Twins Minor League Report (9/5): Mussels and Kernels Played The Penultimate Games of the 2026 Season on Saturday

[Seth Stohs]

 

 

I was going to start this article today with what is now the third paragraph. But then I took about a second and thought. Hmmm, the Mi

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SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Omaha 6
Box Score
Another tough night for the Saints and they find themselves looking up and seeing more teams between them and a playoff berth. 

Trent Baker started and struck out three batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. However, Jack Anderson came in and gave up six runs (5 earned) on eight hits and two walks in his three innings. Paulshawn Pasqualotto finished the game strong. He had five strikeouts and no walks over three innings of two-hit, scoreless baseball. 

The Saints offense could only muster one run on six hits and two walks. Hendry Mendez was 2-for-4 and had the lone RBI. He was the only Saints player with a multi-hit game. Tanner Schobel went 1-for-2 with two walks. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Tulsa 8
Box Score
The top two batters in the Wind Surge accounted for 60% of the team’s hits, 60% of the team’s RBI, and 50% of the team’s run. Unfortunately, six runs was not enough for the Wind Surge on this night. 

Riley Quick made the start and gave up three runs on two hits over five innings. He walked four batters and had five strikeouts. Through the fifth inning, he had given up just one run. However, he faced two batters in the sixth inning and both got on base and came around to score. Ty Langenberg, the Surge’s top pitcher in August, pitched the next two innings. He was charged with five runs on six hits and two walks. Luis Quinones pitched a scoreless frame. 

The Surge had a three-run sixth inning to take a 3-1 lead at that time. However, the Drillers scored three in the sixth and four more in the bottom of the seventh to take a commanding 8-3 lead. Wichita attempted to come back, but three runs over the final two innings was not enough. 

Leadoff man Marek Houston went 3-for-5 with his 14th double. Caden Kendle hit behind him and was also 3-for-5. He added his 15th double and drove in three runs. Kyle DeBarge was the other Wichita player with a multi-hit game. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, South Bend 7
Box Score
Similar to the Wind Surge, Cedar Rapids fell behind, gave up a couple of crooked-number innings and were unable to catch up at the end. 

Justin Mitrovich started and gave up three runs on six hits and a walk over the first four innings. He had three strikeouts. Brent Francisco gave up a run on three hits over the next two innings. Cleiber Maldonado gave up three runs on two hits and three walks and only recorded two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Michael Ross got the final four outs, two of them on strikeouts. 

Irvin Nunez had a really nice game. Playing third base, he went 3-for-4 with his second double and his second Kernels home run since joining the team recently. 

Vahn Lackey and Luis Fragoza each had a multi-hit game. Lackey had three singles in five at-bats. He also stole his sixth and seventh bases with the Kernels. Fragoza went 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He stole his third base. Yilber Herrera and Yasser Mercedes each hit their first Kernels triple. 

Unfortunately, the team went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Clearwater 8
Box Score
Clearwater got ahead early and kept adding on. They scored in five of their eight innings on offense. 

Jason Reitz went just 1 1/3 innings on Saturday. He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks. Jackson Sleeper gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Callan Fang worked 3 1/3 innings and was charged with three runs on four hits, two walks, and a hit batter. He struck out six batters. Brian Strange got the final five outs, two on strikeouts. 

Mussels’ batters combined for two runs on five hits and three walks in the game. No one had a multi-hit game or an extra base hit. Merphy Hernandez went 1-for-3 with a single and his 51st stolen base. The center fielder also had two outfield assists. Bryce Fowler and Charlie Scholvin each had an RBI.

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day 
Irvin Nunez (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-4, 2B(2), HR(2), 2 R, RBI.

Pitcher(s) of the Day
Aaron Rozek (St. Paul): 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 75 pitches, 47 strikes (62.7%).

 

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 (Minnesota) - (Day Off, 9th Inning Defensive Replacement)
#2 - C Vahn Lackey (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, R, K, 2 SB(7), CS(1) (batted second, played catcher)
#3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota) - 2-for-5, 2B(5), 2 R, RBI (batted second, played SS)
#4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 3-for-5, 2B(14), 2 R, K (batted first, played SS)
#5 - RHP Riley Quick (Wichita) - 5 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, WP, 76 pitches, 42 strikes)
#6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 3 K (batted first, played LF) 
#7 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, RBI (batted fifth, played DH)
#8 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, SF RBI, 2 K (batted fourth, played DH)
#9 - 1B/OF Gabriel Gonzalez (Minnesota) - 0-for-2 (batted eighth, played LF)
#11 - C Carson Tinney (Fort Myers) - 0-for-3, BB (batted second, played 1B)
#13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB, HBP (batted third, played catcher) 
#18 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB, K (batted fifth, played 3B)
#19 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HBP, 3B(1), K, (batted third, played RF)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday, September
St. Paul @ Omaha (2:05 pm CT) - RHP Ryan Gallagher (5-6, 6.78 ERA)
Wichita @ Tulsa (6:00 pm CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez (0-1, 0.00 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Kolten Smith (0-5, 7.15 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (11:00 am CT) - RHP Eric Hammond (1-4, 4.40 ERA) 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 68-74
St. Paul Saints: 76-60
Wichita Wind Surge: 51-78 (Final Game 9/13)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 47-82 (Final Game 9/6)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 67-60 (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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[PuckettPond]

Quality starting pitching is desperately needed. Is a GoFundMe Twins pitching campaign needed? Any updates on Soto? Our minor league pitching should concern us all.

[Jeff K]

Good to see Houston on an upswing at the end of the season.  And Lackey continues to impress.  I am looking forward to their further progress next season as they move through the minors.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Houston, Kendle, and Diaw all seem ready to start next season at AAA.

Maybe Lackey gets a taste of AA after the Kernels season ends? 

[mikelink45]

I agree with PuckettPond - we are in desperate need of quality pitching in the minors.  We have drained the pond and the Saints cannot hit enough HRs to overcome this.  The pipeline is broken.  I look forward to seeing this fixed. The Twins need to have reinforcements ready.

[BSLinPA]

A quick look indicates the minor league system is 2-18 in September? SSS, yes.....but not a good look.

Pitching struggling such that Seth went back to the previous day to make Rozek the Pitcher of the Day!!

 

[MeleMouth]

In the Texas League this year, 10 of the top 60 hitters in terms of highest percentage of swinging strikes have played for Wichita (of 128 players with a minimum of 180 PAs). Kendle, who has *struck* my interest, is among them, although he is much closer to #60 than he is to #1. While noting that Houston and Diaw are among the 10 lowest in the league, such a large group at the top makes wonder if grip it and rip it is the team's strategy? (Seven Kernels are in the top 60 in the Midwest League, out of 211 with at least 100 PAs. There is overlap among the Surge and Kernels players with high swinging strike rates. Only three Mighty Mussels are in the top 60 in the Florida State League, out of 154 with at least 100 PAs. Believe it or not, Quentin Young is just sixth highest in the league.)

Further on Kendle: he has the best BABIP in the league and only decent contact numbers (for each ten times each of them swings, Kendle makes contact one fewer time than either Houston or Diaw, but one more time than Billy Amick), suggesting that some of his success is due to luck, but he is also #4 in line drive rate, at a very high 31.7% (caution: Texas League this year has higher rates than other leagues), so his success might also be due to frequently making very good contact when he does connect. 

[SE23]

6 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Houston, Kendle, and Diaw all seem ready to start next season at AAA.

Maybe Lackey gets a taste of AA after the Kernels season ends? 

Tinney hit his 8th HR today in just 79 AB's. His K rate is high, but he walks a lot too. OBP is .400 and he's scored 25 runs in 24 games.