Twins Minor League Report (8/15): Wichita Surges Past Cardinals, Kernels Not Rattled

TRANSACTIONS

• After his brief promotion to Triple-A, RHP Carlos Luna was assigned back to the Wind Surge on Tuesday. 
• C David Banuelos was activated from the injured list for Wichita, while C Frank Nigro was transferred to the development list.
• Down in Fort Myers, RHP Matt Gabbert was assigned to the Mighty Mussels from the FCL, and C Dillon Tatum was also activated. RHP Johnathan Lavallee was released.

SAINTS SENTINEL
Indianapolis 8, St. Paul 5
Box Score
Randy Dobnak has been on quite a run for the Saints lately, and he looked to continue that this week in a pair of starts against Indianapolis. To say it didn’t go his way in this one, would be an understatement, but it was not because he was bad. What I want you to focus on if you click that box score, is the fact he made it through four innings, and not that he allowed 11 hits in them.

Because those 11 hits were mostly full of complete garbage that just found hole after hole or open grass. Even when he broke multiple hitter’s bats, they ended up going for hits. It was kind of upsetting.

All that said, it still led to the Saints being down 7-1 after his outing was finally finished. Six of those went in the book as earned runs. He also walked three batters and struck out four. 

The Saints scratched across a run in the first inning. Andrew Stevenson led off the game by drawing a walk and stole his 39th base of the season. Kyle Garlick drove him in with a double. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Brooks Lee sent a liner past the center fielder, and ended up with his first triple with the Saints. Trevor Larnach drove him in with a sacrifice fly. In the eighth inning, Lee added another sacrifice fly that made it 8-3.

Out of the bullpen, the Saints got two scoreless innings from Austin Brice after Dobnak’s exit. He walked one and struck out one. Cody Laweryson (2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, K), Kody Funderburk (1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 K), and Austin Schulfer (1 IP, 1 H, K) completed the final three innings.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Saints managed to get the tying run in the batter's box, but it wasn’t meant to be. Jair Camargo drew a one-out walk. Austin Martin sent his third home run with the Saints onto the berm in left field to make it 8-5.

A pair of walks brought Lee to the plate, and he took a big hack to try and tie it up, but ended up grounding out to first before Trevor Larnach went down to end the game.

The Saints cobbled together just five hits in the game. They were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and left only seven men on base. Stevenson reached base three times in five at-bats. Martin played in left field and had an outfield assist.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Springfield 2, Wichita 5
Box Score
Alex Isola and Patrick Winkel ambushed the Cardinals starter in the bottom of the first with back-to-back jacks for an early 2-0 lead. Isola’s blast was his third home run in his past four at-bats.

Fresh off an eight-inning outing his last time out, starter Pierson Ohl was solid again in this one. He picked up his fifth win with a quality start. In six frames, he allowed two earned runs on just three hits and one walk. He punched out six. In three August outings, Ohl has a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings, going 3-0 and striking out 15 compared to just two walks.

The Wind Surge added some insurance for their starter in the third inning with a two-out rally. The bash brothers from earlier, Isola and Winkel, started it by drawing a walk and knocking a single, respectively. Aaron Sabato then stepped in and launched his eighth home run of the season to make it 5-0 Wichita.

Denny Bentley came on for the seventh inning and added two scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just one hit and struck out one. Miguel Rodriguez picked up his first save with a scoreless ninth. He worked around a pair of hits by striking out one.

The three (Isola), four (Winkel), and five (Sabato) hitters for the Wind Surge combined to go 7-for-10 with all five runs scored, a double, three home runs, and all five RBI in this one. The rest of the lineup came up with just two hits in their 22 at-bats. Yoyner Fajardo stole his 41st base of the season.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Wisconsin 1, Cedar Rapids 4
Box Score
The Kernels got strong pitching performances from Kyle Jones and Jarret Whorff to keep the Timber Rattlers at bay most of the game. Jones got the starting nod and went the first four innings. He allowed just two hits, walked three, and struck out three in four scoreless innings. Whorff went the next three frames to pick up the win. He gave up just one hit, one walk, and struck out three.

Cedar Rapids took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning thanks to Jorel Ortega’s seventh home run in the Midwest League, and 13th overall of the season. The home team made it 3-0 in the fifth after Carson McCusker’s fourth Kernels home run and an RBI groundout from Ben Ross. The Kernels finished off their scoring in the eighth when Noah Cardenas drew a walk with the bases loaded. They could have broken the game open then, as there were no outs and all four hitters had reached base, but the next three went down in order.

Malik Barrington picked up his second save by finishing the final two innings. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out three.

In the leadoff spot, Noah Miller went 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run. Ross drew two walks and scored a run. In addition to his home run, Ortega also drew two walks. Emmanuel Rodriguez and Midwest League RBI leader Kala’i Rosario both finished 1-for-4. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 9, Palm Beach 2
Box Score
Starting pitcher Juan Mercedes delivered a solid five innings to pick up his second win of the season. He allowed no runs, scattered six hits, and struck out three in five scoreless innings.

The Mighty Mussels took the lead in the top of the second thanks to Danny De Andrade, who led off with a single, stole second base, and scored on a single from Rubel Cespedes.

They added a pair of runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to extend their lead to 5-0. Ricardo Olivar drove in two with a single in the fifth. Alec Sayre drove in one run with a bases loaded ground ball in the sixth, and Cespedes scored the second on a wild pitch.

Wilker Reyes contributed three innings from the bullpen. He was charged with the Cardinals two runs on five hits, and struck out four. Ricardo Velez finished off the game with a scoreless ninth. He allowed one hit and struck out two.

Fort Myers tacked on four runs in the ninth for an extra cushion. With the bases loaded, Nate Baez delivered a two-run single, and a third run scored on an error. Kyle Schmidt then drove in Baez to cap the scoring.

Jay Harry (2-for-5, R, 2B, K), De Andrade (2-for-4, 2 R, BB, 2 SB), and Baez (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, K) each had multiple hits. Luke Keaschall added a double, a walk, and scored two runs in four at-bats.

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 7, FCL Braves 11
Box Score
The Braves jumped all over Twins pitching early, and put enough distance between them to hold off a comeback from the Twins.

Starting pitcher Eduardo Soriano was only able to record three outs, pitching into the second inning but not recording an out. He surrendered five runs (four earned) on four hits, a walk, and struck out one. Julio Bonilla came on and recorded six outs, but didn’t fare much better on the scoreboard. He allowed four runs on three hits and four walks. He did strike out four.

Down 9-0 heading into the sixth, the Twins finally broke through. An error and singles from Isaac Pena and Walker Jenkins loaded the bases for Brandon Winokur, and an RBI groundball got them on the board. Harold Grant then cashed in the other two runners with a single to make it 9-3.

In the seventh. a pair of walks preceded a pair of doubles from Endy Rodriguez and Winokur that made it 9-6. In the top of the ninth Walker Jenkins blasted his second home run as a pro, a solo shot to give the Twins their final tally on the scoreboard.

Relievers Sean Mooney (1 IP, 2 K), Jefferson Lopez (3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 K), and Miguel Olivares (1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB) accounted for the rest of the innings from the pitching staff.

Jenkins (2-for-5, 2 R, RBI), Winokur (2-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI, K), and Grant (2-for-5, 2 RBI, K) led the way on offense with multiple hits. Winokur also had an outfield assist. Anderson Nova added a double.

DOMINICAN DAILY
DSL Angels 7, DSL Twins 1 (7 innings)
Box Score
Right fielder Jayson Bass went yard for the Twins in the bottom of the fourth inning, but that was basically it for the offense on the day. They collected just four hits as a team, were 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position, and left only two men on base for the game. They also didn’t draw a single walk. If there was a positive, they struck out only five times, so they were putting the ball in play.

Carlos Silva, Ewing Matos, and Javier Roman each had a single to account for all of their hits.

On the mound Leonardo Lugo got ambushed in the first two innings, but pushed through to finish three frames with a one-two-three third inning. He was charged with six runs (five earned) on eight hits and a pair of walks. He struck out one.

Reynel Garcia added two scoreless and hitless innings in relief of Lugo, then Eider Machuca (1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K) and Oscar Paredes (1/3 IP) finished off the shortened seven inning contest.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Pierson Ohl, Wichita Wind Surge (W, 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K)
Hitter of the Day - Aaron Sabato, Wichita Wind Surge (2-for-3, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, BB, K)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We have again updated our top 20 prospect list. Check out the full list here and how they performed on Tuesday below!

#1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, R, 3B, RBI, K
#2 - Walker Jenkins (FCL Twins) - 2-for-5, 2 R, HR (2), RBI
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, K
#7 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, R, HR (3), 2 RBI
#8 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K
#9 - Brandon Winokur (FCL Twins) - 2-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI, K
#10 - Luke Keaschall (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, 2 R, 2B, BB, K
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 K
#14 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 2 K
#17 - Danny De Andrade (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, 2 R, BB, 2 SB (14)
#18 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL Twins) - 1-for-5, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CDT) - RHP Louie Varland (7-0, 4.03 ERA)
Springfield @ Wichita (7:05 PM CDT) - RHP Travis Adams (2-8, 6.24 ERA)
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CDT) - RHP Christian MacLeod (4-0, 3.86 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Ben Ethridge (2-5, 2.34 ERA)

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

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!