Twins Minor League Report (9/11): Big Innings Hurt Saints and Surge

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 78-68
St. Paul Saints: 68-71
Wichita Wind Surge: 56-78
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete)
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins activated catcher Christian Vazquez from the Paternity List and OF Manuel Margot from the Injured List. To make room, the team optioned catcher Jair Camargo and utilityman Michael Helman. 

Following the Twins win on Wednesday night against the Angels, it was announced that the Twins plan to activate OF Byron Buxton from the IL. OF Austin Martin was optioned to St. Paul after the game. Of note, DaShawn Keirsey remains on the roster. 

LHP Steven Okert was activated from the  temporarily inactive list. 

OF Maddux Houghton was reassigned to the Mighty Mussels a day after being placed on the Saints roster.  

RHP Ricardo Velez was placed on the 7-Day Injured List. RHP Miguel Rodriguez was activated from the 7-Day IL.  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Columbus 7 
Box Score
The Saints jumped to a big lead, but it slowly dwindled and they lost in a walkoff in Ohio. 

Caleb Boushley and Ryan Webb both put up three zeroes to start the game. However, in the top of the fourth inning, Carson McCusker’s fourth Saints home run gave the team a 1-0 lead. McCusker just hits the ball incredibly hard when he makes contact! 

St. Paul added four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Anthony Prato led off with a single. Payton Eeles followed with another single. Diego A. Castillo was next, and he hit his ninth home run of the season to give the team a 4-0 lead. 

With one out, Michael Helman walked. After a pitching change and a second out, Jeferson Morales and Rylan Bannon singled to score Helman and make it 5-0. 

Bousley threw a fourth zero on the board, but then in the fifth inning, he gave up three runs which cut the lead to 5-3. His final line showed that he gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. 

Jeff Brigham got the final out of the fifth inning and had a perfect sixth inning as well. Three of the four outs he recorded were on strikeouts. 

The Clippers brought James Karinchak into the top of the seventh inning. McCusker singled and Morales walked. Then with two outs, Prato walked to load the bases. And then Eeles walked to score McCusker and give the Saints a 6-3 lead. 

Giovanny Gallegos came in for the bottom of the seventh and gave up a walk and a single but no runs. Hobie Harris got the bottom of the eighth. However, he gave up two groundball singles and a 403 foot home run to Micah Pries that tied the game at 6-6. He actually loaded up the bases on a single and two more walks but was able to keep it tied going to the ninth. 

The Saints went quietly in the top of the ninth. Diego Castillo was brought in to try to send it to extra innings. He got the first two outs, but Johnathan Rodriguez hit his 25th home run to end the game. 

At the top of the lineup, Eeles went 2-for-2 with three walks. He also stole his 14th base. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his ninth home run and 13th stolen base. McCusker went 2-for-5 with his 19th overall homer of the 2024 season. Morales went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth Saints double. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Tulsa 5
Box Score
A five-run fourth inning by Tulsa was more than the Wind Surge could overcome. 

Christian MacLeod started the game with three scoreless innings. However, he ended up giving up five runs on six hits and three walks in four innings. He struck out two batters. 

Aside from that fourth frame, Wichita pitching was strong. Mike Paredes struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. John Stankiewicz struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. Miguel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth.  

In the bottom of the fourth, Kala’i Rosario hit a solo homer, his eighth of the season. 

The score remained 5-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Rosario led off with a walk. With one out, Alex Isola doubled to drive him in. Aaron Sabato scored Isola with an RBI single to make it 5-3. But that’s as close as it got. 

Wichita had just five hits and two walks in the game. Sabato was 2-for-4. Rosario had a walk to go with his home run. Isola had a walk to go with his double. 

After playing several games against the Kernels for Great Lakes earlier this season, former Twins prospect Noah Miller played in his 32nd game for the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa. In this game, he had two doubles in four at-bats. Overall, he’s hitting .224/.258/.264 (.522) with five doubles in Tulsa. In 101 games for Great Lakes, he hit .251/.336/.332 (.668) with 14 doubles and six home runs.   

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, 3 BB, R, RBI, SB(14).
Pitcher of the Day - Jeff Brigham (St. Paul) - 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. 19 pitches, 13 strikes (68.4%) 

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – 0-for-4. 
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2-for-4. 2B(4), 2 RBI 
#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, K (left game in 2nd inning) 
#5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 61 pitches, 40 strikes (65.6%)
#15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(8), 2 R, RBI, 2 K.
#17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, 4 K.

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Columbus (5:15 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.04 ERA)
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (2-5, 2.70 ERA) 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’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!