Twins Minor League Report (9/11): Big Innings Hurt Saints and Surge

[Seth Stohs]

These minor league reports don't take as long to write with just two affiliates still playing. I miss the days of reporting on six Twins affiliates. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Alex Isola)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 78-68
St. Paul Saints: 68-71
Wichita Wind Surge: 56-78
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete)
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins activated catcher Christian Vazquez from the Paternity List and OF Manuel Margot from the Injured List. To make room, the team optioned catcher Jair Camargo and utilityman Michael Helman. 

Following the Twins win on Wednesday night against the Angels, it was announced that the Twins plan to activate OF Byron Buxton from the IL. OF Austin Martin was optioned to St. Paul after the game. Of note, DaShawn Keirsey remains on the roster. 

LHP Steven Okert was activated from the  temporarily inactive list. 

OF Maddux Houghton was reassigned to the Mighty Mussels a day after being placed on the Saints roster.  

RHP Ricardo Velez was placed on the 7-Day Injured List. RHP Miguel Rodriguez was activated from the 7-Day IL.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Columbus 7 
Box Score
The Saints jumped to a big lead, but it slowly dwindled and they lost in a walkoff in Ohio. 

Caleb Boushley and Ryan Webb both put up three zeroes to start the game. However, in the top of the fourth inning, Carson McCusker’s fourth Saints home run gave the team a 1-0 lead. McCusker just hits the ball incredibly hard when he makes contact! 

St. Paul added four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Anthony Prato led off with a single. Payton Eeles followed with another single. Diego A. Castillo was next, and he hit his ninth home run of the season to give the team a 4-0 lead. 

With one out, Michael Helman walked. After a pitching change and a second out, Jeferson Morales and Rylan Bannon singled to score Helman and make it 5-0. 

Bousley threw a fourth zero on the board, but then in the fifth inning, he gave up three runs which cut the lead to 5-3. His final line showed that he gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. 

Jeff Brigham got the final out of the fifth inning and had a perfect sixth inning as well. Three of the four outs he recorded were on strikeouts. 

The Clippers brought James Karinchak into the top of the seventh inning. McCusker singled and Morales walked. Then with two outs, Prato walked to load the bases. And then Eeles walked to score McCusker and give the Saints a 6-3 lead. 

Giovanny Gallegos came in for the bottom of the seventh and gave up a walk and a single but no runs. Hobie Harris got the bottom of the eighth. However, he gave up two groundball singles and a 403 foot home run to Micah Pries that tied the game at 6-6. He actually loaded up the bases on a single and two more walks but was able to keep it tied going to the ninth. 

The Saints went quietly in the top of the ninth. Diego Castillo was brought in to try to send it to extra innings. He got the first two outs, but Johnathan Rodriguez hit his 25th home run to end the game. 

At the top of the lineup, Eeles went 2-for-2 with three walks. He also stole his 14th base. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his ninth home run and 13th stolen base. McCusker went 2-for-5 with his 19th overall homer of the 2024 season. Morales went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth Saints double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Tulsa 5
Box Score
A five-run fourth inning by Tulsa was more than the Wind Surge could overcome. 

Christian MacLeod started the game with three scoreless innings. However, he ended up giving up five runs on six hits and three walks in four innings. He struck out two batters. 

Aside from that fourth frame, Wichita pitching was strong. Mike Paredes struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. John Stankiewicz struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. Miguel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth.  

In the bottom of the fourth, Kala’i Rosario hit a solo homer, his eighth of the season. 

The score remained 5-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Rosario led off with a walk. With one out, Alex Isola doubled to drive him in. Aaron Sabato scored Isola with an RBI single to make it 5-3. But that’s as close as it got. 

Wichita had just five hits and two walks in the game. Sabato was 2-for-4. Rosario had a walk to go with his home run. Isola had a walk to go with his double. 

After playing several games against the Kernels for Great Lakes earlier this season, former Twins prospect Noah Miller played in his 32nd game for the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa. In this game, he had two doubles in four at-bats. Overall, he’s hitting .224/.258/.264 (.522) with five doubles in Tulsa. In 101 games for Great Lakes, he hit .251/.336/.332 (.668) with 14 doubles and six home runs.   

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, 3 BB, R, RBI, SB(14).
Pitcher of the Day - Jeff Brigham (St. Paul) - 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. 19 pitches, 13 strikes (68.4%) 

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – 0-for-4. 
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2-for-4. 2B(4), 2 RBI 
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, K (left game in 2nd inning) 
#5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 61 pitches, 40 strikes (65.6%)
#15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(8), 2 R, RBI, 2 K.
#17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, 4 K.

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (5:15 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.04 ERA)
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (2-5, 2.70 ERA) 

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

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[nclahammer]

Another terrific report Seth.   I know you'd rather be covering six games, but I do have to say that I like this gradual ending of the minor league seasons rather than having them all abruptly ending at once.  This also allows some minor leagues to get a few games in at a higher level, like Jenkins.  IMHO this is better than having it end cold turkey.  Keep up the fantastic work TD.

[Doctor Gast]

Another great summary Seth, The Clippers were too much for our pitchers. I was concerned about Emma's early exit but happy with the others' production, it was a tough loss. I went to check the AA boxscore but the AAA boxscore popped up.

[FlyingFinn]

Why did Emmanuel Rodriguez exit the game after 1 AB? Also curious that Eeles was in CF and Rodriguez in RF.

[roger]

Thanks for the report, Seth.  Won't be long and you will have to find something else to do with all your free time.

Will double down on Finn's question regarding Rodriguez?  Will second the above comments about moving Jenkins up to get a few AA at bats.  Find it interesting that Keirsey will stay with the Twins and Martin moving over to St. Paul.  Is that about his being available to pinch run these last few weeks?  Or are they assuming Buxton won't play center every day and want to keep his defense?

[FlyingFinn]

9 minutes ago, roger said:

Find it interesting that Keirsey will stay with the Twins and Martin moving over to St. Paul.

Has to be for late inning defense (which Martin hasn't shown) and speed on the bases. When/if Kepler returns, Keirsey will be sent down. 

On a separate issue, who do the Twins send down/cut when Correa returns? With Farmer playing so well now, it might actually be Julien.

[LambchoP]

Too bad about Rodriguez, I wonder what happened there. They need to find a way to keep him healthy. Haven't heard a whole lot about this Mccusker kid but man it looks like he can hit. Eeles also looking like he wants a 2025 debut. Looks like Twins should be flush with position players. As long as some of them can pan out and hit in the bigs like they have in the minors we should have some solid depth. I wonder if we use some of this upper minors depth and use a positionally blocked prospect or two in order to receive some much needed starting pitching in the off-season since it seems we won't be spending any money to acquire anyone of note...

[jmlease1]

Glad to see Rosario healthy to finish the season. I'm a fan of his and he's had a solid enough season despite the injuries in his first crack at AA. I think winter ball might do him some good since he missed so much time.

Noah Miller is showing exactly why the Twins traded him. He just can't hit much. Nice for him to get a couple of doubles, but overall he's not much of a threat at the plate and pitchers are treating him accordingly. The glove is excellent and the only reason he's in AA, but he'll be back in Tulsa next season. he's still young enough to develop into a better hitter, but he's got a big hill to climb.

[Steve Lein]

"#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, K (left game in 2nd inning) "

Could tell he re-injured his hand again. 😕 Is now confirmed it's back to the IL with a right-thumb sprain.

[jkcarew]

The good news…ERod looks to potentially be another Buxton.

The bad news…ERod looks to potentially be another Buxton.

[FlyingFinn]

Wow, Derek Bender, catcher for Fort Myers was telling the opposing team what pitches his pitcher was throwing, AND he did it in a game that knocked them out of the playoffs. And, if I'm correct, they lost by one game. He was not allowed to sit in the dugout for the last two games and has been cut.