Twins Minor League Report (5/12): Soul Patrol Part Deux

Three minor league affiliates played on Sunday. The two upper-level minor league affiliates played very good, close ball games. Ft. Myers had a day off. The game in Beloit on Sunday was just crazy. You’ll note the final score looks much more like a football score than a baseball score. That is all good news for the Kernels hitters. It certainly doesn’t speak well for the Kernels starters on this day. Consider this early preview… Kernels outfielders (JD Williams, Byron Buxton and Adam Walker combined to go 9-15 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, 11 runs scored and 13 runs batted in. Soul Patrol: The Next Generation?

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Here's much more on the Twins minor league activity from Sunday:

Rochester Red Wings 5, Columbus Clippers 4

Box Score

The Red Wings offense didn’t really do a lot in this game, with the exception of one inning. They scored five runs in the fifth inning and were able to hang on for the win. The big hits came off the bats of Nate Hanson and Joe Benson. Hanson had a two-run single. Benson’s sixth double also resulted in two runs. Hanson was 2-4. Eric Farris was also 2-4. Chris Colabello went 2-3 with a walk and his 11^th double.

PJ Walters got the start. In six innings, he gave up one run on four hits, three walks, two HBP and he struck out three. Tyler Robertson pitched a scoreless seventh, though he did allow a triple and a walk. In the eight he allowed a single and a walk. He left the game with one out in the eighth without having allowed those runners to score. Dan Turpen came in and got the final two outs but not before allowing both inherited runners to score. Luis Perdomo came in for the ninth and got the save. However, he did give up one run on one hit and three walks.

Virgil Vasquez will make a start for the Red Wings on Monday night. After Kyle Gibson’s, 114-pitch, complete game shutout last week, he will be pushed back one day and start on Tuesday.

New Britain Rock Cats 2, Portland Sea Dogs 3

Box Score

The Rock Cats had another close game against the Sea Dogs. Logan Darnell pitched eight innings. He gave up three runs on ten hits and a walk; he struck out five. Michael Tonkin came in and gave up a hit and struck one out in the ninth.

The two New Britain runs came on Josmil Pinto’s eighth home run. Danny Santana went 3-4 with a walk and two stolen bases.

New Britain will enjoy an off day on Monday.

Ft. Myers Miracle

No Game Scheduled on Sunday. Jason Wheeler will hope to improve to 4-0 against Dunedin.

Cedar Rapids Kernels 23, Beloit Snappers 16

Box Score

Maybe you thought this was an Arena League Football score, or something. No, 23-16 was the actual score of this minor league game at Pohlman Stadium.

Let’s start with the good, before getting to the bad and ugly! All nine Kernels hitters had at least one hit and one RBI and scored at least one run. The team had 19 hits and nine walks. Byron Buxton went 4-7 with his ninth double, his fourth triple and four RBI. Adam Walker was 4-6 with his ninth and tenth doubles, his eighth and ninth home runs and seven RBI (40 on the season). Niko Goodrum went 3-4 with a walk, his seventh double and three RBI. Tyler Grimes went 2-4 with two walks, his first home run and two RBI. Dalton Hicks was 2-4 with two walks. JD Williams went 1-2 with three walks and his fifth double. Jorge Polanco hit his fourth triple and two sacrifice flies. Travis Harrison hit his 13^th double.

Now for the bad and the ugly. With all that run support, JO Berrios was able to finish only four innings; he gave up three runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out six and had one wild pitch. David Hurlbut came on and gave up six runs on six hits and two walks in 1.2 innings. Alex Muren then came in. He went 2.1 innings and gave up one run on two hits and a walk. When he came in to relieve Hurlbut there were two runners on base and neither scored. Josh Burris pitched the ninth. He gave up six runs on four hits and two walks.

On Monday, the Kernels will play the final game of the series in Beloit. Matt Tomshaw, who pitched brilliantly for the Snappers in 2012, hopes to eat up some innings for the Kernels. Michael Quesada will be joining the Kernels, back home on Tuesday.

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