Twins Minor League Report (4/26): Mighty Mussels Pitchers Combine for Sixth No Hitter in Franchise History

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

Congratulations to pitchers Merit Jones, Matthew Becker, Eric Hammond, and Jake Murray, and catchers Ryan Sprock and Irvin Nunez, and the entire Fort Myers Mighty Mussels team. On Sunday, the team posted its sixth no-hitter in franchise history. 

I looked back at the five previous no-hitters which was fun to remember, and yes, I am old enough, and have been blogging long enough, to remember all of them. Some fun names to remember. 

In addition, I chatted with Mussel's play-by-play voice Andrew Pawling about today’s game, the pitchers and catchers, and several of the players on the roster. You can find that at the bottom of the Mussels section below or on Twins Daily’s YouTube page. 

May 12, 2007
Yohan Pino tossed a complete game no-hitter for the Miracle. It was the first no-hitter for the Twins affiliate since moving to Fort Myers in 1991. He walked two and had six strikeouts in seven innings (part of a doubleheader). Miracle won the game 2-0 over Lakeland. 

August 14, 2011
Alex Wimmers had been struggling with his control. The former top pick had been fighting a case of the yips all season. But with the season coming toward its end, Wimmers struck out nine and walked three in this seven-inning no-hitter. Miracle won 1-0 over Bradenton. 

September 18, 2021
Four pitches combined to toss a seven-inning no-hitter, the first under the Mighty Mussels name. Regi Grace, Landon Leach and Bradley Hanner each threw two hitless innings. Matthew Swain pitched the seventh inning to complete the no-hitter. They combined for one walk and eight strikeouts. The Mussels won 7-0 over Tampa. 

May 10, 2022
Here was the first nine-inning no-hitter in franchise history as the Mussels topped Palm Beach 3-0. David Festa started and went the first six innings. He had two walks but also struck out 11 batters. He reached 99.1 mph in that game. Jaylen Nowlin struck out three batters over two no-hit innings. Hunter McMahon got the final three outs to complete the no-no. 

July 23, 2024
It’s not officially a no-hitter by the rules, but in July 2024, the Mussels combined for a rain-shortened no-hitter (also against the Blue Jays). Lefty Ross Dunn, a rehabbing Justin Topa, and WIlker Reyes combined for six, no-hit innings. The Jays starter, Ryan Watson, was perfect through 17 hitters. Angel Del Rosario singled. Walker Jenkins doubled him to third, and then Chourio’s double. 

TRANSACTIONS   
SS Yilber Herrera was assigned to the FCL Twins from the Mussels. 

Moving in the other direction was LHP Matthew Becker. The southpaw was the team’s 19th round pick in 2025 out of South Carolina.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 1 
Box Score
This was just a well-played ballgame, and it starts with the pitching. 

Zebby Matthews was the Zebby Matthews we enjoyed watching when he was at his finest. The right-hander tossed five shutout innings. He gave up one hit and one walk. He had six strikeouts. 46 of his 67 pitches were strikes (68.7%). He also had seven ground outs to zero fly outs. 

Kendry Rojas made his first appearance since returning to St. Paul. The hard-throwing lefty gave up just two hits over three scoreless innings. He hit one batter, walked none, and struck out five batters. 35 of his 44 pitches were strikes, a remarkable 79.5% strike rate!   

Luis Garcia gave up a run on two hits in the ninth inning. 

The Saints took the lead right away in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Ryan Kreidler hit his second Saints homer, his first since rejoining the team early this week.   

They carried the 2-0 lead until the top of the sixth. Gabriel Gonzalez led off the inning with a single. With two outs, Orlando Arcia drove him in with a single.

Kyler Fedko went 2-for-4 with his second double.                                                                                                                                      

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Game 1: Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 6
Box Score
The Surge scored early. The Naturals scored late and had the last at-bat. 

Billy Amick led off the top of the second inning with a walk. Ricardo Olivar followed with his fifth home run. 

Two innings later, the Surge had a 2-1 lead. Kala’i Rosario led off with a walk. Amick followed with his fifth home run of the season. 

Kyle DeBarge scored on a wild pitch to give Wichita a 5-1 lead. 

Sam Armstrong made the start and gave up one run on three hits and a walk in four innings. He had one strikeout. Jarret Whorff worked the fifth inning. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a passed ball. 

Alejandro Hidalgo started the sixth. He gave up two runs on one hit and two walks in just 2/3 of an inning. Luis Quinones came on and kept the game tied through six innings. He came back out for the bottom of the seventh inning. He struck out the first two batters, but Rudy Martin walked it off with a home run.

Game 2: Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 2
Box Score
Garrett Spain, who hit his fifth double of the season in the first game, led off Game 2 with his fifth home run of the season. 

Ty Langenberg gave up two runs on four hits and two walks over the first four innings. He struck out four batters. Kyle Bischoff worked the next two innings. He gave up only a walk and had two strikeouts over his two innings. 

Down 2-1 going into the seventh inning, Hendry Mendez led off with a walk. With one out, Kala’i Rosario drilled his fifth home run of the season to give Wichita a 3-2 lead. 

Darren Bowen came in for the bottom of the second. He gave up a run and a single but kept the Naturals from scoring to record his first save of the season.   

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 16
Box Score
It was a rough week for the Kernels in Peoria. Eduardo Tait had a couple of home runs and big hits, and Marek Houston started the week with five straight multi-hit games. On Sunday, he was 0-for-1 with a walk and drove in the team’s first run with a sacrifice fly. The Kernels were outscored 51-33 over the six games and won just one game. 

This was a tough one. Through four innings, the Kernels were down 10-1. However, in the top of the seventh, Cedar Rapids started a comeback. Miguel Briceno led off with a single. Jay Thomason followed with another single. After a line out and a pitching change, Jaime Ferrer drove in Briceno to make it 10-2. Andy Lugo pinch hit for Houston and walked to load the bases. Thomason scored on a groundout by Tait. Brandon Winokur then hit his second home run of the season, a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 10-6.   

That’s as close as it got as Peoria scored six runs over their final two innings.

Michael Ross made the start. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on one hit and three walks over two innings. He had two strikeouts. Nick McAuliffe made his pro debut and gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and two walks. Christian Becerra gave up two runs on three hits in the fourth inning. Eston Stull gave up a hit and two walks over two scoreless innings. Yehizon Sanchez gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit and three walks in an inning. Sam Rochard gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in the eighth inning. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 3, Dunedin 0
Box Score  
You might have heard this already. The Mighty Mussels used four pitchers to complete a nine-inning no-hitter. It was far from a perfect game, to be sure, but the pitchers kept the Blue Jays off the scoreboard and without a hit. 

Merit Jones started and went 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and hit a batter. He needed just 34 pitches to record 10 outs. Matt Becker came on for his professional debut. He went 3 2/3 innings and had three strikeouts. Two of the Mussels four errors came while Becker was pitching. 

Eric Hammond recorded five outs. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, manager Jordan Smith made one more pitching change. He turned to lefty Jake Murray who walked a batter before getting a strikeout to end the game and complete the no hitter.   

The team did need to score runs to win the game. 

In the bottom of the third inning, a Yasser Mercedes single drove in Bryan Acuna to make it 1-0. In the bottom of thmake it 1-0e sixth, Ryan Sprock drove in Mercedes with a single to make it 2-0. Quentin Young drove in Byron Chourio with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eight to close out scoring. 

In every no-hitter, it seems like there is at least one great defensive play that helps save the day. In this game, that play may have come in the fifth inning when Eduardo Beltre covered some ground to make a sliding catch. 

 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Garrett Spain (Wichita): 2-for-7, 2B(5), HR(5), R, RBI, K

Pitcher of the Day 
Merit Jones, Matt Becker, Eric Hammonds, Jake Murray (Fort Myers): 9 IP, 0H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 104 pitches, 66 strikes (63.5%)
Zebby Matthews, Kendry Rojas (St. Paul): 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, 111 pitches, 81 strikes (73.0%)

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) - Did Not Play.
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, R, 2 K (batted first, played SS)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, K (Batted second, played CF).
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, RBI, K (batted second, played DH)
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, R, 2 K (batted fourth, played RF) 

#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 44 pitches, 35 strikes (79.5%)
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-1, BB, SF RBI, K (batted leadoff, played DH)
#10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch.
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HR(2), R, 3 RBI, 2 K, E(6) (batted third, played SS)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-1, 2 BB, SF RBI, E (batted fifth, played SS)
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch.  
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Game 1: 0-for-3, BB (batted third, played LF), Game 2: 0-for-2, BB, R (batted second, played LF)
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - Game 1: 0-for-3, BB, R, K (batted second, played SS), Game 2: 1-for-3, K (batted third, played SS)
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch.
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, E(2) (batted fourth, played CF)
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Tuesday:
Iowa @ St. Paul (11:07 am CT) - RHP John Klein (1-1, 7.64 ERA)
Arkansas @ Wichita (6:05 pm CT) - TBD
West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - TBD
Ft. Myers @ Daytona (5:35 pm CT) - TBD

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 12-16
St. Paul Saints: 11-15
Wichita Wind Surge: 12-9
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 8-13
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-7
FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4)
DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) 

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

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[twinstalker]

Thanks.  The biggest new here is Zebby.  One hit, no runs, one walk, six Ks in 5 ip.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Go Zebby. We are all pulling for you.

[jmlease1]

Nice ot see Zebby get on track. Hope it's a sign that he's settling in and can be counted on for a call-up if/when we need him in MLB. Pretty good performance from Rojas too after going back to the minors.

I'm getting worried about DeBarge at the plate. It's been a little ugly. Amick, on the other hand, seems to be getting it going. 3 homers in 3 days is kind of fun to see. 

[rdehring]

Enjoyed reading about the previous no hitters, Seth.  Thanks.

Two thoughts.  First, several familiar names we were so excited about..  Yet, none of them ever made it.  At least not with the Twins.  Second, Festa has so much promise.  Expect the Twins miss him, a lot.

Any word on why Houston was pulled from yesterday's game?  Hopefully, he packed his bags and headed south on I-35.  

[rdehring]

Enjoyed reading about the previous no hitters, Seth.  Thanks.

Two thoughts.  First, several familiar names we were so excited about..  Yet, none of them ever made it.  At least not with the Twins.  Second, Festa has so much promise.  Expect the Twins miss him, a lot.

Any word on why Houston was pulled from yesterday's game?  Hopefully, he packed his bags and headed south on I-35.  

[bean5302]

Combined no hitters are meaningless to me. Nothing more than the equivalent of a participation trophy. Glad they have value to somebody, but I only care if somebody goes the distance. Obviously, that is kind of not a thing in the minors as it's really not what the minors are for, but it's what the game was about.

Zebby clearly reaching back for an extra couple mph again. Only threw 1 curveball in the game.

[bean5302]

Seriously. I do wonder whether Gabriel Gonzales could learn 3B.

[DataNerd]

Matthews had the velo up to what it was last year, and the slider whiff rate was 60%.  This is the first start this year where either of those was where it was last year.

[mikelink45]

Seth two questions

1. Is Zebby now the next one to be called up or is there someone else you would choose?
2. Who would you choose to replace Outman?

[jkcarew]

Welcome to 2026, Zebby!

Maybe, just needed to rearrange some cargo to right the list.

[Linus]

Happy for Zebby. We are going to need him sooner or later. Equally excited about Rojas and the strike throwing. If he can throw it over he would be the best pen arm by far. The only question is whether his development as a potential starter is more important. 

[jorgenswest]

Thanks @Seth Stohs 

It would have been fun to be at that no hitter game. I think it was the first nine inning no hitter at any level in 2026. I have been to a lot of minor league games and haven’t seen a no hitter yet. There have been some close ones though. Andrew Pawling spoke about the momentum and I could feel that by the engagement of the fans in those close ones. Combined or not it is great entertainment and drama. Thanks for capturing some of that excitement for us.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

7 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Seriously. I do wonder whether Gabriel Gonzales could learn 3B.

I think 3B requires some serious fielding ability. Pop fouls behind 3B. Slow rolling grounders. The occasional bunt. Notice how often the 3Bmen shift over toward 2B. Plus a rifle arm would be nice. 3B now almost requires a SS's ability. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

4 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Seth two questions

1. Is Zebby now the next one to be called up or is there someone else you would choose?
2. Who would you choose to replace Outman?

1) Yes. 2) Hitman.