Twins Daily Minor League Report (8/29): Kala'i Rosario Homered Twice, Matt Wallner Hit a Grand Slam, and Saints Back in Win Column

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Kala'i Rosario)

TRANSACTIONS  
The Saints activated Ian Daugherty from the Development List. 

RHP Jason Reitz was activated from the Injured List for the Mussels. In addition, OF Ricardo Paez was promoted from the FCL Twins to the Mussels.  

Kernels OF/1B Jayson Bass was placed on the temporary inactive list.                                                                                                                                   SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 8, Toledo 1
Box Score
This was a low-scoring affair until the bottom of the fifth inning when Matt Wallner bashed a grand slam to give the Saints some space. They added more. 

Kala’i Rosario led off the top of the second inning with his fourth Saints home run.   

After two were out, David Banuelos hit his seventh home run of the season to make it 2-0. 

Jack Anderson started for the Saints. He gave up one run on four hits and a walk over 4 2/3 innings. He hit 68 pitches and then Matt Bowman came on to get the final out of the fifth inning. He also worked a scoreless sixth inning.Garrett Acton tossed two innings and struck out four batters. Marco Raya pitched a perfect ninth inning to finish out the win. 

They didn’t need it, and obviously they didn’t know that they didn’t need it, so the Saints kept adding on. With one out in the fifth inning, Banuelos was hit by a pitch. Alan Roden singled, and Gabriel Gonzalez lined a single to left to load the bases. That brought Matt Wallner to the plate, and he took a 2-0 sinker on the inning third of the plate and deposited it over the wall in right field to make it a 6-1 game in favor of the Saints. It marked his 24th home run with the Saints this season as he continues to add to his franchise-leading single-season home run record.   

In the bottom of the seventh, Wallner came to the plate with Gonzalez at second base after a walk and wild pitch. Wallner lined a single to the opposite field to drive in Gonzalez and make it 7-1. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Kala’i Rosario came up and hit his second home run of the night and fifth with the Saints. It was a laser at about 112 mph. That gave the Saints an 8-1 lead that they held onto.   

Wallner was 2-for-3 with a walk, his 24th home run and five RBI (which gives him 70 for the season). Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a walk. Rosario hit two homers over four at-bats. Banuelos was 1-for-2 with a walk, a hit by pitch, and his seventh home run of the season.

Playoff Update: With 19 games left in the season, the Saints are 2.0 games out of the lone second half playoff spot. 

Home Run Record Update: The Saints have hit 228 home runs this season. The current International League record for single-season home runs by a team is 231. The Saints have 19 games left.     

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, Arkansas 11
Box Score
Before the game, Andrew Cossetti was presented the Wind Surge 2026 Harmon Killebrew Award for Community Service. That truly is an honor. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Cossetti gave his team a 1-0 lead with his 17th home run of the season. 

After that, the Travelers scored the next, and final, 11 runs of the game.

Cory Lewis started. In a season-high 4 1/3 innings, he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. He had five strikeouts. Hunter Gregory came in and gave up two runs on three hits over 1 2/3 innings. Jaylen Nowlin came in for the seventh inning. He gave up five runs (4 earned) on two hits, three walks, and a hit batter. He recorded just two outs. Kyle Bischoff got the final out of the seventh and worked a scoreless eighth inning. Catcher Luis Hernandez came in to pitch the top of the ninth inning. He gave up two runs on four hits in the inning. 

Khadim Diaw was back in the lineup. He went 2-for-4 with his eighth double. It marks his 17th multi-hit game since joining Wichita. Garrett Spain went 2-for-4. He's had 25 multi-hit games. Kyle DeBarge went 2-for-4 and stole his 34th base on the season. DeBarge has 24 multi-hit games this season.  

With Kade Anderson called up by the Mariners, the clear top pitching prospect in the Mariners system is Ryan Sloan. He started this game for Arkansas. He gave up one run on five hits over six innings. He had six strikeouts to zero walks. Like Anderson, you can find Sloan among the top 10 prospects in all of baseball.

Marek Houston was out of the Wind Surge lineup for the second straight game. He hasn't played since being ejected in the eighth inning on Thursday.   

Home Run Record Update: Cossetti's home run gave the Surge 171 homers this season. That ties the franchise's record for homers in a season. The Surge have seven more games to play. 

Did you Know? Walker Jenkins became the 50th former Wind Surge player to make his MLB debut. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, Lake County 10
Box Score
Kolten Smith has certainly not been himself since he joined the Kernels, but it’s been especially rough his past three starts. In this game. He tossed a scoreless first inning and completed the first inning for the first time in three starts. However, he gave up four runs in the second and four more runs in the third inning. In total, he gave up eight runs on seven hits (2 homers) and five walks in 2 1/3 innings. Just 36 of his 71 pitches were strikes. 

Ivran Romero came in and went the next 4 1/3 innings. He came in with the bases loaded and got out of the inning without allowing any of the inherited runners to score.  He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out two batters. 

Cleiber Maldonado got the next four outs, three of them on strikeouts. Catcher Irvin Nunez came in and pitched the ninth. He had a 1-2-3 inning with two ground balls and a line out to center. 

While they found themselves down 8-0 after three innings, the Kernels hitters didn’t give up. In the bottom of the fourth inning, JP Smith led off with a walk. Luis Fragoza singled him to center. The runners advanced on a balk. Following a walk, Byron Chourio and Ramiro Dominguez each drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-2.   

In the bottom of the sixth, Fragoza led off with a single. With two outs, a Dominguez single drove him in. That made the deficit 9-3. 

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Yasser Mercedes clobbered a 2-2 hanger beyond the wall in left field, and completely out of the stadium. It left the bat at 110 mph.    

Mercedes went 3-for-5, and that was his 10th home run with the Kernels. Fragoza went 2-for-4. Byron Chourio hit his fourth double. Tait fouled for the 23rd time this season.

On Sunday, the Kernels will play their final home game of the 2026 season.  They are scheduled to play six games in South Bend next week to close out their season.  

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers, Bradenton (postponed)
Box Score
For the second straight night, conditions at Hammond Stadium, specifically the rain, caused an unplayable field. Friday’s game was cancelled. The two teams will attempt to play a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. They will be the final two home games for the Mussels this season. Fort Myers is scheduled for six games in Clearwater next week to conclude their season. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day 
Matt Wallner (St. Paul): 2-for-3, BB HR(24), R, 5 RBI
Kala’i Rosario (St. Paul): 2-for-2, 2 HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI, K
Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, HR(10), R, RBI, 2 K

Pitcher(s) of the Day
Jack Anderson (St. Paul): 4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Garrett Acton (St. Paul): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. See how they did today. (Click on player links in this section to see Twins Daily articles that the player has been tagged in.) 

#1 - OF Walker Jenkins (Minnesota) - 1-for-3, 2B(1), RBI(1), SB(1) (batted ninth, played CF)
#2 - C Vahn Lackey (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, 3 K (batted second, placed catcher)  
#3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 0-for-4, R, K (batted seventh, played SS)
#8 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2B(23), K (batted third, played DH)
#9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-3, BB, 2 R (batted second, played LF)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-for-4, K (batted third, played SS)
#13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-for-4, 2B(8) (batted second, played DHd)   
#19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, HR(10), R, RBI, 2 K (batted first, played CF)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday, August 30
Toledo @ St. Paul (2:07 pm CT) - LHP Aaron Rozek (3-3, 3.94 ERA)
Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-2, 4.76 ERA)
Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - LHP Cesar Lares (1-6, 11.45 ERA)
Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (DH @ 11:05 am CT) - RHP Eric Hammond (1-4, 4.40 ERA), TBD 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 64-72
St. Paul Saints: 74-56
Wichita Wind Surge: 51-72 (Final Game 9/13)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 46-77 (Final Game 9/6)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 67-55 (Final Game 9/6)
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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[DJL44]

Headed to the Saints game today. Hopefully they break the HR record.

[mikelink45]

The Twins had a chance to regain popularity if they could have won the first two games against the white sox - instead it looks like the Saints are the Twin City Favorites for now!

[Wedman13]

What realistically happens to Wallner.  It's hard not to feel for the guy and his career.  Other middling MLB teams, like ours,  aren't looking for 28/29 year old projects (other than I guess we did do that with about 6 guys this year), and great teams probably want more sure things.  But when you have such an overpowering tool I'd think there's a place.  Anyway, good for him for being humbled, kept his mouth shut and produced.  Hope it ends well for him

[D.C Twins]

21 minutes ago, Wedman13 said:

What realistically happens to Wallner.  It's hard not to feel for the guy and his career.  Other middling MLB teams, like ours,  aren't looking for 28/29 year old projects (other than I guess we did do that with about 6 guys this year), and great teams probably want more sure things.  But when you have such an overpowering tool I'd think there's a place.  Anyway, good for him for being humbled, kept his mouth shut and produced.  Hope it ends well for him

Japan

[D.C Twins]

Is Houston injured?  He has missed a couple game in a row no?

[terrydactyls]

Tait "fouled" for the 23rd time"?

What does that mean?

[rdehring]

As I was reading about the Saints I kept wondering how the International League playoffs worked and where they were in that hunt.  Thanks for the update on where they stand.  How do the IL playoffs work?

Three games today and Twins organization pitchers gave up double digit runs in two of them.  Just keep shaking my head trying to understand how this occurs seemingly every day.  Like D.C., was also wondering where Houston has been the past couple games?  On the pines related to being tossed?  Or is he banged up?

With only a week left for a couple teams and not much longer for the others, was wondering how you feel about that Seth.  Are you looking forward to relaxing every morning?  Or will you miss it? 

[Blyleven2011]

I have this feeling that come September 1st , Wallner will be the position player added to the roster , everyone would prefer E-rod or gonsalves but the twins will want one more look at him before they decide if they want to cut him loose off the 40 man roster …

[DJL44]

46 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I have this feeling that come September 1st , Wallner will be the position player added to the roster , everyone would prefer E-rod or gonsalves but the twins will want one more look at him before they decide if they want to cut him loose off the 40 man roster …

They should probably take a first look at Rodriguez before they cut him from the roster. 

Any word on Austin Martin’s return?

[rdehring]

12 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

They should probably take a first look at Rodriguez before they cut him from the roster. 

Any word on Austin Martin’s return?

Was also wondering DJL.  Has he been out long enough that he will need a rehab in St. Paul?  If so, that may take him the rest of the Saints season.

[DJL44]

Looks like Gabriel Gonzalez will get Caratini’s first base playing time.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, D.C Twins said:

Is Houston injured?  He has missed a couple game in a row no?

He has sat since he got tossed arguing with the umpire.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

He has sat since he got tossed arguing with the umpire.

He didn't really argue from my understanding. He turned while walking back to the dugout after being called out on a check swing, and got insta-tossed from what I read.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Looks like Gabriel Gonzalez will get Caratini’s first base playing time.

Can't fathom this one. Emma's out of options. Martin should have gone down if they called up Gonzalez.

[bean5302]

No idea what the future holds for Wallner. Hard to believe no team was interested in him for cheap at the deadline, but it smacks of fear this front office wasn't willing to deal him for cheap or put him on the roster. This front office's ego seems fantastical to me. They must be desperate to avoid another Rooker.

That said, Rooker probably doesn't even become Rooker except for the opportunity to play on a bad team not trying to compete. Wallner to the Rockies would make sense.

[DJL44]

Interesting that the PA was announcing Emmanuel Rodriguez as “Manny” today.