Twins Minor League Report (4/7): First-Inning Fireworks and a No-Hit Bid

[Steve Lein]

Image courtesy of Braden Botts (photo of Billy Amick)

TRANSACTIONS

• IF Jorel Ortega was sent from Wichita to Fort Myers to begin a rehab assignment. He played second base and led off for the Mighty Mussels. 
• The Wind Surge were also assigned RHP William Fleming, who the organization signed earlier in the day.

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 0, Toledo 1
Box Score
On the mound for the Saints was right-hander Andrew Bash, who put together a solid effort in Toledo. He allowed a single to top prospect Max Clark in the bottom of the first, and after stealing second base he was brought in with an RBI single to give the Mud Hens an early 1-0 lead. But that was it against him as he retired the next nine in a row and pitched into the fifth inning. In 4 2/3 innings, Bash gave up only the single run on three hits and two walks, while punching out six. 

Relievers Eduardo Salazar (1 2/3 IP, 2 H, BB, K) and Zak Kent (1 2/3 IP, H, BB) finished off the final 3 1/3 scoreless innings, doing their part to give the Saints lineup a chance.

Except any offense from that lineup was non-existent. Perhaps Emmanuel Rodriguez being scratched from the lineup due to illness earlier in the day was a bad omen.

The first 14 hitters of the game were retired before Ryan Kreidler drew a walk in the fifth inning for their first baserunner. Then the next eight went down before Kreidler and Kyler Fedko took back-to-back walks in the eighth. This gave them their first at-bat of the game with a runner in scoring position, but Alex Jackson and Aaron Sabato proceeded to go down swinging.

With the Mud Hens no-hitter still intact Kaelen Culpepper led off the top of the ninth. He ended up called out on strikes on an overturned pitch. Walker Jenkins challenged a strike three call as the next hitter, earning a walk for his efforts.

That brought up Gabriel Gonzalez, who did this:

While they avoided being the victim of a no-hitter thanks to that bloop, Alan Roden and Orlando Arcia went down swinging to end the game with the 1-0 loss.

As a team the Saints finished 1-for-28 with four walks and nine strikeouts. They were 0-for-4 with four strikeouts with runners in scoring position.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 2, Arkansas 4
Box Score
Unlike their triple-A brethren, the Wind Surge offense was ready to strike in the top of the first inning. With two outs Hendry Mendez delivered a double, and Billy Amick followed with his second homer of the season, an opposite field shot to put them up 2-0.

“All I do is win-win-win” pitcher Mike Paredes got the start for Wichita and was electric for four innings. He gave up a solo home run in the second but that was basically it. Of his 12 outs, seven came via the strikeout. He threw 62 pitches, with 39 of them going for strikes (63%) including an absurd 16 swinging strikes. It looked like he was getting them on multiple pitches as well, including his fastball, slider, and changeup.

Jaylen Nowlin came on for the fifth inning and delivered a scoreless frame, allowing one hit and striking out three. Alejandro Hidalgo went the next two innings after that, striking out three but surrendering two home runs that put the Travelers in front for good. Darren Bowen struck out all three hitters he faced in the eighth, giving Wichita sixteen strikeouts as a pitching staff, the third highest total in franchise history.

While they weren’t in danger of a no-hitter or a shutout after the top of the first, the Wind Surge lineup did go quiet for the final eight innings. They managed just four singles and a pair of walks after Amick’s blast, finishing 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving eight men on base for the game.

The three, four, and five hitters Mendez (2-for-4, R, 2B, K), Amick (2-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 K) and Ben Ross (2-for-4, SB) all had two hits while the rest of the lineup was 0-for-22. Kyle DeBarge drew a walk and stole two bases in four at-bats.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 3
Box Score
The Kernels took two of three games against the Peoria Chiefs at home to kick off their season, and hit the road to face the Beloit Sky Carp this week.

Shortstop Marek Houston wasted little time getting Cedar Rapids on the scoreboard, taking the second pitch of the game out to left field for his second home run of the season. Eduardo Tait followed by drawing a walk and scored their second run on a triple from Jacob McCombs three batters later.

Eli Jones made his first start of the year and went the first five innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out four. He threw 69 pitches, with 46 of them going for strikes (67%) as he efficiently pounded the strike zone. 

He exited the game in line for a win as Cedar Rapids took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-out rally. Jaimie Ferrer drew a walk to get it started, Houston followed with a single to move him into scoring position, and Tait brought him in with a single of his own. 

Christian Becerra came on to start the sixth inning and went two innings. He gave up a solo home run that gave him a blown save, but also struck out three and got the win. Paulshawn Pasqualotto finished off the final two innings to pick up his first save of the year, retiring all six hitters he faced, including a pair of strikeouts.

The Kernels added the needed runs for the win in the top of the seventh on a single from Danny De Andrade. His grounder up the middle was misplayed by the center fielder, allowing Khadim Diaw and Brandon Winokur to score. They had both reached base on walks earlier in the inning.

Houston (2-for-5, R, HR, RBI, K) and McCombs (2-for-5, 3B, RBI, 2 K) led the way with two hits apiece. Diaw and Winokur each scored a run and drew three walks. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 7, Jupiter 6 (10 innings)
Box Score
He wasn’t the first batter of the game like Marek Houston with the Kernels, but Quentin Young hit his first homer as a professional to also put the Mighty Mussels in the lead before taking the field on defense.

Starting pitcher Merit Jones gave up two runs in the bottom of the first so that lead was short-lived, but he settled in from there to finish 3 2/3 total innings. He didn’t give up any other runs and allowed three hits and two walks in the outing, striking out two.

Fort Myers got those two runs back in the top of the third as the rehabbing Jorel Ortega doubled with two outs, and Eduardo Beltre followed with his first home run of the season for the 3-2 lead. Ortega knocked in a run of his own with an RBI single in the fifth. The Mighty Mussels pushed their lead to 6-2 in the top of the seventh thanks to a sac fly from Byron Chourio and an RBI single from Beltre.

Michael Hilker was the first reliever and pitched 1 1/3 innings after Jones' exit. He walked three but gave up no runs and struck out one. Eric Hammond added two scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one. 

In the middle of the eighth the weather became too much, with rain leading to a 40-minute delay. When the game resumed, reliever Brian Zeldin took over and had some issues with the mound. A solo homer, walk, wild pitch, and hit batter around multiple delays to fix the mound conditions ended his appearance before he could record an out. He was charged with three runs (two earned) and the dreaded infinite-ERA for his troubles.

When play resumed again Xavier Kolhosser took over and was able to finish the long eighth frame. With his team still up 6-5 Kolhosser faced one hitter in the ninth, but gave up a single to end his outing. He would be charged with one earned run on two hits and a walk in one total inning. Mike McKenna was brought into the game and two singles later he had a blown save and the game was heading to extras tied at six.

 A sac fly from Ryan Sprock scored the ghost runner for Fort Myers in the top half, and McKenna retired all three hitters he faced in the bottom half to pick up the win for the good guys.

The Mighty Mussels offense was led by Beltre who had three hits in five at-bats including the homer, and drove in three. Ortega finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI. Young (1-for-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, 3 K) and Dameury Pena (1-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB) each scored two runs.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Mike Paredes, Wichita Wind Surge (4 IP, 2 H, ER, 7 K)
Hitter of the Day – Eduardo Beltre, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (3-for-5, R, HR, 3 RBI, K)

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

#1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 0-for-3, BB, K
#2 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul): 0-for-4, K
#4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 1-for-4
#9 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, R, HR (2), RBI, K
#13 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-2, R, 3 BB, 2 K
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers): 1-for-5, 2 R, HR (1), RBI, 3 K
#16 – Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 2-for-4, R, 2B (1), K
#17 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita): 0-for-4, BB, 2 SB (3)
#19 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-2, R, 3 BB, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Toledo (5:35 PM CDT) - RHP Matt Bowman (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Wichita @ Arkansas (11:05 AM CDT) - RHP Ryan Gallagher (0-0, 4.15 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (6:05 PM CDT) - RHP Brent Francisco (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Kolten Smith (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

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

 

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[tony&rodney]

Saints are not hitting too hot. Culpepper really stung the ball his first two at bats but right to outfielders.

Kernels had a number of good plate appearances and fielded well.

[mrguy]

Pretty insane performance by Wind Surge pitching that it's pretty crazy they didn't win. I guess the plan out there was either Wichita was attacking the batters with anything to challenge them or the other team was simply told to swing at everything and see what happens. 

[FlyingFinn]

Houston is the early leader in the hitter of the month for the Twins minor leagues, with Culpepper maybe in 2nd. That is really great news for guys that also field very well.

[big dog]

Maybe Houston's bat isn't the black hole that was predicted. That would be a very nice outcome.

[DataNerd]

3 hours ago, big dog said:

Maybe Houston's bat isn't the black hole that was predicted. That would be a very nice outcome.

The amount of concern that people had for Houston having a horrible BABIP in 46ABs in CR last year was insane (and completely ignoring the 54ABs in Fort Myers).  He Hit .270 in A-A+, and the K% was below 20% at both levels.

[jmlease1]

48 minutes ago, DataNerd said:

The amount of concern that people had for Houston having a horrible BABIP in 46ABs in CR last year was insane (and completely ignoring the 54ABs in Fort Myers).  He Hit .270 in A-A+, and the K% was below 20% at both levels.

It was not unreasonable to be concerned when a college bat has a near total power outage at High A and looks dreadful at the plate. He wasn't stinging balls and just getting unlucky: he looked legitimately bad. Sure, it's a small sample, but it was cause for concern. (and the K rate at Cedar Rapids was slightly above 20%, and a big jump from Ft. Myers)

He's off to an excellent start so far, and if he continues to show he can do damage when given a good pitch to drive, then he'll be in good shape.

Interesting to see Amick off to a hot start; I wasn't sure he was going to get promoted to AA after fighting injuries and falling off in the second half last season, and then looking atrocious in the AFL. But he's responded nicely and I'll be interested to see where his season ends up. Don't mind him splitting time between 3B and 1B at all, either.

[RpR]

Jenkins is sinking into a blackhole.

[Senior Softball Guy]

Houston; We don't have a problem!

[Chembry]

4 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

It was not unreasonable to be concerned when a college bat has a near total power outage at High A and looks dreadful at the plate. He wasn't stinging balls and just getting unlucky: he looked legitimately bad. Sure, it's a small sample, but it was cause for concern. (and the K rate at Cedar Rapids was slightly above 20%, and a big jump from Ft. Myers)

He's off to an excellent start so far, and if he continues to show he can do damage when given a good pitch to drive, then he'll be in good shape.

Interesting to see Amick off to a hot start; I wasn't sure he was going to get promoted to AA after fighting injuries and falling off in the second half last season, and then looking atrocious in the AFL. But he's responded nicely and I'll be interested to see where his season ends up. Don't mind him splitting time between 3B and 1B at all, either.

We all agree that Houston struggled in high A.  Just my opinion, but I do think those struggles were overblown.  I don't want to speculate as to why he struggled because it doesn't really matter, but I do hope he continues to make contact and follows a similar path as Culpepper.  

Just one point of clarification, Houston cut his K rate to 15.7% at Cedar Rapids. 8 Ks in 51 PA.  He was at 22% in Fort Myers (13 Ks in 59 PA)