Twins Minor League Report (5/25): Royce Returns for Rehab, Festa Dominates in Buffalo

What a fun day Saturday was for the Twins and their minor-league affiliates. The big-league club got a huge, late-inning homer from Alex Kirilloff to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 win. Cole Sands tossed two scoreless to keep the game in reach for the dramatics in the bottom of the eighth inning. Royce Lewis made his first rehab appearance for the Saints in Rochester. Brooks Lee and Walker Jenkins combined for five hits in their rehab game on Saturday. David Festa stole the show for the Saints with help from DaShawn Keirsey. and Will Holland. The Surge got a bit of pop at the top of their lineup. 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 28-23 
St. Paul Saints: 22-26
Wichita Wind Surge: 17-26 
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 27-16
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 18-26
FCL Twins: 11-4  

Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. 

TRANSACTIONS
Again, the big news is that Royce Lewis was officially sent on a rehab assignment to the Saints. They play Saturday and Sunday in Buffalo, and after Monday’s day off, they start a six-game series in Rochester. Important to remember: For position players, they can be on official rehab for up to 20 days.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Buffalo 0
Box Score
Maybe David Festa was already in the bullpen when the memo came out? He must have not been around the clubhouse when the memo came out that said, “Royce Lewis is making his first rehab appearance. Please do what you can to make that the focal point of this game today.” 

OK, there was no memo, and knowing Royce, he is just fine being a part of a nice Saints win and would credit Festa and others with some big games. 

But nevertheless, Royce is back and that is a great thing for the organization. In this game, he batted second and was the team’s DH. He hit a 105 mph single in his first at-bat. Soon after, he stole second base. It will be interesting to see how his body responds in the morning. He could play third base on Sunday if he’s feeling alright. In all, he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout. 

OK, now let’s get to David Festa. What an impressive night he had for the Saints. Spencer Horwitz led off for Buffalo. He flied out to DaShawn Keirsey in right field for the first out of the bottom of the first inning. Festa ended that inning with two strikeouts. Then he struck out the side in the bottom of the second inning. He struck out the first two batters of the bottom of the third before ending the inning with a ground out. The seven consecutive strikeouts is a Saints record. 

In total, Festa tossed five shutout innings. He gave up one hit, walked one, and struck out eight batters. He has had eight or more strikeouts in three of his four starts in May. In 10 starts this year, he is 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA. he has a 1.33 WHIP. In 39 innings, he now has an impressive 60 strikeouts. He has issued 17 walks. 

After Festa, Jordan Balazovic came into the game. He tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and a walk, and he struck out two batters. Ryan Jenson got the final three outs, two of them via the strikeout. 

The Saints jumped out to a quick lead. With one out, Lewis singled and stole second. DaShawn Keirsey followed with an RBI single. With two outs, he stole second, his 15th steal of the year. After a Matt Wallner walk, Keirsey scored on a throwing error to make it 2-0. 

The Saints added three more in the second inning. Will Holland led off with a single. With one out, Austin Martin singled to third on a strange play that left Holland at third base and Martin at second. After Lewis popped out for the second out, Keirsey drilled his seventh homer of the season, a three-run shot that gave the team a 5-0 lead. 

A couple of insurance runs never hurt. Chris Williams led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and scored on Will Holland’s fourth home run of the season. 

Keirsey led the way. He was 2-for-5 with the homer and four RBI. Holland was 2-for-4 with the two-run homer. Williams and Tony Kemp each went 2-for-4 with a double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 2, San Antonio 4
Box Score
Wind Surge manager Ramon Borrego switched up his lineup on Saturday. He moved slugging outfielder Kala’i Rosario. The 2023 Midwest League MVP responded by going 2-for-4. In fact, he really got things going for Wichita with a first-inning, leadoff home run, his third homer of the season. Maybe it’s just because Emmanuel Rodriguez and Tanner Schobel got the day off. Kyler Fedko also had two hits, including his fourth double of the season. 

On the mound for the Wind Surge on Saturday was Minnesota native Aaron Rozek. The lefty actually had a no-hitter through the first three innings before giving up two runs in the fourth inning. The southpaw is an absolute workhorse for the Surge, so he got through 5 2/3 innings. In all, he gave up three runs on five hits and a walk. He had four strikeouts. 

First out of the ‘pen was John Stankiewicz who stranded two runners in that sixth inning. In the seventh, he gave up a run on three hits. Michael Paredes and Regi Grace each struck out one batter in a perfect inning.

The Wind Surge had chances. They went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 6
Box Score
Darren Bowen had a tough first start of the season, his first start in a new organization. However, since then, he has been very good. In this game, he completed six innings. He was charged with two runs on five hits. He had six strikeouts and no walks. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Rubel cut the Kernels’ deficit in half with his sixth home run. An inning later, Agustin Ruiz doubled and scored on a bunt single by Jose Salas. 

With the game now tied at two, Sheldon Reed came in and struck out two batters in a scoreless inning. AJ Labas pitched the eighth and gave up four runs on four hits to take the loss. 

I’m not sure what Peoria’s eight hitter, William Sullivan, did, but he went 1-for-1 in this game and was hit by a pitch three times, once by each Kernels’ pitcher. 

Misael Urbina went 2-for-4, the only Kernel with a multi-hit game. Ruiz and Kevin Maitan each hit a double. I know what you’re thinking. No mention yet of Luke Keaschall. Well, he played second base on Saturday and went 1-for-3 with two walks. The Kernels went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 8, Daytona Beach 9
Box Score
This was definitely a back-and-forth game. There were five lead changes in the first four innings. Fort Myers fell behind and kept scoring but came up just short. 

Down 1-0 after one inning, a Gregory Duran two-run home run gave the Mussels a 2-1 lead. However, after two innings, they found themselves down 3-2. 

In the top of the third inning, Kyle Hess hit a two-run homer, and a few batters later, Maddux Houghton hit a two-run homer to make it 6-3 Mussels. 

Unfortunately, Daytona scored one run in the bottom of the third and three more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-6. In the seventh, they extended the lead to 9-6. 

The Mussels scored one in the eighth inning when Poncho Ruiz scored on a wild pitch. Then in the ninth inning, Payton Eeles doubled in Brandon Winokur, but the comeback came up just short. 

Hess went 2-for-5 with his fourth double and second home run. (Did you know that the 25-year-old is the cousin of former big leaguer Chris Heisey?)  Houghton was 2-for-4 with his second homer. Eeles went 2-for-5 with his sixth double. Duran’s homer was his second of the season. Matthew Clayton added his second double. 

Left-hander Ross Dunn started. He gave up three runs on five hits. In two innings, he walked two and struck out two batters. Jack Noble gave up four runs on five hits over the next two innings. Sam Perez came on and gave the team three innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. He had five strikeouts. Nolan Santos struck out one in a scoreless inning. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 10, FCL Red Sox 8
Box Score
If you have an eight-run inning, there’s a decent chance you’re going to win the game. On Saturday, the FCL Twins waited until the top of the seventh (and final) inning to have their eight-run inning. 

The FCL Red Sox scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Twins 2023 fifth-round pick Dylan Questad started, and he only got two outs. He gave up four hits and walked two batters. He had two strikeouts.   He faced eight batters and with six of them either walking or striking out, the pitch count mounted too quickly. 

Liam Rocha came on with two runners on but those runners did not score. However, over the next three innings, Rocha was charged with three runs on three hits and three walks. He had five strikeouts. Alejandro Crisostomo gave up a run on a walk (and a balk and a wild pitch) in his inning. He had two strikeouts. Mitch Stone struck out two in his inning. Wilker Reyes picked up his second save with two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh. 

The Twins were behind 7-0 when they came to bat in the top of the fifth inning. Amilcar Vasquez led off with a single to left. Moises Lopez and Brooks Lee walked to load the bases. After a Jenkins strikeout, a Wild Pitch scored the team’s first run. Yasser Mercedes walked to re-load the bases. Then Dameury Pena walked to score the second run. 

Going to the seventh (final) inning, the Twins were down 8-2. With one out, consecutive walks to Dameury Pena, Jayson Bass and Omari Daniel loaded the bases. Hendry Chivilli singled in one run. Vasquez then singled in one run. A Moises Lopez walk made it 8-5. Still one out, there was a pitching change. A balk brought in Chivilli. Brooks Lee singled to score a run and it was 8-7. Walker Jenkins came through with a game-tying single to right. Lee advanced to third, so Jenkins stole second. Mercedes worked another walk and on the fourth ball, a wild pitch allowed Lee to score the go-ahead run. Dameury Pena grounded to third, but Jenkins (who advanced to third on the wild pitch) was able to score. That’s an eight-run inning. Eight runs on four hits and five walks. 

In total, the Twins had 10 hits and 10 walks. They were 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position. 

Brooks Lee went 3-for-4 with a walk. Jenkins went 2-for-5. He also stole two bases. Amilcar Vasquez was 3-for-4 with a double, the team’s lone extra base hit. Moises Lopez was 0-for-1 but walked three times. Dameury Pena was 1-for-3 with two walks. Yasser Mercedes was 0-for-2 but walked twice and stole two bases. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day - DaShawn Keirsey (Saints) - 2-for-4, HR(7), 2, 4 RBI, K, SB(15).   
Pitcher of the Day – David Festa (Saints) - 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 80 pitches, 60 strikes (62.5%)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the just-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. 

#1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - 2-for-5, R, RBI, K, 2-SB (DH, FCL Rehab)
#2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, BB, R, RI, K (SS, FCL Rehab)
#4 - David Festa (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 80 pitches, 50 strikes (62.5%)
#8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, R,
#9 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2 BB,
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 1-for-1, R (PH)
#12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 2-for-4, BB, HR(3), R, RBI, K
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, K
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, K

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Buffalo (12:05 PM CST) - RHP Louie Varland (1-2, 4.57 ERA) 
San Antonio @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (2-2, 3.86 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Jeremy Lee (first Kernels start)
Fort Myers @ Lakeland (11:00 AM CST) - RHP Charlee Soto (0-2, 6.97 ERA)
FCL Twins - No Games on Sunday

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics!

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