Jenkins followed with a walk. Chourio drove in the team’s fifth and final run with a single to left. 

Nick Lucky went 3-for-4 with his first triple and his sixth and seventh steals. Byron Chourio was 3-for-5 and stole his 16th base. Matthew Clayton went 2-for-4 with his fourth double. Walker Jenkins had a single and two walks. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Jeremy Lee (Cedar Rapids) - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K; 74 pitches, 48 strikes (64.9%)
Hitter of the Day – Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-6, BB, 2-HR(5), 2 R, 5 RBI, K. 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday.
#1– Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – 1-for-3, 2 BB, K.
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2-for-4, RBI, K (MLB debut, batted 8th, played 3B)
#4 – David Festa (Minnesota) – 5 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 81 pitches, 59 strikes (72.8%)
#5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – Game 1: 1-for-2, HR(2), SF, R, 2 RBI ; Game 2: 1-for-3
#8 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-for-1 
#9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 0-for-4, BB, K
#13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(12), RBI, K  
#14 – Zebby Matthews (Wichita) – 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 92 pitches, 65 strikes (70.7%)
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 2-for-5, 2B(7), R
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – Game 1: 1-for-3, K (catcher)

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Iowa (6:07 PM CST) – RHP Louie Varland (2-5, 6.56 ERA)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 PM CST) – RHP Kyle Jones (first AA start)
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (2-0, 6.60 ERA)
Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (6:05 APM CST) – RHP Spencer Bengard (5-1, 1.51 ERA)

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

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[Doctor Wu]

Another good report, Seth! It's good to see Doncon hitting the ball well in Cedar Rapids. And Zebby with no walks ... again! He has become the Willians Astudillo of the mound!

[FlyingFinn]

McCusker is one big dude! Maybe the 2nd baseman he is standing by in the video is short as well but he looks really small next to McCusker.

[wabene]

Giant dude, giant strike zone, lol.

[jmlease1]

Glad to see GG back and doing well. He's having a solid season, needs to show better strike zone control and draw some walks, but he's developing and showing good pop in his bat.

Doncon had a nice night. Seeing him flash that power stroke is important; he had been hammering the ball in Ft Myers so it's good to see him starting to swing with authority more in Cedar Rapids. Lot of upside here.

Gotta love what we're seeing from Zebby Matthews. The utter lack of walks is great (lot of guys at that level are still having trouble commanding the zone) but what's better is that he's not giving up hits either. That WHIP is fantastic. He's getting Ks, he's eating up innings, and he's having a great season. I expect him in AAA next year as one of the top potential callups

[FlyingFinn]

4 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I expect him in AAA next year as one of the top potential callups

And Andrew Morris is acting like Zebby's twin right now. Cory Lewis should return to what he was in 2023 when he is fully ramped up from injury. And Raya has the best stuff of any of them. I expect all four of them to be starting for the Saints in 2025. That will be an exciting group to watch.

[LambchoP]

Zebby and Morris are both pitching like they want a rotation spot with the Twins. If they can continue to pitch well they could very well earn a September call up to AAA. Then if they can start there next year and pitch well, we could be seeing them in the bigs September of 25 or possibly making the team out of spring training in 26:)

[roger]

Thanks, Seth.  And happy July 4th.

Good seeing Jenkins playing back-to-back games.  Was 1-3 with a pair of walks.  Was that the second straight game with two free passes?  Just great seeing the kid on the field.  Now if we can get our #1 guy back for longer than a few weeks.

[mark sills]

1 hour ago, LambchoP said:

Zebby and Morris are both pitching like they want a rotation spot with the Twins. If they can continue to pitch well they could very well earn a September call up to AAA. Then if they can start there next year and pitch well, we could be seeing them in the bigs September of 25 or possibly making the team out of spring training in 26:)

Not sure why we should wait to bring them to triple a. Two many pitchers in double a, and we seem to be lacking quality starts in triple a. 

[DocBauer]

10 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

And Andrew Morris is acting like Zebby's twin right now. Cory Lewis should return to what he was in 2023 when he is fully ramped up from injury. And Raya has the best stuff of any of them. I expect all four of them to be starting for the Saints in 2025. That will be an exciting group to watch.

Yes to Matthews, Morris and Lewis. Have to see how Raya is used, develops, and what kind of offseason he had. Right now I'd say he begins 2025 back in AA. That wouldn't be a negative considering his age and how he's been/being used.

Festa, Matthews, Morris. Lewis, and Nowlin should all be in St Paul 5o begin next season, barring something happening on the ML level. How about Headrick as a SP as well? Or does he become a short and dangerous LH for the pen? Still going to have Dobnak around for depth. 

Already excited about the 2025 rotation and pen for St Paul.

I think Wichita will be almost as good/deep as well.

[Seth Stohs]

14 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Another good report, Seth! It's good to see Doncon hitting the ball well in Cedar Rapids. And Zebby with no walks ... again! He has become the Willians Astudillo of the mound!

Oh man, let's hope not!!!