Twins Minor League Report (5/28): Merphy Hernandez Steals 7 Bases as Mussels Run Through Jupiter in Sweep

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

TRANSACTIONS   
Wichita played RHP Luis Quinones on the 7-Day Injured List with a right forearm strain. Infielder Jake Rucker came off of the Injured List for the Wind Surge. 

Miguelangel Boadas was placed on the 7-Day Injured List of the Kernels. Taking his roster spot is RHP Xavier Kolhosser, promoted from Fort Myers. 

Following the Twins Thursday afternoon loss in Chicago, the Twins Minor League Transaction page shows that RHP Travis Adams has been optioned to St. Paul.  So who will be joining the Twins in Pittsburgh on Friday?                      

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 8, Louisville 1  
Box Score
Down in Kentucky, the Saints offense started early and scored often through the game’s first four innings. And while they didn’t add on in the game’s second half, they didn’t need to thanks to some terrific pitching. 

Ryan Gallagher made his sixth start with the Saints this year, and it was easily his best. He tossed five scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, walked none and had five strikeouts. In his previous two starts combined, he had given up 12 earned runs on nine hits and seven walks in seven innings. It’s clear his focus heading into this start was to throw strikes and not hurt himself with walks (Reports indicate that they haunt.). 73% of his 74 pitches were strikes. Very encouraging start for the 23-year-old. 

Andrew Bash came in and made up for the lack of walks. He walked four batters over two innings, but he managed to give up no runs and no hits. C.J. Culpepper pitched the final two innings. After a scoreless eighth, he gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning. He gave up four total hits, walked none and had four strikeouts. 

The Saints scored their eight runs on 11 hits and were helped with nine walks. Louisville also committed two errors.

The Saints took an early lead in a not-at-all surprising way. Two batters in, they had a 2-0 lead. Kaelen Culpepper walked, and Royce Lewis followed with his seventh Saints home run. On a 1-0 sinker from veteran southpaw Brandon Liebrandt was hit 108.6 mph at 22 degrees and traveled 406 feet. 

The second inning began with singles by Kyler Fedko and Aaron Sabato. Ben Ross walked to load the bases. Catcher Noah Cardenas came to the plate and on a 2-1 fastball, he hit a four-seam fastball at 28 degrees and 103 mph. It traveled 394 feet and gave the Saints a 6-0 lead. 

In the third inning, Matt Wallner scored on a ground out by Ben Ross. With one out in the fourth inning, Hendry Mendez and Gabriel Gonzalez singled. Wallner was hit by a pitch. Fedko drove in Mendez with the team’s eighth and final run of the game. 

Along with his 109 mph first inning homer, Lewis had a walk, and in the second inning, he hit a double to left at 115.7 mph. Cardenas was also 2-for-4 with a walk and his third double. The grand slam was his second home run of the season. Fedko was also 2-for-4, and Gonzalez went 2-for-5. Ben Ross and Matt Wallner both walked twice. Wallner was also hit by a pitch. Culpepper had a single and two walks. He also stole his 12th base of the season. Sabato had a single and a walk. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita, Springfield  
Box Score
Rains ruled the day in mid-Missouri and caused the postponement of Thursday’s Wind Surge-Cardinals game. The plan is to play two games on Saturday. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 1, Quad Cities 12                                                                                                                                                                        Box Score
Let’s start with the positive. Jacob McCombs hit his third home run of the season in the second inning. McCombs was 2-for-3 in the game. 

The key story of this game was the performance of lefty Dasan Hill. The lanky southpaw threw 43 pitches and recorded just two outs in the first inning. Just 12 of the pitches were strikes. Hill was ultimately charged with four runs on six walks and a hit batter. He also threw two wild pitches. Fortunately, Christian Becerra came in with the bases loaded and recorded the final out without any more runs scored. Hill has been dealing with a blister lately, and maybe the ball was coming out of his hand and off of his finger wrong, but if he was experiencing a new blister, he would have come out sooner. It’s shocking he was allowed to throw 43 pitches in an inning. It will certainly be interesting to see what the plan is in the near term for the immensely talented flamethrower. 

Becerra also pitched the second and third innings. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk. Becerra pitched to one batter in the fourth inning before Sam Rochard came in. He worked 2 2/3 innings and allowed the inherited runner to score and one more run on two hits and a walk. Xavier Kolhosser went the next 2 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs on two hits and four walks. Five of the seven outs came on strikeouts. 

Position Player Pitcher Alert!! Harry Genth came in for the ninth inning. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. One of the runs scored on a balk. 

The Kernels had just four hits and four walks in the game. Marek Houston hit his 10th double. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Game 1: Ft. Myers 9, Jupiter 1
Box Score  
In the first game, the Hammerheads took the first lead, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Marlins prospect Andrew Salas, younger brother of Wind Surge utilityman Jose Salas. Then the Mighties scored nine straight to run away with it. 

Fort Myers responded to that second inning run by putting a “4” on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Graham Brown made his Twins and affiliated baseball debut and recorded his first hit, an infield single. He stole second before Byron Chourio walked. Bryan Acuna drove in Brown with a single to left. The runners advanced to second and third. Murphy Hernandez grounded to second but reached on a fielder’s choice and throwing error that allowed Chourio to score. Hernandez stole second (his fourth steal is less than a week with the team). Dameury Pena doubled to drive in two runs and give them a 4-1 lead. 

Hernandez and Pena were back at it in the bottom of the fourth. Hernandez singled, stole second, and scored on a single by Pena to make it 5-1. 

In the bottom of the fifth frame, Brown walked with two outs. He stole second and scored on Luis Fragoza’s third home run. 

In the sixth inning, Hernandez was hit by a pitch. After a short delay to make sure he was OK, he went and stole another base. Pena walked. With one out, Ryan Sprock was hit by a pitch to load the bases. With two outs, Quentin Young walked to score Hernandez, and then Pena scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-1. 

Merit Jones was terrific on the mound too. The right-hander earned his first pro win. He gave up one run on one hit and two walks over five innings. He struck out six batters. He was remarkably efficient. He needed just 52 pitches to get through five innings. 35 of them were strikes. 

Jonathan Stevens struck out two batters in a scoreless inning. Jake Murray also worked a scoreless inning to end the game. 

Dameury Pena went 3-for-3 with a walk, his fourth double and three RBI. He also stole his 13th base. Fragoza came in for Byron Chourio in the third inning. He went 1-for-2 with the two-run homer. Hernandez went 1-for-2, was hit by a pitch, stole three bases and scored three runs. 

Graham Brown went 1-for-3 with a walk, a single, two stolen bases, two runs scored, and two strikeouts. Brown, 24, signed this week from the Washington Wild Things of the independent Frontier League. In 2025, the Twins signed both Caleb McNeely and RHP Brett Francisco. 

Brown is a Maryland native, spent a season at Potomac State College in West Virginia (Junior College), and then played in 177 games over three seasons at Coastal Carolina. Undrafted, he spent the 2025 season with Evansville in the Frontier League

He played mostly right field for three years in college. Last season, he played mostly center field but also got time at second base and third base. Seems similar to the signing in recent weeks of Quinn McDaniel. Maybe they didn’t expect the Mighty Quinn to force a promotion to Cedar Rapids so quickly. 

Game 2: Ft. Myers 8, Jupiter 7 (10 innings)
Box Score  
After starting the season on the 7-Day Injured List, fourth-round pick from 2025 Jason Reitz made one rehab appearance in the FCL. Last week, he made his first official pro start with one inning in Dunedin. On Thursday, he made his Hammond Stadium debut and was fantastic. The 6-11 right-hander tossed three scoreless, hitless innings. He walked one and had two strikeouts.

Kolten Smith came on and was charged with four runs on six hits in four innings. He had three strikeouts. Mike McKenna was charged with two unearned runs over two hitless, walkless innings. Michael Hilker gave up an unearned run on one hit in the 10th inning, but he gets the win because the Mussels came back with two runs in the 10th inning. 

The Mussels scored first in the fourth inning when JP Smith scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch. Jupiter jumped ahead with three in the top of the fifth and another in the sixth. 

Down 4-1, the Mussels tied things up in the bottom of the seventh. Murphy Hernandez led off with a bunt single and stole second. Dameury Pena and Ramiro Dominguez walked to load the bases. Henry Kusiak walked to drive in Hernandez. After a pitching change, Pena scored on a Jayson Bass sacrifice fly. JP Smith followed with another sacrifice fly to tie it at 4-4 and send the game to extra innings. 

Both teams scored in the eighth. Hernandez singled with two outs to drive in Manfred Man Quentin Young to tie the game and send it to the ninth. 

Both teams scored in the ninth. Ramiro Dominguez scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Jayson Bass and the game went to the 10th frame. 

Both teams scored in the 10th inning. Young started the inning on second base again. Luis Fragoza grounded out but Young advanced to third base. He scored when the Hammerhead pitcher balked. With two outs, Hernandez singled to right. He stole second and scored on a line drive to center by Dameury Pena. 

Hernandez led the way. He had four of the team’s six hits in the game. He also stole four bases. Pena had the game-winning single and two walks. Ramiro Dominguez had a single and two walks. 

The Mussels certainly had more opportunities. Despite just six hits, the Mussels also had eight walks and stole nine bases. They went just 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 12 on base.

COMPLEX CHRONICLE
FCL Twins, FCL Orioles
Box Score  
The game was postponed by rain. The plan is to make it up in mid-June.

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Merphy Hernandez (Fort Myers): 5-for-7, HBP, 5 R, 2 RBI, 7 SB(10).
Dameury Pena (Fort Myers): 4-for-7, 3 BB, 2B(4), 2 R, 4 RBI, SB(13).

Pitcher of the Day 
Ryan Gallagher (St. Paul):  5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 74 pitches, 54 strikes (73.0%)
Merit Jones (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 52 pitches, 35 strikes (67.3%) 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. Note that the links in this section will take you to the results of a search for articles that player has been tagged in on Twins Daily. 

#1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 7 Day Injured List (left shoulder)
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 2 BB, R, K, SB(12), CS(1) (batted first, played SS)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 7 Day Injured List (thumb) - Had surgery.
#4 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch.
#5 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K, E(5), PB(3) (batted four, catcher)  
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - 2/3 IP, 0 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 1 HBP, 2 WP, 43 pitches, 12 strikes (27.9%)
#7 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2B(10), 2 K, E(7) (batted first, played SS)
#8 - RHP Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch.
#9 - LHP Kendry Rojas (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch. Scratched from the start.
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, 2 K. (batted fourth, DHd)   
#11 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - 1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 29 pitches, 19 strikes (65.5%)                                        
#13 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, R (batted third, played LF)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Game 1: 1-for-3, BB, RBI, K (batted fifth, played SS), Game 2: 0-for-4, BB, 2 R, SB(4), 2 K (batted sixth, DHd)   
#15 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (batted second, played 3B)
#16 - RHP Ryan Gallagher (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 74 pitches, 54 strikes (73.0%)
#17 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 38 pitches, 26 strikes (68.4%)
#18 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 Day Injured List (right elbow sprain)
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) -0-for-3, BB, K, SB(3) (batted fifth, played CF) 
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - Rained Out.

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Friday, May 29:
St. Paul @ Louisville (6:15 pm CT) - LHP Aaron Rozek (0-0, 1.84 ERA) vs Chase Petty (2-4, 6.32 ERA)
Wichita @ Springfield (7:05 pm CT) - RHP Cory Lewis (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs SHP Jurrangelo Cijntje (3-2, 5.18 ERA)
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Ivran Romero (2-2, 8.20 ERA)
Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Justin Mitrovich (0-1, 0.77 ERA)
FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (11:00 am CT) - TBD  

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 27-30
St. Paul Saints: 27-26
Wichita Wind Surge: 21-25
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 24-24
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 26-22
FCL Twins: 10-8
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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[Permanent Twins Fan]

It's really nice to see Gallagher have a good start as the Twins are short on starters at the Major League Level. He is probably a couple of months away.

[TopGunn#22]

Tough outing for Dasan Hill.  Still, it's just one outing.  I remain VERY high on his potential.  Command at his age is a common problem.  Gosh, do the Twins have a LOT of top prospects hurt.  Gotta get these boys healthy.  Seems like Quentin Young is scuffling.  

[Danchat]

Laweryson is ready to come off the IL so you'd think he takes Adams' place, but his rehab appearances at AAA have been pretty bad.

Lewis with 7 HRs in 9 games, 40 PAs at St Paul... gee whiz!