Twins Minor League Report (4/1): Emmanuel Rodriguez Grand Slam Not Enough

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Peyton Vogel/Peyton Pics

TRANSACTIONS
No moves were made on Wednesday.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 4, Worcester 5
Box Score
Andrew Bash: 4 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
HR: Emmanuel Rodriguez (1)
Multi-hit games: Orlando Arcia (2-for-3, BB), Alex Jackson (2-for-4, R)

An early lead dissipated for the Saints on Wednesday.

Walks need not appear: one day after walking a ghastly affiliate-record 20 men, the Saints found grace in the right shoulder and arm of Andrew Bash, who didn’t offer a free pass to the Red Sox in his four innings of work. His immediate relief—John Brebbia—didn’t walk a batter either. Manager Brian Dinkelman must have been euphoric in the dugout.

Two scoreless innings begat a third-inning skirmish. Alex Jackson singled, Tanner Schobel struck out, Walker Jenkins cracked a hit to right, Kaelen Culpepper flew out, and Alan Roden walked to set up Emmanuel Rodriguez with the bases loaded and two men out. He spat on a slider in the dirt before unleashing a hellacious hack at a hanging breaker, crushing the offering deep to right-center for a grand slam, his first since 2024. 

Worcester responded with a run the following half-inning, a premonition of things to come. 

Two empty middle-inning frames melted into a shaky seventh inning, in which Grant Hartwig labored on his way towards allowing a run—a fine outcome given that the righty allowed three walks and a hit. Drew Smith wasn’t much better. He surrendered a third Red Sox run in a game that was suddenly uncomfortably close. 

Another quiet frame from St. Paul’s hitters ushered in Marco Raya in a critical save situation. He netted an easy first out before running into trouble. Allan Castro walked, and Matt Lloyd sent a single up the middle to send Castro to third. Sensing a chance to tie the game, Tsung-Che Cheng dropped a perfect bunt, far enough to force Raya to make the play, yet close enough to home to make the throw awkward. Castro slid home safely. Matt Thaiss sharply singled to right to give Worcester the lead.

The Saints fell 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Catcher Alex Jackson overturned three balls in the game. 

Alan Roden holds a .542 OBP through 24 plate appearances. 

Boston’s 13th-ranked prospect, Mikey Romero, collected three hits in five at-bats. 

Wind Surge Wisdom

The Wind Surge will play their first game on Thursday, April 2nd.

Kernels Nuggets

The Kernels start their season on Friday, April 3rd. 

Mussel Matters

The Mighty Mussels are scheduled to open their season on Thursday, April 2nd. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – John Brebbia
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Emmanuel Rodriguez

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-5 R, K
#2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-4, BB
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-4, HR, R, 4 RBI, BB
#15 – Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

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[PDX Twin]

Looks like the Saints are learning the "Twins Way." Get ahead early, then close down the offense and let the bullpen blow it. 😟

[alexlegge]

The Twins really could've used that grand slam tonight 😑

[jmlease1]

A fairly normal Rodriguez game, lol. When he makes contact, it's pretty loud.

Looking forward to other affiliates starting their schedules so there's more than just the AAA prospects to look at.

Wonder how long the leash will be for Outman and whether Roden will be able to force a call up? I've maintained that he has little to prove in AAA and it isn't telling us much about whether or not he'll be able to hit in MLB at this point.

[Linus]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

A fairly normal Rodriguez game, lol. When he makes contact, it's pretty loud.

Looking forward to other affiliates starting their schedules so there's more than just the AAA prospects to look at.

Wonder how long the leash will be for Outman and whether Roden will be able to force a call up? I've maintained that he has little to prove in AAA and it isn't telling us much about whether or not he'll be able to hit in MLB at this point.

It will be interesting to see if that aspect of roster construction will change under Zoll. If it was Falvey, Roden would be cooling his heels in St Paul for a while. 

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

A fairly normal Rodriguez game, lol. When he makes contact, it's pretty loud.

I dunno.  He didn't strike out. In addition to the walk and the dinger, he put the ball in play 3 times.