Twins Minor League Report (5/7): Mussels and FCL Twins Score 10; Wind Surge Hit 10 Home Runs!

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Elisa Chavez (photo of Garrett Spain)

TRANSACTIONS   
Right-hander Miguel Martinez was assigned to the DSL Twins.

Earlier this week, we learned that the Twins acquired RHP Yoendrys Gomez from the Rays in exchange for #OldFriend Cash Considerations. Following Thursday afternoon’s game in Washington DC, the Twins optioned John Klein to make room on the roster.   

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Las Vegas 7  
Box Score
Thursday night in Vegas, the Saints fell behind quickly. Through two innings, they were down 5-0. Andrew Bash made the start. He gave up five runs (3 earned) on six hits and two walks in three innings.    

C.J. Culpepper came on and tossed two scoreless innings. It wasn’t pretty, but he got through it without giving up a run. He gave up one hit and walked a batter. He also fielded a ground ball and threw it into center field. But overall, he looked solid. He looked comfortable. It will be interesting, in my opinion, if he is used as a two or three inning guy with the Saints. A top 20 prospect, he could put himself into consideration for a bullpen gig by the season’s second half. 

The Saints offense was quiet through six innings. They were still behind 5-0 when they came to bat in the top of the seventh. Hendry Mendez led off the inning with a walk and stole second. He moved to third on a single by Aaron Sabato. Tanner Schobel drove in Mendez with a single to left. With two outs, Kaelen Culpepper came to the plate. On the first pitch, he saw an 85-mph slider just below the zone, near the outside corner. The second pitch was an 84-mph slider, but it sat right in the middle of the plate. Culpepper launched the pitch at 101 mph at 27 degrees, and it traveled 376 feet for his eighth homer of the season. The club was back in the game, down just 5-4. 

Matt Bowman struck out three batters over two innings. He gave up a run on a hit to make it 6-4. His ERA is at 1.86 now, and I would assume he would have an opt-out in his deal. 

In the top of the eighth inning, the Saints got that run back off of former Twins prospect Nick Anderson. Gabriel Gonzalez led off with a single. He went to third on an Orlando Arcia single to right. Gonzalez scored, but it came on a double play which ended the threat. Dan Altavilla threw a scoreless eighth inning.  

With one out in the top of the ninth, Tanner Schobel lined a 100.8 mph fastball to the gap in right-center field for a double. With two outs, Culpepper came back to the plate. He fell behind 0-2 on a couple of sharp, upper 80s sliders. Then he fouled off fastballs at 100 mph and 102.2 mph. On the fifth pitch, he got a slider at 90.3 mph over the middle of the plate, and he bounded a 90-mph ground ball through the infield, avoiding both diving middle infielders. Schobel scored the tying run.   

But in the bottom of the ninth, he issued a walk and a single before Tommy White doubled in the winning run. 

Culpepper went 2-for-5 with his eighth home run and four big RBI. Gonzalez was 2-for-4. Schobel and Sabato were each 2-for-4 with a double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 19, Arkansas 7
Box Score
The Surge scored three in the top of the first inning. They added crooked numbers in the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth. Maybe the Surge are trying to keep up with big brother. The Saints came into the day with more home runs than any other professional team. The Surge came into the game with 47 homers, and they ended the game with 57 homers.

The Wind Surge set their franchise record with 19 runs scored and with 10 home runs in a single game. Their 17 hits were a season high. In this case, I think we’ll just post notes to summarize the game. 

Garrett Spain (25): Leading off, he went 3-for-6 with his seventh, eighth, and ninth home runs, and six RBI. He now is hitting .290/.365/.688 (1.053) with six doubles, two triples and nine home runs. The last Wind Surge batter to hit three homers in a game was Carson McCusker back in 2023. (McCusker has hit two home runs in 20 games for Rakuten (Japan).) 

Billy Amick (23): Amick went 3-for-5 in this game. He homered in his first two at-bats and then added a single in his third at-bat. He has eight home runs on the season.  

Maddux Houghton (27): Houghton went 2-for-5 with his first homer of the season and stole his seventh base.  

Jake Rucker (26): Many thought that Rucker hit his third home run of the season in the fifth inning. He drilled a ball to dead center that one of the umps called a homer. Rucker kept running and got to third. It was discussed by the umps, and he was credited with a triple. When he came to the plate in the seventh inning, he went to the opposite field, no question about it being over the fence. He went 2-for-4 with a walk, his first triple, and his third homer. 

Kyle DeBarge (22): He went 2-for-5 with a walk and his fourth home run. He scored three runs in the game. 

Ricardo Olivar (25): The backstop went 2-for-5 with a walk and his 10th home run of the season. All 10 of the homers have come in his past 13 games. Overall, he is now hitting .281/.369/.685 (1.054) with six doubles and 28 RBI. He has a seven game on-base streak. 

Kala’i Rosario (24): Rosario went 2-for-5 with his seventh home run. It marked his 40th home run with the Wind Surge. 

Andrew Cossetti (25): The DH went 1-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored. 

In case you were wondering. Jose Olivares started and gave up two runs on two hits over 2 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two batters. Spencer Bengard walked two and struck out two batters but got four outs with no runs. Darren Bowen gave up one run on two hits and a walk over two innings. He struck out three batters. Kyle Bischoff gave up four runs on four hits (including two homers) in the seventh inning. Luis Quinones tossed two scoreless innings He struck out five batters. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 0, Quad Cities 2
Box Score
On a day when four of the Twins affiliates combined for 45 runs, you had to know that one affiliate would be shutout, and that was the Kernels on Thursday.  

Jason Doktorczyk started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits and a walk. He struck out five. Sam Rochard struck out two in a scoreless sixth inning. Adam Falinski struck out four batters in his first High-A debut. 

The Kernels certainly had chances. While they had just three hits, Kernels batters walked eight times. Four times the Kernels had a runner on third base, but only once did that come with less than two outs. They went  0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. 

Miguel Briceno had a single and a walk. Brandon Winokur and Jay Thomason each walked twice. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 10, Tampa 6
Box Score  
Big innings always play such a big part in deciding a team that wins. That was definitely the case in this late-inning comeback win. 

When the Mussels came to the plate in the bottom of the third inning, they were losing 5-0. With two outs in that inning, Yasser Mercedes was on first base and scored ahead of Ramiro Dominguez who drilled his third home run since joining the Mussels two weeks ago. 

Mercedes doubled in the fifth inning and scored the team’s third run on a ground out. 

When the Mussels came to the plate to start the bottom of the eighth inning, they were down 6-3. Henry Kusiak singled to start the inning. Then things got a little wild. Irvin Nunez and Jayson Bass walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Dameury Pena was hit by a pitch to drive in a run the hard way. Bruin Agbayani walked in a run. Down one, Mercedes was called out on strikes. He immediately challenged and the ABS told him that the ball was 0.8” low. In that instant, the strikeout became a walk, and the game was tied 6-6. Then came a strikeout for the second out. But, Ryan Sprock walked to give the Mussels a 7-6 lead. 

After a pitching change, Henry Kusiak came up for the second time in the inning. He cleared the bases with a line drive double to left field. 10-6 Mussels.   

Reed Moring started for the Mussels. He gave up two unearned runs on one hit in 1 1/3 innings. He had two strikeouts but also four walks. Merit Jones came in and gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits over 4 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. Jonathan Stevens came on and struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. Mike McKenna had a walk and a strikeout in the scoreless ninth inning. 

Henry Kusiak signed with the Twins organization from the Long Island Ducks. He had an “O-fer” in his first game. In this game, he was 3-for-5 with the biggest hit of the game, his first double. 

The Mussels scored their 10 runs on seven hits and 10 walks. Agbayani went 1-for-3 with two walks. Mercedes was 1-for-3 with two walks and his fourth double. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLE
FCL Twins 10, FCL Orioles 5
Box Score  
Cory Lewis made his second rehab start for the FCL Twins. He struck out three batters over two perfect innings. 

19-year-old Yordi Jose came in for the third inning. The lefty gave up four runs (3 earned) on two hits. He walked four batters and had three strikeouts. Next up was 26-year-old minor-league veteran Jesse Bergin. He allowed both inherited runners to score, and then gave up one run on two hits over 1 2/3 innings. Carter Holjes had one walk in a scoreless inning.  

The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by Yovanny Duran and Merphy Hernandez. They added an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning on two walks and two fielding errors. 

The Twins broke it open in the third inning with six runs. Darwin Almanzar singled to drive in Daniel Pena. Ricardo Paez scored on a wild pitch. With the bases loaded, Miguel Caraballo doubled to drive in two runs. Teilon Serrano tripled to drive in two more runs and give the team a 9-2

Almanzar singled to drive in one more run in the fourth inning and give the team 10 runs. 

The Twins scored their 10 runs on nine hits and eight walks. Ricardo Paez went 2-for-4. Almanzar went 2-for-3 with a walk. 

 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
(Wichita Wind Surge): 17-for-42, 19 R, 5 BB, 19 RBI, 10 K, 3B, 10-HR. 

Pitcher of the Day 
Jason Doktorczyk (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, BB, 5 K, 75 pitches, 53 strikes (65.0%)

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) - 7 Day Injured List (left shoulder)
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, HR(8), SB(7), R, 4 RBI (batted first, played DH)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 7 Day Injured List (thumb)
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K (batted second, DH). 
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Starts Friday in Cleveland.
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, R (batted third, played RF)
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch.
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play.
#10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#11 - RHP Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch                                        
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 K (batted third, played SS)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Play
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch.
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, R, K,SB(1), (batted fifth, played LF)
#17 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 2-for-5, BB, HR(4), 3 R, RBI (batted second, played SS)
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 B, 2 K, 30 pitches, 19 strikes (63.3%)
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, 2 K (batted first, played CF)
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 Day Injured List (right elbow sprain)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Friday:
St. Paul @ Las Vegas (9:05 pm ET) - RHP Zebby Matthews (2-2, 5.13 ERA)
Wichita @ Amarillo (7:05 pm CT) - LHP Aaron Rozek (2-1,3.38 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 pm CT) - RHP Ivran Romero (2-0, 5.79 ERA)
Tampa @ Ft. Myers (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Ramiro Villanueva (0-0, 1.29 ERA)
FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (11:00 am CT) - TBD 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 16-22
St. Paul Saints: 17-18
Wichita Wind Surge: 15-15
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 15-15
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 17-13
FCL Twins: 2-2
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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[Cory Engelhardt]

As someone who has recently moved from Minnesota to New Zealand, right now as I reply it's 8:43pm Friday evening. That means it is 3:43am in Minnesota. Seth, you stayed up LATE! But a fun read as always :)