Twins Minor League Report (5/20): Pitching - FAIL.

A couple of feel-good notes from earlier today:

Minnesota native and former St. Paul Saint, LRP Caleb Thielbar was recalled and will take the roster spot of LP Pedro Hernandez. He was impressive in his big-league debut as well. (The TwinsDaily Roster & Payroll page has been updated to reflect this move as well as all the others that have occurred.)

Chris Colabello was named IL Player of the Week for last week when he batted .586 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. Rob Antony said over the weekend that he is under consideration to be called up to help the Twins. He also played some corner outfield over the weekend. (You hearing this, Parms?)[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

The Twins also signed minor-league free agent OF Jordan Parraz and sent him to New Britain. It also appears that OF Chris Pettit is on his way to New Britain. Pettit is currently playing in Mexico and is being loaned to the Twins.

Let’s check the results of today’s farm action:

Rochester Red Wings 5, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 14

Box Score

It was a pretty brutal night for the Red Wings pitchers and that might be putting it lightly.

Cole De Vries made his second start for Rochester, but only his first since officially being added to the roster. When De Vries was activated and optioned over the weekend the reason was that he “wasn’t ready” to help the Twins. Well, you can say that again. In three innings (and 61 pitches) of work, De Vries allowed nine runs (eight earned) on six hits and three walks. He only struck out one.

He was replaced by Shairon Martis, who didn’t fare much better. Martis allowed five runs on five hits in only two innings.

Aaron Thompson made his first appearance in AAA this season. He retired the side 1-2-3 in his first inning and finished two innings with one hit allowed and three strikeouts.

Tyler Robertson gave a hit in his lone inning of work.

The bats – who weren’t going to keep them in the game anyway – didn’t do much better.

The only excitement, really, came with one swing of Chris Colabello’s bat, producing a fifth inning grand slam. The opposite-field poke was Colabello’s 12^th of the season. It’s to the point where it would be an upset for Colabello to not make his big-league debut in the near future.

Joe Benson collected two singles and improved his batting average to .190.

New Britain Rock Cats 3, Binghamton Mets 6

Box Score

Pat Dean, coming off of one his worst starts as a professional, appeared headed to the showers early again tonight after giving up four runs in his first inning and a third. He calmed down, though, and was able to complete five innings allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out one and threw only 76 pitches; he clearly was not throwing his best stuff.

The bullpen combination of A.J. Achter, Edgar Ibarra and Michael Tonkin pitched four innings of scoreless baseball. That included Tonkin striking out the side in the 9^th.

Offensively, Deibinson Romero was the star. Romero homered, doubled and finished 3-for-4. He’s now batting .370. Josmil Pinto (.325) added his 10^th double. Danny Santana (.280) and James Beresford (.340) both had two hits.

(photo courtesy of Jim Crikket/SD Buhr of Knuckleballs and TwinsDaily.com.)

Ft. Myers Miracle vs Lakeland Flying Tigers

Tonight’s game was postponed due to “unplayable field conditions” and will be made up tomorrow as part of a doubleheader. The Miracle (31-11) will begin the two-game set at 10:35 am ET. Both games will be of the seven-inning variety.

Kyle Davies (0-1, 5.40) was tonight’s scheduled starter.

Cedar Rapids Kernels 8, Kane County Cougars 7

Box Score

For the second consecutive day, the Kernels defeated the Cougars by the score of 8-7, improving to 30-13.

The Cougars jumped on Brett Lee early and pushed six runs across the plate by the time Lee had completed the fourth. He made it through five, but not before allowing those six runs on eight hits and four walks. He also hit a batter and balked. He struck out five.

Tim Atherton earned the win by pitching two innings of no-run, one-hit ball. He struck out one.

Steven Gruver, who has done a lot of everything this year, recorded his third save. He allowed a run on two hits, striking out two. Even after struggling through a spot-start late last week, Gruver has been a very valuable asset in the Kernel bullpen and a mid-season move to Fort Myers isn’t only possible, but expected.

Travis Harrison was the offensive catalyst today, going 3-for-4 with a HR and two runs scored. Niko Goodrum, playing first base and hitting in the 3-hole, had a triple and four RBI. Candido Pimentel and Tyler Grimes both had two hits.

Byron Buxton went 1-for-5 and had his batting average drop to (a season-low as far as I can tell) .317. But he also hit his 7^th home run and stole his 19^th base. He struck out twice. After his scorching start, he’s obviously cooled off a little. But if you extrapolate his current stats over a 162-game season, Buxton would put up a line something like this:

.317/.420/.559, 39 2B, 15 3B, 27 HR, 131 RBI, 112 BB and 73 SB.

And, that my friends, “ain’t bad”. (I did the math and that’s actually the exact same stat-line that the entire Twins team is on pace to put up this year. OK, I’m joking. Cool it.)

Please feel free to comment or ask questions below.

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