Twins Minor League Report (5/2): Diamond's Redemption?

After a rough, Mother Nature influenced series, in which the Twins were forced to use every one of their pitchers in a double-header vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, they received a valiant effort from their prized off-season acquisition, Ricky Nolasco, on Friday night to stave off a catastrophic pitching predicament moving into the weekend.

Although Nolasco was able to save the bullpen with a complete game, three earned run effort, it wasn’t enough to save himself from taking a loss, as the Twins weren’t able to muster any offense against the Baltimore Orioles’ Ubaldo Jimenez, tallying only four hits in a disappointing effort for the first (semi) decent weather game I’ve been able to attend in section 107 at Target Field this year.

Minnesota’s minor league affiliates were able to fare somewhat better however, going 2-2 on the night, including a familiar extra innings marathon.

TRANSACTIONS

The Twins recalled SP Logan Darnell from Rochester before the weekend games kicked off. He is due to make his MLB debut in relief of an overused bullpen. Also, they optioned SP Kris Johnson back to Rochester after his double-header spot start on Thursday.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 6, Louisville 1

Box score

Scott Diamond took the hill for the Red Wings, and after an extremely disappointing start to his season, put together the type of outing Twins fans might remember from his staff-ace stretch of 2012. Diamond lasted 6.2 innings, scattering 6 hits and 2 walks, with only 1 earned run and 6 K’s. He was replaced by A.J. Achter, who finished the final 2.1 innings without surrendering a baserunner and closed out the victory for Rochester.

The offense was led by the recently on-fire Chris Parmelee, who had a first inning sac fly to score Doug Bernier, and a fifth inning solo blast, his 5^th HR of the season, to make the score 4-1 in Rochester’s favor. DH Brad Nelson and 3B Deibinson Romero added RBI doubles to contribute to the offense.

ROCK CATS REVIEW

New Britain 4, New Hampshire 2

Box score

The pitcher the Twins received from the Atlanta Braves organization in exchange for Ryan Doumit last season put together arguably his best start for his new organization. Sean Gilmartin tossed six innings of one run ball, allowing only three hits and racked up eight K’s to secure the win, although he did surrender four walks. Relievers Daniel Turpen (hold), Lester Oliveros (hold), and Adrian Salcedo (save) all pitched a single inning and helped ensure the victory for the Rock Cats. The trio of relievers added six K’s to the team’s total, three BB’s and only one ER and each allowed one hit. Notable was the rough start for Turpen, who started off the 7^th inning with a single and stolen base to advance the runner to 2^nd and subsequent wild-pitch that put him on 3^rd. But he then proceeded to strike out the next three batters looking to end the threat.

On the offensive side, DH Kennys Vargas slugged his 5^th HR on the season in the sixth inning, plating Kenny Wilson for a 4-1 Rock Cats lead. 2B Tony Thomas and SS (and Twins Daily contributor) A.J. Petterson added doubles to the offense, while Nate Hanson (another Minnesotan) added his second HR of the year in the victory.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Fort Myers 2, Palm Beach 3 (14 innings)

Box score

The Miracle attempted to emulate the Twins from Thursday night in a game lasting nearly four hours and into the 14^th inning. Unfortunately, the result was the same, a tally in the loss column.

David Hurlburt started for the Miracle and put together a quality start effort. He pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and two ER’s with no walks and two K’s. He was replaced by lefty Steven Gruver who pitched into the 9^th, then Tim Shibuya who tossed a much needed 4.1 innings in the extra effort. Tyler Jones earned the loss after giving up a single and HBP to start the 14^th, a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, then a sac fly to plate the walk-off run.

Fort Myers received multi-hit efforts from leadoff man (and keep-your-eye-on-prospect) 2B Levi Michael (two doubles) and OF Adam Brett Walker II (double) in the extended game, but only four other hitters collected a hit on the evening. Although as a team they walked nine times, they stranded all but one of them.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 12

Box score

The pitching staff for the Kernels had a rough night and were unable to limit an early, relentless attack from the Chiefs. Prospect Felix Jorge made the start, but was able to last only three innings. He allowed one BB, but eight hits including one HR, three triples and a double; these resulted in a 5-0 lead for Peoria. He was replaced by Christian Powell who fared even worse, surrendering seven runs (six earned) in 0.2 innings. He was relieved by Todd Van Steesel who allowed every inherited runner to score in the 4^th inning before recovering to strike out four through his 2.1 innings. Brandon Bixler then provided the mop-up duty in the last three innings, allowing one walk, with three K’s.

The offense was stymied to the tune of 14 K’s from the Peoria pitchers, though they were able to collect ten hits. They were led by 2B Logan Wade who went 3-5 with two doubles and an RBI, CF Jason Kanzler who went 2-5 with a run scored and 3B Bryan Haar who went 2-4.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Scott Diamond, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Logan Wade, Cedar Rapids Kernels

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Louisville @ Rochester (12:05 PM CST) – Yohan Pino (Listen)

New Hampshire @ New Britain (5:35 PM CST) – Pat Dean (Listen)

Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (5:35 CST) – Alex Wimmers (Listen)

Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Aaron Slegers (Listen)

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