Twins Minor League Report (5/22): Gasp! Zebby Matthews Issues Walk, Ty Langenberg Sets Career-High

Birthday boy Zebby Matthews gave up one earned run and struck out eight batters, and yet he wasn't named the Pitcher of the Day. Payton Eeles and Kyler Fedko each had three-hit games, but someone else was named Hitter of the Day. Find out how the four full-season Twins affiliates played on Wednesday. Before we do that, take a look at the affiliates' updated re

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 26-23 
St. Paul Saints: 19-25 
Wichita Wind Surge: 16-24 
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 25-15
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 18-23
FCL Twins: 8-4  

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

TRANSACTIONS
In a rarity, there were no transactions made on Wednesday (at least officially).  

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul, Buffalo (suspended, top of third)
Box Score
It was a very good start for the Saints in Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see how it finishes until Thursday. 

Just a few things to note. 

    -The game will resume on Thursday morning with two outs in the top of the third inning. Matt Wallner will be on second base and Yunior Severino (who is 2-for-2 so far in this game) will be on first base. 

   -Veteran Tony Kemp gave the Saints a 3-0 lead in the top of the second innings when his third home run since joining St. Paul. Severino and Chris Williams scored on the play. 

   -Randy Dobnak started and pitched two innings. He gave up one hit and walked one batter. He also struck out two batters. 

   -The game will resume on Thursday at 10:05 (central time). The regularly-scheduled game will be seven innings and will begin 30-minutes after the resumed game is completed. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, San Antonio 4 (10 innings)
Box Score
Zebby Matthews was on the mound again for the Wind Surge in this game. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits over six innings. He had one walk and struck out eight batters. He ended up with a no decision, but his Surge ERA is now 1.02. 

And yes, I can try to just pass by it, but you read it correctly. Zebby Matthews issued a walk for the first time this year. With the six innings, he now had 51 strikeouts and one walk overall this season in 40 1/3 innings. Ray-Patrick Didder walked to lead off the top of the fifth inning. That means that Matthews went 38 1/3 innings before that first walk. Amazing, truly! 

John Stankiewicz struck out two, and walked one batter over two scoreless, hitless innings. 

Wichita got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Emmanuel Rodriguez led off with a walk. Tanner Schobel’s eighth double advanced E-Rod to third base. Next up was Noah Cardenas who doubled to score both runners. 

San Antonio tied it in the fourth, but in the bottom of the fifth, the Wind Surge reclaimed the lead. Kyler Fedko led off with a single. He advanced to third on a single by Rodriguez. Tanner Schobel hit a fly ball to center field, deep enough to drive in Fedko with the go-ahead run. 

Taylor Floyd came in for the ninth inning. He started things off with a walk, but that was followed by a force out for the first out. Floyd then issued another walk, but it was followed with a strikeout for the second out. However, Floyd hit a batter to load the bases. Ramon Borrego turned things over to veteran Jared Solomon. Unfortunately, he walked the first batter he faced which tied the game. He kept it tied by getting a ground out to end the ninth. As the inning came to a close, Solomon was ejected. 

The Kernels went scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning. Regi Grace came into the game for the 10th inning. He got a pop out for the first out, but Cole Cummings dropped a soft bloop single into left field to score Clay Dungan with the go-ahead run. That was it for the scoring, but the Wind Surge had to score a run to keep the game going or score two runs to win. 

Schobel started the inning at second base. After a strikeout, Kala’i Rosario singled on a ground ball off of the pitcher. Unfortunately, a double play ended the game. 

Kyler Fedko went 3-for-4. Rosario was 2-for-4. Jeferson Morales was 2-for-4 with his seventh double. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 3
Box Score
Both teams scored a run in the first inning. Both teams scored a run in the fifth inning. Peoria messed up the plan when they scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to end the game. 

Luke Keaschall continued to rake and get things going right away. For the fourth time this season, he led off the first inning of a Kernels game with a home run. In this game, he went 3-for-5 and drove in both runs. In the fifth inning, he hit a single to drive in Nate Baez who had tripled. Baez was 2-for-4 in the game. Rayne Doncon added his first Kernels double. 

John Klein made the start for the Kernels. He gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four batters. Jacob Wosinski got five outs. He finished the sixth, the seventh and got one out in the eighth. Kyle Bischoff got the final two outs of the eighth inning without allowing any runs. However, in the bottom of the ninth inning, a double was followed by a walkoff single by William Sullivan. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Daytona Beach 1
Box Score
The Mussels scored first and early, but not often. Fortunately, it was just enough to earn a win on Wednesday. 

In the top of the first inning, Payton Eeles singled and stole second base. Byron Chourio walked. Brandon Winokur flew out to left field, deep enough for Eeles to tag and advance to third base. Then came a double steal. Chourio stole second base and Eeles stole home for the first run. Chourio stole third base (his eighth of the season) and scored on a ground-rule double by Kyle Hess. 

That was it for the Mussels scoring. They had base runners but went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left six on base. 

Eeles led the way. He was 3-for-4 with his fourth double. He had three steals and now has six since joining the Mussels.  Hess and Maddux Houghton each had a double.

Fortunately, the Mussels got great pitching from a couple of 2023 Day 3 draft picks. Ty Langenberg started and gave up one run on five hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out a career-high nine batters. The Urbandale, Iowa, native has been getting better with each start. A suburb of Des Moines, Langenberg's family is likely looking forward to getting him back in-state. I’m sure those in Cedar Rapids are looking forward to him playing for the Kernels after he spent three years in Iowa City pitching for the Hawkeyes. 

Xander Hamilton has had some ups and downs already this season, but when he’s on, he can dominate. He faced nine batters over the final three innings, five on strikeouts to earn the save. 22 of his 27 pitchers were strikes. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, HR(6), R, 2 RBI, K.   
Pitcher of the Day – Ty Langenberg (Fort Myers) - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K, 82 pitches, 57 strikes (69.5%)

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

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, R
#8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-2 before game suspended
#9 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, HR(6), R, 2 RBI, K
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4.
#11 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Minnesota) - 4 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 77 pitches, 48 strikes (62.3%)
#12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 2-for-5, K
#13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(8), R, RBI, K
#14 - Zebby Matthews (Wichita) - 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. 80 pitches, 55 strikes (68.8%)
#18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, R before game suspended.
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, K (played LF)

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Buffalo (10:05 AM CST) - Conclusion of Game 1, Game 2: RHP Adam Plutko (first Saints start) 
San Antonio @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Jaylen Nowlin (2-2, 4.76 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 PM CST) - RHP C.J. Culpepper (1-0, 3.38 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Lakeland (11:00 AM CST) - RHP Tanner Hall (0-0, 5.40 ERA)
FCL Twins @ FCL Pirates (11:00 AM) - TBD

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

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!