Twins Minor League Report (6/11): Ryan Eades' Best Professional Start

The Twins used an off-day on Thursday to make a couple of roster moves. Tim Stauffer was designated for assignment and Michael Tonkin was recalled to take his place. Eddie Rosario returned from the paternity list and Jorge Polanco was optioned back to Chattanooga to make room. The Twins start a series against the Texas Rangers on Friday evening.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders

Box Score

Danny Santana was 1-3 with a walk on Thursday. In three games at AAA Danny Santana has as many walks (1) as strike outs (1). Improvement! Unfortunately, even a productive Danny Santana at the top of the order did not do much to help the Red Wings. Danny Ortiz was 2-4 with a double, and old friend James Beresford led the way for Rochester on Thursday night. He was 3-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Beresford is having what could be the best season of his career, hitting .330 with an OBP over .370. He's riding an unsustainably high BABIP to get there, and he isn't showing any power (and never has), but he is playing well this year. If Brian Dozier hadn't turned into the current version of Brian Dozier over the past couple of seasons, you would probably have seen Beresford in Minneapolis by now.

Starting pitcher Tyler Duffey's record dropped to 0-4 with the loss on Thursday. He was tagged for seven runs, all earned, over five and a third. He gave up nine hits, walked one, and struck out one. His 5.64 ERA looks ugly, but he's made just four starts in AAA this year and this clunker moved his ERA up almost two full runs. After Duffey, Logan Darnell pitched one and two third scoreless before yielding to Ryan O'Rourke for the eighth inning. O'Rourke gave up a pair of runs, one earned, on three hits, but the game was already well out of hand.

Final: Red Wings 2, Railriders 9

LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN

Chattanooga @ Birmingham Barons

Box Score

Byron Buxon remained hot, going 2-3 with a pair of walks and another triple, his twelfth of the year. The recently returned Jorge Polanco was back in the lineup and was 1-4 with a walk. Miguel Sano bopped a home run, his eleventh, and Max Kepler was 2-4 with a double. With all of those studs doing their job, it is surprising that the Lookouts only managed to score one run. The bottom of the lineup really hurt them on Thursday. The six through nine hitters were a combined 0-14 with four strikeouts on Thursday night.

Brett Lee was cruising through six scoreless innings until he ran into a seventh inning buzzsaw. In the seventh, Lee walked the leadoff hitter, who was then sacrificed over. After that, with one out, Lee gave up back-to-back-to-back singles and was replaced by Cole Johnson with runners on second and third, but only two runs in. Johnson gave up a single and a double to the next two hitters, allowing both inherited runners, plus one of his own, to score. Johnson then pitched a scoreless eighth, but the damage was done.

Final: Lookouts 1, Barons 5

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers @ Lakeland Flying Tigers - Game 1 (13 innings)

Box Score

Anytime you're playing a double-header, even with shortened 7-inning double- headers in minor league baseball, you hope to get a strong performance from your starting pitcher so you can save your bullpen for the second game. The Miracle received a great start from Ryan Eades. Seven innings, six hits, one run, one walk and seven strike outs for the starting pitcher. Eades' best start since the Twins drafted him out of LSU was not enough, as the Miracle scored only one run of their own. So into the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth innings the bullpen carried the Miracle. Brian Gilbert pitched 1.2 scoreless. Matt Summers did excellent work with 2.1 scoreless. Corey Williams pitched the twelfth and picked up the win when the Miracle scored in the top of the thirteenth, and Brandon Peterson picked up his third save of the year, striking out a pair of Flying Tigers to close out the game.

The Fort Myers hitters were stymied by the Lakeland pitchers, picking up just eight hits in 47 at-bats to go along with 15 strikeouts. Ryan Walker was the only Miracle hitter with multiple hits, 2-6 with a run scored. Marcus Knecht was 0-4 with a walk and a strikeout heading into the thirteenth when he roped a double to score Ryan Walker from first, giving the Miracle the decisive run.

Final: Miracle 2, Flying Tigers 1

Fort Myers @ Lakeland Flying Tigers - Game 2

Box Score

The Miracle had five more hits in six fewer innings of baseball in the bottom-half of the double header. Marcus Knecht rode his game-winning hit in the first game to a 2-4 game. Ryan Walker, who scored the winning run in the first game, also had a nice evening going 3-3 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored. Logan Wade, not to be outdone, was also 3-3 with a pair of runs scored, but he also had a double and three RBIs.

Kohl Stewart had a nice outing, despite a couple of defensive miscues that led to some unearned runs. Stewart pitched six innings, gave up only one earned run, walked three and struck out one. He picked up his second victory of the year for the Miracle to move to 2-4. Luke Westphal pitched the seventh, giving up a couple of hits, but preserving a four-run lead to give the Miracle a double-header sweep!

Miracle play-by-play man Brice Zummerman had this note on Twitter, "Tonight's total broadcast length was 7:17. Many people were still at work when the pregame started (4:40) and asleep when it ended (11:57).

The Miracle have now won five straight games and are 30-30.

Final: Miracle 7, Flying Tigers 3

KERNELS KORNER

Great Lakes Loons @ Cedar Rapids Kernels - Postponed

Sorry beer drinkers, rain will keep you from $2 beers on Thirsty Thursday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Hitter of the Day - Byron Buxton - Chattanooga Lookouts

Pitcher of the Day - Ryan Eades - Fort Myers Miracle

FRIDAY'S PROBABLES

Rochester @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre - Lester Oliveros (2-1, 2.67) vs. Jose De Paula

Chattanooga @ Birmingham - Alex Wimmers (3-1, 5.58) vs. Tyler Danish

Fort Myers @ Bradenton - TBD vs. TBD

Great Lakes @ Cedar Rapids (Game 1) - Grant Holmes vs. Dereck Rodriguez (0-1, 12.00)

Great Lakes @ Cedar Rapids (Game 2) - Joe Broussard vs. Keaton Steele (2-1, 4.79)

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!