Twins Minor League Report (8/21): Vahn Lackey Knocks First Pro Home Run; Ty Langenberg, Andrew Cossetti Lead Wichita to Grand Win

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Charisma Jones (photo of Ty Langenberg)

 

TRANSACTIONS   
William Fleming signed as a minor-league free agent days after the start of the minor-league season in early April. He went straight to Wichita and contributed to the Wind Surge bullpen. On Friday, he was released by the Twins. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Columbus 5
Box Score
After the Saints swept the Clippers on Thursday, Columbus was able to claim the Friday game. The biggest story in this game, however, was that lefty Kendry Rojas left the game during the first plate appearance of the second inning. I went back to the game and watched it. I followed up with a three-part tweet. (Important: I am not a doctor, a trainer, a physical therapist, so take my thoughts with a bunch of grains of salt. I'm sure we will learn more tomorrow.)

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Part 1: “I just watched the Kendry Rojas injury tonight for St. Paul. Looked good the first three pitches of the 2nd inning. Then he got the sign, took a deep breath and grimaced, but he threw the pitch. Then another pitch. Then after another pitch, he dropped his glove, (more)”

Part 2: “and eventually came off the field. At no point did it look like anything was wrong with his left arm which would be good. I couldn't see anything with his right arm. To me, it looked like his right-side oblique might be the issue. (more)"

Part 3: “Depending on severity, an oblique injury (or hip?) could cost 4-6 weeks which would essentially end his season but still better than anything arm-related, probably. Honestly, I'm hoping it's nothing, something he just hadn't felt/experienced before. Hopefully!” 

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So, Rojas completed a scoreless first inning and left the game during the first plate appearances of the second inning. Aaron Rozek was forced to get ready quickly. But he kept the game scoreless in the second and third innings. Overall, he gave up four runs on four hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four batters. 

C.J. Culpepper came on and gave up one run on a solar home run in 1 1/3 innings. Matt Bowman and Alejandro Hidalgo each worked a scoreless inning. 

After hitting nine home runs on Thursday, the Saints managed just one run on five hits and two walks on Friday night. Tristan Gray was the offense. He went 2-for-4, and his solo home run provided the only run for the team. It was his third straight day with a home run. 

Matt Wallner went 1-for-2 with two walks. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Frisco 1
Box Score
Through seven innings, this ballgame was completely scoreless. Ty Langenberg started and tossed five shutout innings. He gave up one hit, walked three, and he had four strikeouts.  

Paulshawn Pasqualotto tossed two scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. He struck out three batters. 

Then came the top of the eighth inning. Jake Rucker, Brandon Winokur, and Garrett Spain walked consecutively to lead the bases. Andrew Cossetti followed by taking a strike. On the second pitch, he got a crushable pitch, and guess what? He crushed it over the wall in left center field, beyond the berm, over the walkway and out of the stadium. Grand Slam. Surge lead 4-0!   

 

Spencer Bengard pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Kyle Bischoff got the ninth inning and gave up a run on two hits and a walk. 

The Surge scored their four runs on four hits and seven walks. Cossetti’s home run was his 16th of the season. Kyle DeBarge hit his 21st double and walked. Garrett Spain had a single and a walk. Jay Thomason had a single and was hit by a pitch which put his Double-A OPS at .805. Jake Rucker walked twice. Sure, the team was just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, but the “1” was pretty important. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 5
Box Score
The game was delayed by almost two hours, but when things got started, the Kernels jumped out to an early lead. 

Byron Chourio led off the first inning with a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a JP Smith single to make it 1-0. With one out, Jayson Bass came up and drilled his third home run since joining the Kernels to make it 3-0. 

In the top of the second inning, Irvin Nunez led off with a walk. With one out, Chourio singled. Smith walked to load the bases. Nunez scored on a sacrifice fly by Yasser Mercedes to make it 4-0. 

Justin Mitriovich started and began the game by putting three zeroes on the board. He had six strikeouts through three perfect innings. However, he gave up four runs (3 earned) on four hits and a walk and only got two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Yehizon Sanchez got the final out of the fourth inning. He worked two more innings and gave up one run on two hits and a walk. Christian Becerra walked one and had one strikeout over two hitless, scoreless innings. 

Unfortunately, after scoring four runs in the first two innings, the Kernels went scoreless the remainder of the game. The Kernels scored their four runs on five hits and seven walks. They went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base. 

No one had a multi-hit game. Bass hit his third home run, and Danny De Andrade hit his 16th double and walked. Chourio and Smith each had a walk and a single. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers 6, Palm Beach 7
Box Score
This was a good ol’ back-and-forth game. There were four lead changes and the game was tied four times. Unfortunately, it was the Cardinals who took the last lead with a two-run eighth inning. 

Matthew Dalquist gave up four runs (3 earned) on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four batters without walking any. Matthew Becker walked two over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Brent Francisco worked 2 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. Adam Falinski got the final two outs, but not before an inherited runner and a run of his own to take the loss.

The Mussels got on the scoreboard in the second inning. Isaiah Lane and Jimmy Keenan walked. Quentin Young singled to center to drive in Lane. 

With one out in the top of the third, Vahn Lackey launched his first professional home run. 

Two pitches later, second-round pick Carson Tinney hit his fifth professional home to tie the game at 3-3.  

Aidan Teel reached on an error and scored on a Ramiro Dominguez double to give them the 4-3 lead.   

 

In the top of the fifth inning, Tinney walked and went to third on a Teel double. He scored on a wild pitch. 

In the seventh frame, Tinney led off with a double and later scored on a Dominguez sacrifice fly. That gave the Mussels a 6-5 lead. But again, Palm Beach scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and shut down the Mussels in the ninth. 

Tinney led the offense. He went 2-for-3 with a walk, his first double and his fifth home run. Lane was 1-for-2 with two walks. Dominguez’s double was his 25th of the year. Teel’s double was his fifth as a pro. 

And Quentin Young went 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Carson Tinney (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, BB, 2B(1), HR(5), 3 R, RBI.  

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Ty Langenberg (Wichita): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 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) - 1-for-4, K, SB(14) (batted first, played CF).
#2 - C Vahn Lackey (Fort Myers) - 1-for-5, HR(1), R, RBI, K (batted second, played catcher) 
#3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 0-for-3, 2 K (batted ninth, played SS)
#4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 0-for-5, K (batted first, played SS)
#7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, K (batted fourth, played DH)
#9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4 (batted second, played 1B)
#11 - C Carson Tinney (Fort Myers) - 2-for-3, BB, 2B(1), HR(5), 3 R, RBI (batted third, played 1B)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, R, K (batted third, played CF)
#18 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, RBI, 2 K (batted eighth, played SS)
#19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, RBI, 2 K (batted third, played CF)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday, August 22
St. Paul @ Columbus (6:05 pm CT) - RHP German Marquez (0-0, 2.25 ERA) 
Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 pm CT) - RHP Chris Vallimont (2-3, 4.89 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (6:35 pm CT) - LHP Cesar Lares (0-6, 13.18 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Palm Beach (5:00 pm CT) - RHP Callan Fang (3-3, 4.33 ERA) 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 63-66
St. Paul Saints: 71-52
Wichita Wind Surge: 49-67
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 44-72
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 63-53
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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