Twins Minor League Report (6/7): St. Paul Shuts Out Once Again

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Zach Del Bello (photo of Jorel Ortega)

TRANSACTIONS
No moves were made on Sunday.

Saints Sentinel
St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 0
Box Score
John Klein: 2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Kyler Fedko (2-for-4, 2B, R), Tanner Schobel (2-for-4)

The Saints shut out their opponent on Sunday.

It was a surprisingly tame match for International League standards. Indianapolis simply never got anything going against St. Paul’s litany of pitchers. John Klein? Effective, if not wildly so with three hits and three walks against him. Ty Langenberg? The star of the show. The one who delivered 2 1/3 efficient frames in arguably his best showing in a Saints uniform. Marco Raya? Even more efficient by netting two shutout frames with just 13 pitches. Then Kody Funderburk and C.J. Culpepper finished the job, with both hurlers needing fewer than 10 pitches to do so. St. Paul as a whole threw 110 pitches. It was as if the entire Indianapolis lineup had a tee time to make.

The pitching success rendered St. Paul’s relatively meager offensive showing more than enough to claim the win. Tanner Schobel brought in a run in the fourth off an infield single—and though the lineup could have napped at the plate the rest of the game and still won—they tacked on thanks to a two-run single by Aaron Sabato in the fifth.

Sabato ended play with a .975 OPS on the season, the eighth-best mark in the International League. 

Third-ranked Pirates prospect Hunter Barco provided bulk innings for Indianapolis, tossing four frames while surrendering three earned runs. 

Wind Surge Wisdom
Wichita 4, San Antonio 7
Box Score
Cory Lewis: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
HR: Billy Amick (14), Jorel Ortega (2)
Multi-hit games: Jorel Ortega (2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI)

The team soon to be formerly known as the Wind Surge came up short on Sunday.

Donning the moniker “Turbo Tubs” that will eventually become the team’s permanent name, Wichita didn’t appear especially turbo-ed, though they had chances (whatever that means). They plated a trio of runs off starter Ian Koenig, yet are likely kicking themselves for not scoring more, as the righty walked five in a scattershot outing. Instead, all the Wind Surge could muster against the starter was one run in the second, and two in the fifth.

That’s Billy Amick in there somewhere amongst the rain haze, we promise.

Amick now has 14 homers on the season, as he’s now tripled what was his career long ball total at the season’s start. His meager .212 batting average betrays a healthy .341 OBP and a robust .475 slugging percentage, giving him a prototypical slashline for a slugging corner infielder. 

Jorel Ortega added on in the sixth with a solo homer, his second shot of the season. Only former Volunteers could go long on Sunday, evidently. 

Unfortunately, Wichita pitching matched the sloppiness of the endured weather. Cory Lewis continued to struggle in his attempt to rebound from a disastrous 2025 season; his AA ERA this year sits at 5.60, a disappointing number given his mark across 66 innings with the team two years ago was 2.59. Sam Ryan coughed up three runs in his lone inning of work. Then Nick Mikolajchak became the third pitcher to fail in shutting out the Missions. Zach Vennaro and Paulshawn Pasqualotto finally delivered zeroes, but by then, it was too late.

Uber prospect turned ordinary top-100 guy, Ethan Salas, caught for the Missions, collecting two hits in five at-bats. 

Kernels Nuggets
The Kernels started play on Sunday before rain quickly squashed any hopes of completing nine innings. The game was canceled and will not be made up later. 

Mussel Matters
Fort Myers 3, Lakeland 5
Box Score
Ramiro Villanueva: 3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
HR: None
Multi-hit games: Ryan Sprock (2-for-3, 3B, R, 2 RBI), Graham Brown (2-for-4, RBI), Luis Fragoza (2-for-4)

The Mighty Mussels were bested late on Sunday.

Perhaps the second inning best portends how the game was to go: Ryan Sprock led off the frame with a triple, only to be stranded as his next two friends went down whiffing, and the third flew out. Then pitcher Ramiro Villanueva walked two—and nearly escaped the inning without allowing a run—only for a single to plate both runners. Villanueva also balked. It didn’t end up mattering. But a balk always foretells grave matters.

And if it wasn’t for Sprock, the Mighty Mussels would have walked away from Sunday embarrassed instead of merely beat. The DH lived up to the position’s namesake: he added a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and drove in another run with a single in the eighth. Then he stole second. That’s a lot of bases, and a significant amount of runs, given that Fort Myers only scored thrice, credited to just one player. 

Graham Brown added on with a game-tying single, yet the Mighty Mussels pitching that bent all game finally broke for good, surrendering two in the bottom half of the frame in what became the game’s deciding effort.

Dameury Pena stole his 17th base of the season, tying him for the 10th-most in the Florida State League. 

Lakeland DH Nick Dumesnil ranks as the Tigers’ 23rd-best prospect. He walked twice in four plate appearances. 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Ty Langenberg
Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jorel Ortega

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed:
#4 – Connor Prielipp (Twins) - 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
#10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-2, R, 2 BB
#12 – Andrew Morris (Twins) - 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
#13 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-4, K
#14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 0-4, 3 K
#17 – C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
#20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-4, BB, K

MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
FCL Braves @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD
DSL Twins @ DSL Mets Orange (10:00 AM) - TBD

 

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