Twins Minor League Report (5/9): Matthews Shines in Double-A Debut

TRANSACTIONS

• Minnesota signed RHP Austin Brice to an MiLB deal and assigned him to Double-A Wichita. Brice has 144 big-league games under his belt between 2016-2022, spread out between the Marlins, the Reds, the Marlins again, the Red Sox, and the Pirates. Of course, you may recall that he pitched in 32 games for the St. Paul Saints in 2023. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
Toledo 5, St. Paul 1
Box Score
Louie Varland took the mound Thursday for the Saints. It wasn’t pretty. In just 4 2/3 innings, Varland gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out eight batters.

Toledo scored a pair of runs in the 2nd inning and three more during the 3rd inning. It wasn’t until a Matt Wallner, 8th inning home run that the Saints found their way onto the scoreboard.

Both clubs wound up with eight hits on the evening, but it was the Mud Hens that pushed across the runs with theirs. The Saints were just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. 

Wallner was joined by Alex Isola as the only Saints hitters to record a pair of hits. Both were 2-for-4. Isola hit his fourth double. Patrick Winkel added his sixth double. 

Jordan Balazovic gave up one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He had two strikeouts. Scott Blewett and Diego Castillo each had one strikeout in their 1-2-3 innings. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Arkansas 2
Box Score
Zebby Matthews was on the mound for his Wind Surge debut on Thursday night. The 23-year-old pitched well. He was charged with two unearned runs on three hits in 6 2/3 innings.  He had nine strikeouts and, as you would expect, he had zero walks. That gives him a total of 37 strikeouts this year without issuing a single walk. 

27-year-old Wichita native Scott Engler got the final out of the seventh inning, and just because that's how baseball works, the Wind Surge took the lead the next half-inning and Engler gets the Win. Jarret Whorff pitched a scoreless eighth frame, and Jared Solomon did the same in the ninth. 

Andrew Cossetti opened the scoring with his fourth home run of the year. The 2nd inning solo shot made it 1-0 before Kyler Fedko drove in Jake Rucker with a single. The 2-0 lead held until the 7th inning when Arkansas plated a pair of unearned runs.

6-8 outfielder Carson McCusker has been huge for the Wind Surge all week. In the seventh inning, he ripped a bases-loaded double to score Emmanuel Rodriguez, Noah Cardenas, and Cossetti, making it a 5-2 ball game.

Rodriguez recorded his ninth double of the season to drive in an 8th inning run.. Both Rodriguez and McCusker recorded went 2-for-4 with a double in the game. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 8, South Bend 1 (F/5, Rain)
Box Score
The Kernels turned to Andrew Morris on Thursday night, and he gave them five innings of one-run ball. He scattered six hits and two walks. He struck out four on the evening. The 22-year-old out of Texas Tech improved to 2-1 with an ERA of 2.64. 

Cedar Rapids put up a three-spot in the first inning. Rubel Cespedes singled home Ricardo Olivar before Jay Harry drove him in with a single. An Agustin Ruiz groundout brought in Danny De Andrade before the inning was over.

Keoni Cavaco launched his fourth home run of the season, and the 2nd inning solo shot made it 4-0. Ruiz recorded another RBI in the 3rd inning when his single allowed Cespedes to score. After giving a run back in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Cedar Rapids answered with three more in the 4th inning. Cespedes was responsible again for doing damage, this time with his first triple of the year, to score Cavaco and Luke Keaschall. De Andrade singled in Cespedes, and the Kernels led 8-1. As the 5th inning was completed, the game went into a lengthy delay due to rain and eventually was called.

Cedar Rapids racked up 11 hits. Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-2 with a walk and triple. He scored three runs and drove in three runs. Danny De Andrade was 2-for-3. Keoni Cavaco was 2-for-3 and homered for the second straight game. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Dunedin 8, Fort Myers 3
Box Score
Paulshawn Pasqualotto took the ball Thursday night for the Mighty Mussels. In 4 1/3 innings, he allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits while walking two and striking out just one batter.

Dunedin scored early and often to jump out front 7-0 by the bottom of the 5th inning. Rafael Cruz singled home Payton Eeles to put the Mighty Mussels on the board for the first time. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Isaac Pena brought home Cruz with a sacrifice fly for Fort Myers’ second run. Jose Rodriguez added a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning to score Rayne Doncon , but it remained a five-run deficit.

While seven of the nine Mussels' starters had a hit, Cruz is the only one with two hits. Along with his RBI single, he hit his first triple. Doncon added his 10th double which ties him with Wichita's Kala'i Rosario for most in the organization. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Orioles 4, FCL Twins 2
Box Score
Eduardo Soriano made his first start of 2024 on Thursday for the FCL Twins. In two innings, he was charged with four runs (two earned) on four hits while walking two and striking out a pair.

Miguel Cordero came on and struck out four batters in his three perfect innings. Lefty Wilker Reyes worked the final two innings. He gave up one hit and had two strikeouts. 

All four of the Orioles runs came in the 2nd inning which put the Twins in an early deficit. They didn’t answer until the 7th inning, and it was too little too late. Bryan Acuna singled home Yasser Mercedes before Hendry Chivilli drove in Dameury Pena with a sacrifice fly. Mercedes went 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. All seven hits were singles.

The Twins went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base, not exactly a winning recipe.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Zebby Matthews (6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K)
Hitter of the Day – Rubel Cespedes (Cedar Rapids) - 2-2, 3 R, 3 RBI, 3B(1), BB

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) – 2-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB, K
#7 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-3, R, BB, 2 K
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-4, 3 K
#11 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-5
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 1-4, R, K
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 2-3, R, RBI
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 1-3, R

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (2-3, 5.28 ERA)
Wichita vs Arkansas (7:05 PM CST) –RHP Marco Raya (0-0, 3.07 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-2, 4.00 ERA)
Fort Myers vs Dunedin (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (0-3, 5.75 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’s games!