Twins Minor League Report (8/20): Saints Bats Power Another Sweep

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Charisma Jones (photo of Brandon WInokur)

TRANSACTIONS   
With the DSL season now complete, the Twins have released infielder Luis Suarez and RHPs Failin Placencio and Wisarly Reinoso. 

The Twins signed RHP Jui-Chieh Lin out of Taiwan about six weeks ago. On Thursday, he was placed on the Fort Myers roster. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
Game 1: St. Paul 10, Iowa 2 (Completion of Suspended Game)
Box Score
On Wednesday night, the game began a bit late due to rain. When they started, Walker Jenkins drilled a leadoff home run beyond the wall in center field. 

An inning later, Tristan Gray launched a home run to make it 2–0.

Ricky Castro started the game and when the rains came, he had tossed 2 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings. The good? He had five strikeouts. The less-than good? He also walked four batters. 

Then in the bottom of the third, the rains came again, and the game was suspended. That’s where the game started on Thursday. 

When the game resumed on Thursday, Trent Baker took the mound. He gave up two solo homers, but he struck out eight batters over 4 1/3 innings. Eric Orze and Marco Raya combined for the final seven outs without allowing a base runner. They combined for three strikeouts, and Raya had three strikeouts. 

The Saints batters just kept adding on. They scored two runs in four of their final five innings to take a commanding lead and the win. All eight additional runs came on homers as well.  

In the fifth inning, David Banuelos knocked a two-out single. Jenkins followed with his second home run of the game.   

The top of the sixth inning began with homers by Gabriel Gonzalez and Tristan Gray, his second of the game. 

In the top of the eighth, Emmanuel Rodriguez walked, and Gonzalez knocked his second homer of the day.

In the top of the ninth inning, Kala’i Rosario was hit by a pitch. Emmanuel Rodriguez followed with another two-run homer to give them a 10-2 lead. 

Gonzalez was 3-for-4 with a walk and his 14th and 15th home runs. Jenkins was 2-for-4 with a walk and his eighth and ninth home runs. Gray went 2-for-5 with his first two Saints home runs. Rodriguez hit his seventh home run and had a walk. Matt Wallner hit his 11th double and had a walk.  

Game 2: St. Paul 8, Columbus 6 (Regularly Scheduled Game)
Box Score
The Saints completed the sweep thanks to a big, four-run sixth inning to put themselves 20-games over .500. 

With two outs in the top of the second, Tanner Schobel walked. Noah Cardenas kept the day’s theme going by launching a two-run homer to give the Saints the first runs of the game. 

In the top of the third inning, Matt Wallner hit his franchise-record 23rd home run of the season. 

The shortened game was basically a bullpen game for the Saints. Jack Anderson started and went three innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out three batters. Garrett Acton came on and gave up just one hit over two scoreless innings. He also struck out three batters. 

In the top of the fifth inning, the Saints did something unusual. With two outs, Gabriel Gonzalez walked. He then scored on a Matt Wallner double. After 11 runs scored on home runs, the team finally found another way to score. 

Down 5-4 going to the sixth inning, Kala’i Rosario led off with a game-tying home run. 

Tanner Schobel singled and Ben Ross walked before Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a three-run homer that gave the Saints an 8-5 lead. 

Julian Merryweather gave up one run on two hits over the final two innings to record his fifth save since coming back from injury. He had five strikeouts. 

Wallner went 2-for-3 with a walk, his 12th double and 23rd homer. Rosario went 2-for-4 with his first AAA double and his third Saints homer.  Rodriguez’s homer was his eight with the Saints. He also walked. Cardenas homered for the 11th time this season. Ross walked twice, and Schobel had a single and a walk. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 8, Frisco 4
Box Score
The Wind Surge had the opportunity to face a rehabbing-Jack Leiter on Thursday night. 

The Surge grabbed a four-run lead in the top of the third. With one out, Jaime Ferrer reached on an error. Marek Houston walked. Jake Rucker hit his ninth double to drive in two runs. Brandon Winokur followed with a homer to make it 4-0. 

In the fourth inning, Andrew Cossetti walked before Leiter was removed from the game. Kyle DeBarge and Jay Thomason singled to load the baseball. Houston came up and drove in two runs with a single to make it 6-1. 

Preston Johnson started and gave up two runs on two hits (both solo homers) over four innings. He walked one and had five strikeouts. Hunter Gregory gave up two runs on two walks in his inning. 

Through five innings, the Surge lead was down to 6-4. In the top of the sixth, Cossetti led off with a single. DeBarge walked. Jay Thomason singled to drive in Cossetti with the team’s seventh run. DeBarge scored on a double play to make it 8-4. 

Cory Lewis came in and shut the door. He gave up three hits over four shutout innings. He walked none and had four strikeouts. 

Brandon Winokur went 2-for-5 with his second triple and seventh Wichita home run. Cossettie, DeBarge and Thomason each went 2-for-3 with a walk. Marek Houston was 1-for-3 with two walks. He also stole his 24th and 25th bases. 

KERNEL NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 1, Beloit 2
Box Score
The Kernels grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third? How? Well, with one out Danny De Andrade was one third base, and Byron Chourio was on second base. Yasser Mercedes flew out to right field, deep enough that De Andrade scored. But it was close because a strong throw from right field was cut off by the first baseman who threw across the diamond to third base where a sliding Chourio was called out. However, De Andrade scored before the tag at third, so the team had a 1-0 lead. 

Adrian Bohorquez is on a roll!! The righty gave up one run on one hit (a solo home run) over five innings. He walked two and had seven strikeouts. 

Merit Jones came on and gave up one run on four hits over three runs. He struck out two batters. 

The Kernels had four hits and five walks. They were 0-for-5 with five runners left in scoring position. There were no multi-hit games or extra base hits. De Andrade had a single and a walk. JP Smith walked twice. Yasser Mercedes stole his 35th base with the Kernels. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers 8, Palm Beach 1
Box Score
Cristian Hernandez gave up one run on one hit over four innings. He hit two batters and had three strikeouts. Jake Covey struck out five batters over three shutout innings. He gave up one hit and walked one batter. Hendry Chivilli struck out two over two scoreless, one-hit innings. 

In the top of the second inning, Isaiah Lane (who, along with Colby Turner have been the top performers among the Twins 2026 draft picks) went to the opposite field for his first professional home run. 

In the fifth inning, Bryce Fowler and Hideki Prather reached base. Murphy Hernandez drilled his fourth home run of the season to give the Mussels a 4-1 lead. 

With two outs in the sixth, Jimmy Keenan and Bryce Fowler singled before Hideki Prather was hit by a pitch to lead the bases. That brought Hernandez to the plate. He lined a single to center to drive in two more runs and give his team a 6-1 lead.   

The Mussels added two more in the top of the ninth, Ramiro Dominguez and Yovanny Duran walked. Lane singled to drive in Dominguez, and then Lane stole second base. A throwing error allowed Duran to score the eighth run. 

Hernandez went 2-for-5 with his fourth homer and five RBI. Lane was 2-for-5 with his first pro homer and his third stolen base. Fowler was 2-for-2 with two walks.  The Mussels combined for 16 strikeouts in the game. You don’t want to look at Quentin Young’s performance on Thursday. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 3-for-4. BB, 2-HR(15), 2 R, 3 RBI;
Brandon Winokur (Wichita): 2-for-5, 3B(2), HR(7), R, 2 RBI.
Merphy Hernandez (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, HR(4), R, 5 RBI. 

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Cory Lewis (Wichita): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Adrian Bohorquez (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today.

#1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - Game 1: 2-for-4, BB, 2 HR(9), 2 R, 3 RBI, K (batted first, played CF).
#4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 SB(25) (batted first, played SS)
#6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Game 1: 1-for-4, BB, HR(7), 2 R, 3 RBI (batted fifth, DHd); Game 2: 1-for-3, BB, HR(8), R, 3 RBI, 2 K (batted second, played CF)
#7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - Game 2: 0-for-4 (batted fifth, played LF)
#8 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 K (batted second, played Catcher)
#9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - Game 1: 3-for-4, BB, 2 HR(15), 2 R, 3 RBI (batted sixth, played LF/1B); Game 2: 0-for-3, BB, R
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 2-for-5, 3B(2), HR(7), R, 2 RBI (batted third, played CF)
#18 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-5, 5 K (batted sixth, played DH)
#19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, SF RBI, 2 K (batted first, played CF)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Friday, August 21
St. Paul @ Columbus (6:05 pm CT) - LHP Kendry Rojas (2-0, 3.27 ERA) 
Wichita @ Frisco (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (1-4, 3.64 ERA)
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Justin Mitrovich (2-1, 2.38 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30 pm CT) - TBD

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 63-65
St. Paul Saints: 71-51
Wichita Wind Surge: 48-67
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 44-71
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 63-52
FCL Twins: 33-26 (Season Complete)
DSL Twins: 19-35 (Season Complete)

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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