Twins Minor League Report (6/12): Kala'i Rosario Had Five Hits, and Five Wind Surge Pitchers Combine for Shutout

TRANSACTIONS   
A couple of priority 2025 non-drafted signings (meaning they were signed within a day of the conclusion of the draft) flip-flopped assignments on Friday. Ian Daugherty went from Cedar Rapids to St. Paul, and Luis Hernandez went from St. Paul to Cedar Rapids.   

Speaking of catchers, the Twins activated Carlos Silva from the Injured List and he was released. He received a seven-digit signing bonus from the Twins in 2021 but struggled in two seasons in the DSL and last year in the FCL

A couple of utilitymen switched places on Friday too. Quinn McDaniel has been impressive since he was signed from the independent leagues about a month ago. After about a week in Fort Myers, he moved up to Cedar Rapids. After just a couple of weeks in Iowa, he’s heading to Kansas to join the Wind Surge. Miguel Briceno returns to the Kernels. 

RHP MItch Mueller was promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 10, Toledo 9 
Box Score
After the teams battled to a 1-0 final score on Thursday, they combined for 19 runs on 30 hits in this game. The Saints scored two in the first, second and fourth innings, and had scored three runs in the fifth. Toledo scored two in the third and three in the fifth, and had five, one-run innings. But the Saints managed to find a way to win. 

Matt Wallner went 2-for-4. He was hit by a pitch and added his seventh Saints home run. 

Henry Kusiak went 2-for-3 with his first Triple-A hit and his first Triple=A double. He also had a sacrifice fly.. Kaelen Culpepper went 3-for-4 with a walk, his 11th double, and his first triple. He stole his 15th base. Ben Ross hit his 11th double and had a walk. Aaron Sabato singled and walked. Tanner Schobel hit his 10th double while Gabriel Gonzalez hit his ninth double. Noah Cardenas walked twice. 

Ty Langenberg started. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on seven hits and two walks in three innings. Grant Hartwig gave up two hits but struck out two batters in a scoreless inning. John Klein gave up three runs on two hits and two walks in 2/3 of an inning. Jake Higginbotham gave up one run on two hits (1 homer) in 1 1/3 innings. Alejandro Hidalgo gave up a hit and issued a walk in a scoreless inning. Kody Funderburk gave up a run on three hits in his inning. He struck out two batters. Trent Baker got the save. He gave up two hits in a scoreless ninth inning. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 14, Tulsa 0
Box Score
This game was over pretty quickly. The Surge scored three runs in the first inning and four more in the second. After a mini-break, they scored five fifth inning runs and two more in the sixth inning. They were also helped by four Drillers errors. And frankly, it could have been much more lopsided. The Surge went 8-for-28 with runners in scoring position and left 15 runners on base. 

However, five pitchers combined on a five-hit, three-walk shutout, so let’s start there. Cory Lewis started and struck out seven batters in four innings. He gave up two hits and a walk. Nick Mikolajchak pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Jaylen Nowlin struck out two batters in the sixth. Darren Bowen had four strikeouts over two relief innings. Sam Ryan got the final three outs, two of them on strikeouts. 

It’s been a slow start for Kala’i Rosario this year. He’s spent time on the Injured List, but he appears to be heating up here in mid-June. On Friday night, he went 5-for-6 with his fourth double, ninth home run, three runs scored and four RBI. He also stole his eighth base. 

Caleb Roberts went 3-for-5 with two stolen bases and four runs scored. Cody Morissette went 2-for-5 with two walks and four runs scored. He hit his first double.  Billy Amick went 2-for-5 with his seventh doubles, his 15th home run, and four RBI. Poncho Ruiz and Maddux Houghton each had a single and walked twice. 

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 4, Lansing 8
Box Score
The Kernels fell behind early, and the Lugnuts just kept adding on. They scored in the first three innings, four of the first five innings, and five of the first seven innings. The Kernels scored three of their runs in the final two innings, but it wasn’t nearly enough. 

Cesar Lares was back on the mound on Friday night. The things that he did so well in his first Kernels start last weekend, he was unable to do in this game. After no walks in his first start, the lefty walked five batters in this one. Combined with just two hits, he gave up four runs over the first three innings. He had three strikeouts. Illustrating that key point, just 31 of Lares’s 67 pitches were strikes (46.3%).

The Kernels had just six hits and three walks in the game. Marek Houston went 2-for-4 with a walk. He is now hitting .311. Brandon Winkour had the lone extra base hit, a fourth-inning solo home run that put the team on the scoreboard.  

Cole Peschl came to the mound for the next three innings. He gave up two unearned runs on two hits and a walk. Nolan Santos was charged with two runs on two hits and a walk in the seventh inning. Nick Trabacchi gave up two hits and walked a batter, but no runs crossed the plate in his inning. Jacob McCombs had a single and a walk. Harry Genth went 0-for-2 but walked and, of course, he was hit by a pitch. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Game 1: Ft. Myers 5, Dunedin 10
Box Score  
The Mussels opponent this week is the Dunedin Blue Jays, Low-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out Jays Centre for much more on the Blue Jays organization. Four players who were key in this game are among the Jays Centre Top 20 Prospects. If you’re interested in checking out our other DiamondCentric team sites, click here. And if you’re interested in writing at one or more of them, let us know. 

This game resumed in the fifth inning on Thursday because of weather. As a reminder, Justin Mitrovich has been fantastic and was again on Thursday night. In 4 1/3 scoreless innings, he gave up four hits, walked one and had four strikeouts. He also hit a batter. His ERA has dropped to 0.72. When the game was delayed, he left a runner on first base. The run scored on Friday, so Mitrovich was charged with one run.  

The Mussels lone run on Thursday came on a sacrifice fly by Graham Brown. 

When the game resumed, Jonathan Stevens came in. He gave up two hits over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He had two strikeouts. Michael McKenna came on and got the final out of the seventh inning. Extra innings began in the eighth inning with a 1-1 game. McKenna allowed the Manfred Man to score in the top of the innings. In the bottom of the eighth 

Irvin Nunez began the eighth as the Mussels’ Manfred Man. Dameury Pena moved him to third base with a ground out to second base. Enrique Jimenez walked. Byron Chourio pinch-ran for him and stole second base. Ramiro Dominguez followed with a long home run to give his team the 4-2 walk off win. 

Dominguez went 2-for-4 with his first double and sixth home run. He had two of the team’s three hits, and three of their four RBI. Jimenez was 1-for-2 with two walks. 

Game 2: Ft. Myers 4, Dunedin 3
Box Score  
The regularly scheduled game became a seven-inning game as well. Luis Fragoza got the offense started in the second innings with his fifth home run. 

Kolten Smith started and gave up three runs in the top of the third. He gave up three runs on three hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings overall. He managed five strikeouts as well. Jake Murray got the final out of the fourth inning and pitched a scoreless fifth. Dylan Questad struck out two batters in a scoreless inning. Michael Hiliker gave up two hits and a walk in the bottom of the seventh but kept the Blue Jays off the board to earn the save. 

With Ryan Sprock on first base in the bottom of the third, Alan Roden hit his first home run with the Mussels to tie the game at 3-3. 

In the bottom of the fifth innings, Murphy Hernandez led off with a single. With one out, Roden walked. Hernandez stole third base and scored on an Enrique Jimenez sacrifice fly.

The Mussels had just six hits and two walks. Roden had a walk to go with his home run. Jimenez walked to go with his sacrifice fly.    

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 7, FCL Red Sox 6
Box Score   
Down 6-0 after four innings, the Twins scored one in the sixth and then six in the seventh inning to take the surprising win. They had just three hits in the game. They were helped by 12 walks. 

Danny Almanzar had the lone extra base hit, his fourth double. He walked twice. Yilber Herrera had a single and two walks. Victor Leal was 0-for-1 with three walks. Yovanny Duran walked twice.

Santiago Castellanos started but recorded just two outs. He gave up a run, no hits, but he walked four batters. Santiago Rojas worked the next three innings and gave up five runs on four hits and six walks. He struck out four. Carter Holjes worked the final 3 1/3 innings. He gave up no runs, one hit and one walk. He struck out two batters.   

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 5-for-6, 2B(4), HR(9), 3 R, 4 RBI

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Cory Lewis (Wichita): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 60 pitches, 38 strikes (63.3%)

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

#2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, BB, 2B(11), 3B(1), 2 R, 3 RBI, K, SB(15) (batted first, played SS)
#5 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5 (batted second, played catcher).
#7 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, RBI, 2 K (batted first, played SS)
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2B(9) (batted fourth, played DH) 
#12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 9 pitches, 6 strikes (66.7%)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Game 1: 0-for-3, 3 K (batted sixth, played SS), Game 2: 0-for-3, 2 K (batted sixth, played SS)
#15 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HR(8), R, RBI, 2 K (batted third, played CF
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, HBP, 2 K, 2 SB(19), batted sixth, played SS) 

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday, June 13
St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 pm CT) - LHP Aaron Rozek (0-0, 2.77 ERA)
Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 pm CT) - RHP Preston Johnson (0-1, 5.59 ERA),
Cedar Rapids @ Lansing (6:05 pm CT) - LHP Garrett Horn (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (5:05 pm CT) - RHP Ramiro Villanueva (0-1, 3.09 ERA)
FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 am CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez (Rehab)
DSL Twins @ DSL Tigers (8:00 am CT) - RHP Adrian Martinez 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 31-39 (3rd place (of 5) in AL Central, 6.5 GB))
St. Paul Saints: 37-29 (3rd place (of 10) in IL West Division, 4.5 GB))
Wichita Wind Surge: 23-36 (5th place (of 5) in TL North Division, 16.0 GB))
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 28-32 (4th place (of 6) in MWL West Division, 9.5 GB))
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 35-26 (2nd place (of 6) in FSL West Division, 3.0 GB))
FCL Twins: 16-13 (2nd place (of 6) in FCL South Division, 3.0 GB))
DSL Twins: 3-5 (4th place (of 7) in DSL East Division, 3.0 GB)) 

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!