Twins Minor League Report (4/23): Jhoan Duran Begins Rehab Assignment

TRANSACTIONS

• On Monday, the Twins optioned C Jair Camargo and Louie Varland back to triple-A, while selecting the contract of RHP Ronny Henriquez from the Saints. Jhoan Duran also began his rehab assignment in St. Paul. IF Dalton Shuffield was assigned back to Wichita, and LHP Brent Headrick was transferred from the 7-day IL to the 60-day, putting another potential rotation reinforcement out of commission for a bit longer.
• Down in Fort Myers the Mighty Mussels placed OF Byron Chourio on the 7-day injured list, along with being assigned RHP Kyle Bloor and C Matthew Clayton.

SAINTS SENTINEL
Rochester 9, St. Paul 15
Box Score
The Saints got on the board first, and often, against the Twins former affiliate at CHS Field in St. Paul on Tuesday.

In the first DaShawn Keirsey Jr. got the hitting started with a one-out triple and would score the game’s first run on a Jair Camargo single. In each of the next two innings they tacked on four more.

Yunior Severino led off the second with a hard single off the center field wall. With two outs Will Holland drew a walk before Diego Castillo drove in one with a single. Anthony Prato followed with another walk and Keirsey Jr. sent a liner through the infield to score two more. Camargo added the fourth run with a broken bat RBI single to make it 5-0 after two.

In the third, Severino and Tony Kemp started the inning with a pair of walks, and Yoyner Fajardo cashed them all in with his fourth home run of the young season.

In interesting stats to me, last year with Wichita, Fajardo hit nine total home runs in 527 plate appearances. He’s had 64 plate appearances so far this season, which puts him on a pace to hit 33 home runs in the same number of plate appearances as last year.

After his early triple, Keirsey Jr. also singled and doubled in his next two at-bats, putting himself a home run away from the cycle after just three innings.

Big right-hander David Festa took to the CHS Field bump on Tuesday, looking to continue his early-season dominance. He kept it scoreless through the first three innings, working around a double in the first and a bases-loaded jam in the third. A leadoff home run in the fourth put a blemish on his night, but he struck out the next hitter to end his outing. In all, Festa finished 3 1/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out five. He threw 64 pitches, with 46 going for strikes (72%), including 12 swinging, with eight of those coming on his slider.

Ryan Jensen finished off the fourth inning, allowing one hit and striking out one in 2/3 of an inning, and that led to Jhoan Duran coming on for the fifth inning.

While he recorded all three of his outs with K’s, Duran also gave up four hits, two earned runs, and threw 27 pitches in his first live outing of the season. He got five swings and misses, but all four hits left the bats of Red Wings hitters at scorching rates, including one at 113.0 MPH from Washington Nationals top prospect James Wood. Duran topped out at 99.0 MPH with his fastball while throwing primarily curveballs in his appearance. These are all signs of him working on some things after starting the year on the injured list.

From there the Saints just kept on hitting. Matt Wallner clubbed a two-run double in the fifth, and Holland added an RBI triple in the sixth as the two big hits that pushed their lead to 14-3.

The Saints bullpen couldn’t let it be that easy, however, as the Red Wings exploded for six runs in the seventh to draw this one out. Austin Schulfer (1 IP, H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) and Michael Boyle (1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (one earned), 2 BB, K) were the victims of that outburst. Hobie Harris put an end to the misery for both teams, finishing it out with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking two, and striking out two.

The only hitter in the Saints lineup to go hitless was newcomer Tony Kemp, but he also drew two walks and scored two runs. Holland scored four runs from the bottom of the order, while Keirsey Jr. (who couldn’t hit that homer), Fajardo, and Diego Castillo each had three RBI. Be sure to check out the box score to see all the strong offensive nights from Saints players!

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 0, San Antonio 1
Box Score
It was a good old-fashioned pitcher’s duel in San Antonio Tuesday evening, with the teams combining for just nine total hits on the game. Combined they were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.

Wind Surge starter Jarret Whorff went the first 3 2/3 innings, allowing the only run of the game on three hits while striking out five. That run came in the bottom of the first inning when a two-out double scored a run all the way from first.

The Wichita offense threatened with multiple baserunners in the third and fourth innings, but they weren’t able get the big hit to push a run across. Their only extra-base hit of the game came off the bat of Emmanuel Rodriguez in the fifth but was later thrown out at home to end the inning.

Lefty Aaron Rozek finished off the rest of the game after Whorff, going 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He allowed one hit, walked one, and struck out two.

Rodriguez finished 2-for-4 out of the leadoff spot. Noah Cardenas finished 1-for-3 and drew a walk.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Beloit 4, Cedar Rapids 5
Box Score
Looking to get back on track after a five-run and ten-hit outing his last time out, Andrew Morris took the hill for Cedar Rapids at home. He recovered quite well, picking up his first win of the season with six shutout innings. He allowed five hits, walked one, and struck out five.

The Kernels lineup struck first in the bottom of the fourth inning. A single from Danny De Andrade was followed by a hit-by-pitch to Jose Salas before they executed a double-steal, and a throwing error scored the first run of the game. Misael Urbina followed with an RBI, and it was 2-0 Cedar Rapids.

In the bottom of the fifth Gabriel Gonzalez hit a double in front of the fourth home run of the season from Rubel Cespedes for a 4-0 lead. Later in the inning, De Andrade singled, stole another base, and scored on a Salas single for the five-run lead.

The bullpen almost lost Morris his chance at a win, when Juan Mendez came in for the seventh. Before it was over, he was charged with four earned runs on three hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Gabriel Yanez escaped further damage and added a scoreless eighth inning. Ricardo Velez closed the door in the ninth to pick up his second save.

Cespedes (2-for-4, R, HR (4), 2 RBI, BB), De Andrade (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 SB (4)), and Urbina (2-for-4, RBI, 2 K, 2 SB (4)) each had two hits in the win. Salas, De Andrade, and Urbina each had two stolen bases.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Palm Beach 0, Fort Myers 1
Box Score.
This game was almost a carbon copy of Wichita’s game down in San Antonio, right down to the total time of game at two hours and six minutes. But at least in this one, the good guys came out on top.

Both teams combined for just nine hits, went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base.

The Mighty Mussels got five dominant innings from left-hander Ross Dunn, who allowed just two hits, walked one, and struck out eight. 58 of his 77 pitches went for strikes (75%), including 15 swinging. Samuel Perez (2 IP, H, K) and Julio Bonilla (2 IP, H, K) each added two scoreless frames out of the bullpen.

In the bottom of the fourth the Mighty Mussels did threaten after a two-out double from Jose Rodriguez, but he was thrown out at home on a single from Poncho Ruiz to keep the game tied.

With the score still 0-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Brandon Winokur did whatever he could to give his team, and Ruiz, another chance. He led off the frame with a single, stole his fourth base of the season to put himself in scoring position, and Ruiz came through with another single to walk it off for Fort Myers.

Ruiz finished 2-for-3 with a walk and the game winning RBI. Maddux Houghton added a double to the effort.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Ross Dunn, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (5 IP, 2 H, BB, 8 K)
Hitter of the Day – The St. Paul Saints (13-for-34, 15 R, 3 2B, 2 3B, HR, 15 RBI, 10 BB, 8 K, 2 SB)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) – 2-for-4, 2B, K
#4 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, R, 2B (5), BB
#6 – David Festa (St. Paul) – 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 5 K
#7 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – Scored the winning run (pinch ran in the 9th)
#10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, R, 2 K
#11 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, K
#12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, BB, 3 K
#13 – Kala’I Rosario (Wichita) – 1-for-4, 2 K
#15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 SB (4)
#16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, K
#19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-4, 2 K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Rochester @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Joe Gunkel (0-2, 6.39 ERA)
Wichita @ San Antonio (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Travis Adams (1-1, 7.71 ERA)
Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP John Klein (0-0, 3.75 ERA)
Palm Beach @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Jeremy Lee (1-1, 2.63 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!