Twins Minor League Report (4/4): CJ Culpepper Shines in Wichita

[Seth Stohs]

TRANSACTIONS
RHP Garrett Acton was officially added to the Saints roster. To make room, LHP Christian MacLeod was released by the organization. 

In addition, LHP Kendry Rojas began a rehab assignment with the Mighty Mussels on Saturday. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Worcester 5
Box Score
The Saints and Woo Sox were finally able to get another game in at CHS Field. It was cold, and especially early, the Saints arms and bats were very cold. The Saints attempted a comeback late in the game, but it fell short. 

Zebby Matthews was on the mound to start for the Saints. He was touched up for five runs on seven hits and two walks over the first 3 1/3 innings. Four of those hits left the ballpark. Former teammate Mickey Gasper lined a two-run homer over the right-field wall in the first inning.  In the third inning, Nick Sogard and Nate Eaton hit back-to-back solo homers. Tsung-Che Cheng added another solo shot in the fourth. 

Drew Smith got the final two outs of the fourth inning. Eduardo Salazar walked three but struck out two in a scoreless fifth inning. That’s when the Saints turned to Connor Prielipp who was scheduled to start on Thursday and Friday when weather caused rainouts. He tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings and gave up two hits, walked two and had four strikeouts. Trent Baker got the final two outs of the ninth, one on a strikeout. 

With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Gabriel Gonzalez hit his first homer of the season to cut the deficit to 5-2. Eric Wagaman followed with a single and scored on an Orlando Arcia double. Arcia led the offense. He went 2-for-4 with a double. Ryan Kreidler and Alan Roden each walked twice. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 9
Box Score
C.J. Culpepper got the starting nod for the Wind Surge and was fantastic. He tossed four no-hit innings. He walked one and had one struck out. 

Unfortunately, the pitching after Culpepper was not helped by their defense, and the pitchers were unable to minimize the damage. Sam Armstrong came out of the bullpen and tossed three innings. He was charged with seven runs, but just two were earned. He gave up four hits, walked two and had two strikeouts. Luis Quinones came on and gave up an unearned run. He walked three and struck out two batters in his inning. Jarret Whorff gave up one run on two hits in the ninth inning. He struck out one batter. 

Wichita took the early lead in the second inning when Billy Amick lined a ball that the left fielder let bounce past him and to the wall. Amick raced around the bases. The play at the plate was close, but the corner infielder beat the throw to give the Surge a 1-0 lead. 

Down 4-1 going to the bottom of the sixth inning, Kyle DeBarge and Kala’i Rosario walked to start the inning. They were successful on a double steal. Amick drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Ben Ross doubled in Rosario to make it 4-3. 

Ross led the Surge offense, going 2-for-4. The double was his second of the season. Rosario and DeBarge each had a single, a walk and a stolen base. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 8, Peoria 4
Box Score
Peoria jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but the Kernels put a Six on the board in the fifth inning to claim the lead and held on for the Win. 

Let’s jump to the bottom of the fifth. Caden Kendle led off with a double. He went to third on a Jaime Ferrer single. Marek Houston walked to load the bases. With one out, Khadim Diaw walked to put the Kernels on the board. Brandon Winokur lined a single to center that drove in two runs and tied the game at 3. 

Following a pitching change, Diaw and Winokur were successful on a double steal. Danny De Andrade responded with a single to drive in both runners. Jacob McCombs singled. Then with two outs, Kendle hit his second double of the inning to drive in the sixth run. 

The bottom of the sixth inning began with a Houston triple. Eduardo Tait followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-3. 

The Kernels added one more run in the eighth inning. Tait led off with a double, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on a Winokur single. 

It was a good day for the Kernels offense. Eight of their nine hitters had at least one hit. Winokur led the way to a 3-for-5 day and had three RBI. Houston was 2-for-3 with two walks, his first double and his first triple of the season. De Andrade had two hits and two RBI. Kendle hit his first two doubles in the fifth inning. They were also his first two doubles of the season. Jaime Ferrer also had two hits. 

Adrian Bohorquez started and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk over 3 2/3 innings He had five strikeouts, and Twins fans will enjoy hearing that he touched 98 a couple of times. Nick Trabacci allowed both runners he inherited before recording the final out of the fourth frame. Michael Ross tossed a scoreless fourth inning. Brent Francisco came in and gave up one run on three hits and a walk over four innings to earn the save. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 5, Clearwater 7
Box Score   
On Saturday, Kendry Rojas made his first rehab start as he prepares to rejoin the Saints. In 1 1/3 innings, he gave up two unearned runs on two hits. He walked two and had two strikeouts. 

Mike McKenna came in and finished the second inning, but not before allowing both of Rojas’s runners to score. He gave up his own unearned run as well. Jonathan Stevens came in and was charged with three runs on two hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Mitch Mueller got the next four outs, two an strikeouts. Jake Murray gave up one run on one hit and a walk in one inning. Adam Falinski struck out three batters over the final two scoreless, one-hit innings. 

After a combined two hits over their first two games on Friday, the Miracle doubled that total with four hits in this single game on Saturday. They also managed to walk 12 times. Harry Genth and Jayson Bass each had a double. JP Smith had a single and two walks. Ryan Sprock walked in three plate appearances. Bryan Acuna and Dameury Pena each walked twice as well. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, R, 3 RBI, K. 

Pitcher of the Day 
CJ Culpepper (Wichita): 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K, 43 pitches, 24 strikes (58.8%)

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

#1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, HBP, K (batted first, played CF, 7 innings)
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, HBP, R, K (batted second, played SS)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, HBP, 2 K, SB (batted sixth, played LF)
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2B(1), R, RBI, K, SF (batted second, DHd
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St.Paul) - 3 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 63 pitched, 37 strikes (58.7%)
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - DNP
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, HR(1), R, 2 RBI (batted fourth, DHd)
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Rehab in FM (
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(1), 3B(1), 2 R, K, E (batted first, played SS)
#10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - DNP
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - Sunday probable.
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, R, 3 RBI, K (batted fourth, played CF)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, R, 2 K
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - DNP
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, K (batted third, played LF)
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, R, SB(1), E (led off, played SS),
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 43 pitches, 24 strikes (55.8%)
#19 - C Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, R, RBI, K (batted third, catcher)
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - DNP

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday:
Worcester @ St. Paul (DH attempts @ 12:37 pm CT) - RHP Andrew Morris, RHP John Klein
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Nolan Santos

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 3-5
St. Paul Saints: 3-3
Wichita Wind Surge: 1-2
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 1-1
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 1-2

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!

View full article

[FlyingFinn]

Encouraging start to the season for CJ Culpepper.

Maybe it always happens early in the season, just seems like like we have given up a lot of unearned runs. And thus our defense in the minors is off to a rough start.

[LambchoP]

Zebby struggling to start the year does not bode well for the Twins starting rotation. Ober looking like he might be cooked, Abel not finding his control. All this is much worse when we have no legit arms ready to step up in St Paul...

[jkcarew]

Zebby Balazovic? Other than the still-symetrical facial features, he looks just like Jordan out there. Pick your poison…home runs or walks.

[GopherMike]

At this point I genuinely wonder if Prielipp might be the next guy up if they need another rotation arm. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, GopherMike said:

At this point I genuinely wonder if Prielipp might be the next guy up if they need another rotation arm. 

Prielipp has good stuff but has only looked good in spurts thus far.

Andrew Morris looked  good in 1st inning of today's game. Hopefully he can keep it going. The announcers noted that Morris was working on pitches as opposed to just getting outs. 

Kaelen Culpepper with lead off HR versus Boston's #1 prospect Payton Tolle.

[Nshore]

Zebby Matthews was known for absolute pinpoint command in the minors and looked unstoppable.  The Twins got ahold of him and now he's a total mess.  What did they do to him?