Twins Minor League Report (5/23): Royce Lewis, Billy Amick, and Jhomnardo Reyes Provide the Power

TRANSACTIONS   
RHP Hendry Chivilli was promoted to Fort Myers from the FCL Twins. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 6, Omaha 7 
Box Score
Most important, it was great to see Kaelen Culpepper back in the Saints lineup on Saturday after this scare on Saturday night. (Reminder: in the first inning, he stole second. On the head-first slide, his helmet came off his head, hit second base, bounced up and hit the sliding Culpepper under the jaw causing a cut. They were unable to stop the bleeding, so he came out of the game.)

Also nice to see, Culpepper led off the bottom of the first by hitting his 10th home run of the season, a blast at 103.3 mph to center. 

Mike Paredes made the Saints start. He gave up two runs (both in the top of the second) on four hits and a walk. Andrew Bash had a walk and a strikeout over his scoreless fifth inning. A rehabbing Cody Laweryson gave up two runs on two hits (including a homer) over two innings. 

The Saints were down 4-1 going to the bottom of the sixth innings. Royce Lewis led off with a home run.

Hendry Mendez and Kyler Fedko followed with walks. Matt Wallner also walked which gave the Saints bases loaded and no one out. The next two batters were called out on strikes. Fortunately, Ricardo Olivar picked up his teammates with a big, game-tying, two-run single to right field. 

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Lewis stepped to the plate and launched his second home run of the day for the Saints. Five of his six Saints hits this season have gone over the fence.  

With the 5-4 lead, Brian Dinkelman turned things over to Alejandro Hidalgo. He made his Saints debut and gave up three runs on three hits and two walks over the final two innings. He struck out three batters. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lewis and Hendry Mendez walked to start the inning. On a strikeout, both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. Lewis scored on a Matt Wallner ground out to make it 7-6, and that’s how the game ended.

Lewis went 2-for-4 with a walk and two home runs. Olivar also had two hits in the game and two big RBI. He also stole a base. 

Check out one of our sister sites, Royals Keep, for more on the Kansas City Royals organization. Here are their Top 20 Royals prospects. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, Tulsa 3 
Box Score
At the 7th-Inning Stretch, the hometown team from Wichita was tailing 3-1. In their half of the seventh, they surged into the lead with a three-run inning to take a 4-3 lead.  

Billy Amick led off with a homer, his second of the game and 13th of the season.

Murphy Stehly singled with one out and later stole second. With two outs, Harry Genth tied the game 3-3 with a double. He scored one batter later when Jose Salas lined a single to right to give that 4-3 lead. 

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth frame, Billy Amick walked. Poncho Ruiz gave the team an insurance run with a double to center to make it 5-3. 

Sam Armstrong started the game on the bump. He was charged with two runs on just one hit. He walked three and had four strikeouts over the first four innings. Jake Higginbotham tossed two scoreless relief innings and had four strikeouts. Ricky Castro struck out three batters over 1 2/3 innings. He gave up one run on four hits and a walk. Sam Ryan got the final four outs to earn his second save of the season. He gave up two hits and a walk but not runs. Two of the outs came via the strikeout. 

Billy Amick went 2-for-3 with a walk, his 12th and 13th homers. The first one gave the Surge a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. 

Ruiz has seen an uptick in playing time since Ricardo Olivar moved up to St. Paul. He went 2-for-4 with a key RBI.    

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 7                                                                                                                                                                                Box Score
It was another tough start for right-hander Ivran Romero. In three innings, he gave up five runs on six hits. He walked two and had two strikeouts. 

Christian Becerra tossed the next 2 2/3 innings and gave up three hits and a walk, but no runs. He left with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, but Cole Peschl left them all stranded. He then gave up two runs on two hits (both homers) over the final two innings. He struck out four batters. 

The Kernels actually took the game’s first lead. In the top of the second, Khadim Diaw hit his second homer of the season to give them a 1-0 lead.   

Jump to the top of the seventh. The Kernels are down 5-1. With one out, Quinn McDaniel tripled and then scored on a Rayne Doncon single to left to make it 5-2. 

Diaw went 3-for-4 with the homer. McDaniel went 2-for-4 with the triple. The latter went 14-for-26 (.538) with a double, two triples, and two home runs in six games at Fort Myers. He is now 6-for-11 (.545) with a triple over his three games with the Kernels. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 4, Dunedin 6
Box Score  
The Mussels were down 4-0 through six innings. Thy scored four runs the rest of the way, but it wasn’t enough.

Justin Mitrovich started and gave up one run on three hits and a walk over 2 2/3 innings. Chivilli made his Mussels debut. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on seven hits over 2 2/3 innings. He struck out two and issued no walks. Jake Murray came in and over the next 2 1/3 innings, he gave up two runs on one hit. He walked three and had four strikeouts. He left with the bases loaded. Xavier Kolhosser allowed two runs to score on one hit before a strikeout ended that eighth inning. 

Down 4-0, Ryan Sprock led off the top of the seventh inning with a single. He scored on Jayson Bass’s fifth home run of the season. 

Down 6-2 heading for the ninth inning, Jayson Bass led off with a walk. Quentin Young reached on a fielding error. With one out, Byron Chourio doubled to drive in Bass with the team’s third run. Young scored on a Bryan Acuna groundout. 

The Dunedin Blue Jays are the Low-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site at Jays Centre. Here are their rankings of the Top 20 Blue Jays prospects.

COMPLEX CHRONICLE
FCL Twins 19, FCL Red Sox 2
Box Score  
This game was over shortly after it even got started. They scored four runs in the first inning, two more runs in the second inning, and ten (10!) runs in the third inning to take a 16-0 lead. And then over the final four innings, the Twins scored three runs, one more than the Red Sox. The Twins scored their 19 runs on 13 hits, 14 walks and two hit batters. The team went 7-for-21 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. 

So, let’s start with pitching. 19-year-old Santiago Rojas tossed three scoreless innings to start the game. He gave up no hits, walked two and had four strikeouts. Josh Walker, a lefty signed two weeks ago, gave up one hit, hit a batter, and walked two batters. However, he gave up no runs. All four outs he recorded were on strikeouts. Yoel Roque came in with two runners on base and one out in the fifth inning and kept both from scoring. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning and then gave up two runs in the seventh frame. 

Jhomnardo Reyes led the offense by going 4-for-6 with two doubles, a triple, four runs and five RBI. Yovanny Duran led off and went 2-for-5 with a walk and three runs scored. Miguel Caraballo went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. He also stole three bases. Teillon Serrano went 1-for-2 with three walks. He was hit by a pitch and scored twice. Daniel Pena went 1-for-1, with three walks and a stolen base. Yilber Herrera walked four times. Jose Barrios added a double. 

Anatomy of a 10-run inning:
(Leading 6-0.)
Almanzar hit by pitch.
Herrera walk.
Barrios RBI double.
Duran RBI single.
Caraballo reach on Catcher’s Interference.
Reyes 3-RBI triple.
Serrano hit by pitch.
D Pena walk.
Wild Pitch)
Paez walk.
Almanzar RBI walk.
(Pitching Change)
Herrera RBI walk.
Two runs scored on a fielding error.
Strikeout.
Fly out.
(Leading 16-0.)                                                                                                               

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Jhomnardo Reyes (FCL Twins): 4-for-6, 2-2B(3), 3B(2), 4 R, 5 RBI, 2 K
Royce Lewis (St. Paul): 2-for-4, BB, 2 HR(5), 2 RBI, 3 R, K.
Billy Amick (Wichita): 2-for-3, BB, 2 HR(13), 3 R, 2 RBI, K. 

Pitcher of the Day 
Santiago Rojas (FCL Twins): 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 51 pitches, 31 strikes (60.8%)
Jake Higginbotham (Wichita): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 27 pitches, 19 strikeouts (70.4%)

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) - 7 Day Injured List (left shoulder)
#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, HR(10), R, RBI  (batted first, played SS)
#3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 7 Day Injured List (thumb) - Had surgery.
#4 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - 4 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 85 pitches, 49 strikes (57.6%).
#5 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB,  K (batted third, catcher). 
#6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch.
#7 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, K, SB(10) (batted first, played SS)
#8 - RHP Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch.
#9 - LHP Kendry Rojas (Minnesota) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 45 pitches, 27 strikes (60.0%)
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (Minnesota) - Did Not Play.  
#11 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 32 pitches, 15 strikes (46.9%)                                      
#13 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 3 BB, R,  (batted third, DH)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-4, R, E (batted fifth, played SS) 
#15 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, K (batted second, played CF)
#16 - RHP Ryan Gallagher (St. Paul) - Did No Pitch.
#17 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch.
#18 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 Day Injured List (right elbow sprain)
#19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-4, HR(2), R, RBI, K  (batted fifth, played DH)
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (batted first, played 2B)..

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday, May 24:
Omaha @ St. Paul (5:07 pm CT) - RHP Ty Langenburg (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Tulsa @ Wichita (4:05 pm CT) - TBD
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Riley Quick (0-1, 2.79 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Dunedin (11:00 am CT) - TBD

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 25-27
St. Paul Saints: 25-24
Wichita Wind Surge: 20-23
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 23-21
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 24-20
FCL Twins: 9-7
DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 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!