Monday in the Minors

Twins players scattered all over the place to enjoy their All Star breaks. Joe Mauer is the team’s lone representative in tonight’s All-Star game. On Monday night, it was the Tigers’ Prince Fielder who out-slugged Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista to win his second Home Run Derby. The Rochester Red Wings also began their All-Star break with no game on Monday. New Britain played an early afternoon game and with its completion, they are now on their All-Star break. Each of the other Twins affiliates played on Monday. Only the GCL Twins will play on Tuesday as the minor leagues do not schedule games the day of the big league All Star game.

With that, here is a look at the Twins minor league scores and highlights from Monday’s games in the system. For those with concerns about the Twins system, you will notice that each of the Twins three 2011 1^st round picks had good days.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

ROCHESTER RED WINGS

It is Day 1 of the Red Wings All Star break. Pedro Florimon will represent the team in the game on Wednesday night.

NEW BRITAIN 7, NEW HAMPSHIRE 1

It was an early start time for the final game of the unofficial first half of the season, but the Rock Cats came ready to play. Logan Darnell started and gave up just one run on five hits over the first eight innings. He walked one and struck out seven. Dakota Watts pitched a scoreless ninth.

The top of the lineup came to play as well. Leadoff hitter Aaron Hicks went 3-4 with a walk, his ninth home run and this 19^th stolen base. Second hitter Chris Herrmann went 3-5. Number 3 hitter, Chris Colabello, went 3-4 with a walk and his 24^th double. Cleanup hitter Evan Bigley went 2-5. Nate Hanson, batting 6^th, was 2-4.

FT. MYERS 4, JUPITER 10

Matt Capps started for the Miracle in this game and worked a perfect first inning. Matt Hauser came in and gave up eight runs (6 earned) on 10 hits and two walks in four innings. He struck out two. Miguel Munoz came in and worked two scoreless innings. Nelvin Fuentes gave up two runs on one hit and one walk in two innings. He struck out five.

Kyle Knudson went 2-3 with a walk. Levi Michael went 2-5 with his eighth double. Joe Benson continued his rehab stint and went 1-4 with a walk and his first double.

BELOIT 0, BURLINGTON 3

Ryan O’Rourke made his first start of the season for the Snappers. The lefty gave up one run on two hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out five. Tim Atherton gave up one run on three hits in two innings. He walked none and struck out three. Steven Gruver then gave up a run on five hits in two innings. He struck out two. Clinton Dempster pitched a scoreless inning.

The Snappers managed just two hits in the game. Miguel Sano was 1-4 with a single… and three strikeouts. Matthew Koch hit his first triple.

ELIZABETHTON 12, JOHNSON CITY 0

The E-Twins made up for the lack of Beloit offense by racking up 12 runs on 19 hits. Travis Harrison led the way by going 5-6 with his third home run (and 14^th error). Jorge Polanco went 3-5 with a walk and his fifth double. Bo Altobelli went 3-6. Max Kepler was 2-4 with two walks and his second double. Candido Pimentel and Kelvin Mention were each 2-6 with their first double of the season. It was Mention’s first at bat since 2010. Adam Walker was 2-6 with his fourth double.

The pitching staff was also terrific. Hudson Boyd reduced his ERA to 1.44 with six shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out five. Josh Burris dropped his ERA to 0.60 with two more scoreless innings. Kaleb Merck pitched a scoreless ninth frame.

GCL TWINS 5, GCL RAYS 2

The Gulf Coast Twins used a lot of pitchers. Kuo Hua Lo started and gave up two runs on four hits and two walks in three innings. Melciades De La Cruz struck out five over the next two innings. Gerardo Ramirez gave up two hits and a walk, but no runs, in 1.1 innings. He struck out two. Gonzalo Sanudo came in and gave up just one hits over 1.2 scoreless innings. Alexander Muren pitched a scoreless frame.

Jorge Fernandez went 2-4 with his first double. John Murphy was 2-4 with his sixth steal. Bryan Haar was 2-4 with his second steal. Byron Buxton was 0-1 with a walk. He also stole a base but on the play, he hurt his leg and was removed from the game. It was pain in the hamstring, whether it was a pulled hamstring or just a cramp is still being determined.

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Players of the Day for Monday, July 9, 2012

Hitter of the Day – Travis Harrison

(Photo by Thrylos)

Pitcher of the Day – Hudson Boyd

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A Look Ahead – Tuesday, July 10, 2012 Schedule

Rochester – All Star Break

New Britain – All Star Break

Ft. Myers – No Game Scheduled

Beloit – No Game Scheduled

Elizabethton – No Game Scheduled

GCL Twins vs GCL Red Sox – TBD

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