Twins Minor League Report (4/3): Dueling One-Hitters

TRANSACTIONS
No transactions. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul, Worcester
Box Score
For the second straight day, the Saints were unable to play due to weather conditions being non-good. Friday’s game has officially been canceled for two reasons. First, the Saints and WooSox aren’t on each other’s schedule again this year, and second, International League rules do not allow doubleheaders on back-to-back days. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, NW Arkansas 2
Box Score
Ty Langenberg made his Double-A debut on Friday night in Wichita. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on five hits over four innings. He had three strikeouts and no walks. 

Ricky Castro struck out two batters over two perfect innings. Sam Ryan had two walks in a scoreless inning. Ruddy Gomez walked two over two scoreless innings. 

Down 2-0 after three innings, the Wind Surge got on the board in the fourth inning. Kyle DeBarge singled and later scored on a Billy Amick single. 

DeBarge received his 2025 Minor League Gold Glove Award before the game. 

The Wind Surge had five hits and seven walks. Jose Salas went 1-for-1 with two walks. He also stole two bases. Amick, Hendry Mendez, and Ben Ross each had a single and a walk. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 8
Box Score
The Kernels played their season opener on Friday night. When the Kernels came to bat in the bottom of the second inning, they were down 2-0. When they came to the plate to start the bottom of the fourth inning, they were down 8-0. But Cedar Rapids did win the final five-and-a-half innings 2-0! 

Dasan Hill made the start for the Kernels. He worked a 1-2-3 first inning but gave up two runs in the top of the second. He struck out two in a scoreless third frame. The fourth inning began with a walk and two stolen bases. After a groundout, Hill gave up a single and reached his pitch count. Eston Stull came in and gave up a single but got a pop up, just one out from getting out of the inning with the score 3-0. Unfortunately, it was followed by a three-run homer. 6-0. And then there was a walk, and then another home run, and the score was 8-0. Hill was charged with four runs on five hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. Stull was charged with four runs on three hits in 2/3 of any inning. 

We’ll see how things match up at the end, but it’s hard to believe that tonight’s Pitcher of the Day might have been a Kernels pitcher. Eli Jones came on and tossed five shutout innings. He gave up one hit and walked one batter. He had four strikeouts. Jones was the Twins seventh round pick in 2024 out of South Carolina. He struggled last year to a 2-10 record with a 4.89 ERA in Fort Myers. 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Kernels scored their two runs. Eduardo Tait reached on an error to lead off the inning. Khadim Diaw doubled him to third base. Brandon Winokur walked to load the bases. After one out, Jacob McCombs was hit by a pitch to drive in the first run of the Kernels’ season. After a second out and a pitching change, Caden Kendle walked to drive in the second run. 

The Kernels managed just three hits and had five walks. Jacob McCombs was twice hit by a pitch. Kendle walked twice and stole a base. Khadim Diaw walked once to go along with his double. Jay Thomason also had a double and a stolen base. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Game 1: Ft. Myers 0, Clearwater 2
Box Score  
They had to wait an extra day to play their season opener. Unfortunately, the Mussels offense was not too busy in this game. 

Things started alright. Dameury Pena led off with a walk. But the next two batters struck out and Pena was thrown out attempting to steal second for the third out. 

With two outs in the third inning, Byron Chourio singled, but was forced out at second pitches later. 

So the Mussels left just one runner on base in the game. 

Joel Garcia was given the opening game nod. The right-hander gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits, a walk, and two hit batters. He had four strikeouts. 

2025 draft pick Kolten Smith, a right-hander who pitched at Georgia, threw three perfect innings in his professional debut. He had three strikeouts.  

Game 2: Ft. Myers 2, Clearwater 0 
Box Score  
As we learned from Game 1, it can be hard to win a baseball game when your team has just one hit. But that’s just what the Mussels did in the second game of the doubleheader. That’s right. They were one-hit in game one and lost. They were one-hit in game two, and it was enough for the win. 

We’ll get to “The Hit” in a bit, but the Mussels tossed a shutout. Let’s talk pitching. James Ellwanger pitched for the Twins in the Breakout game during spring training, but Friday he made his first official professional start. He did well. He tossed the first three innings. He gave up two hits, walked one, and had four strikeouts. 

Fellow 2025 draft pick Reed Moring. He was the Twins 15th round pick out of UC-Santa Barbara. He threw the final four innings and gave up just one hit. He had no walks and struck out seven batters. 

With one out in the bottom of the first, right fielder Jayson Bass walked and stole second base. Quentin Young came up and drilled a triple to drive in the first run. Ryan Sprock followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. And that was it for the scoring in Game 2. 

Harry Genth walked twice in the game. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, 2B(1), R, RBI, K. 

Pitcher of the Day 
Eli Jones (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K, 54 pitches, 39 strikes (72.2%)

PROSPECT SUMMARY

Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today.

#1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - DNP
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - DNP
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - DNP
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, R, K
#5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St.Paul) - Didn’t pitch again
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - 3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 61 pitches, 38 strikes (62.3%)
#7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - DNP
#8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Injured List (hamstring)
#9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, K
#10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - DNP
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - DNP
#13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, 2K. 
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Game 1: 0-for-3, 2K, Game 2: 1-for-3, 3B(1), R, RBI, 2K.
#15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - DNP
#16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, 2K
#17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-for-4, R, BB, 2K (led off, played 2B),
#18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB,  4K,
#19 - C Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2B(1), R, BB, K
#20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 57 pitches, 31 strikes (54.4%) 

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday:
Worcester @ St. Paul (2:07 pm CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews
NW Arkansas @ Wichita (4:05 pm CT) -
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez
Clearwater @ Ft. Myers (DH @ 5:05 CT) -  

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 3-4
St. Paul Saints: 3-2
Wichita Wind Surge: 1-1
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 0-1
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 1-1

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!

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!