Twins Minor League Report (6/26): Mussels Show Off Muscles in Fort Myers; Hendry Mendez Returns, Continues Streak

TRANSACTIONS   
The Saints activated OF Hendry Mendez from the 7-Day Injured List. 

ICYMI: RHP Justin Lawrence was claimed by the Washington Nationals. Meanwhile, RHP Austin Voth went unclaimed and outrighted to St. Paul. However, he has elected free agency. 

The Twins signed RHP Arthur De La Cruz, an 18-year-old, on Thursday. He was added to the DSL Twins roster on Friday. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Louisville 1   
Box Score
A couple of #OldFriends bookended the Saints game in Louisville. A rehabbing Emilio Pagan started and worked a 1-2-3 first inning. Lefty veteran Anthony Misiewicz threw a perfect seventh inning. In between, the Twins faced right-hander Jose Franco. 

The Saints lineup is starting to come back to what was envisioned earlier in the season. Walker Jenkins and Alan Roden are back from long IL stints. On Saturday, Hendry Mendez came back after missing the minimum seven days on the injured list. He hadn’t played in a week, so he batted sixth in the Saints lineup. In the second inning, he came up with runners on first and second and nobody out. He lined a 97 mph ball off the pitcher. It deflected and Mendez reached on an infield single. With that single, he has now reached base in all 29 games he has played for the Saints.   

Ben Ross walked a run in with the bases loaded. A couple of batters later, David Banuelos hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the second run. 

John Klein started and gave up one run on three hits over four innings. He walked two and had three strikeouts. Jake Higginbotham came on and struck out two batters over two quiet innings. 

The Saints added a little insurance in the sixth inning. Arcia doubled, and Mendez followed with a line drive single to drive in the third run of the game. 

Grant Hartwig pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record the save. 

The teams were planning on playing two games on Friday. That’s why this was a seven-inning game. However, the rains soon came and washed-out Game 2. They will try to play two games again on Saturday. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 4, Midland 6
Box Score
After being shut out on Thursday, the Wind Surge went five innings on Friday without scoring. However, they fell short on the scoreboard again.

Cory Lewis started and gave up two runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and had five strikeouts. Darren Bowen struck out two batters over the next 1 2/3 innings. Spencer Bengard gave up three runs on four hits over two innings. He struck out one batter. Hunter Gregory gave up one run in the eighth inning. 

Maddux Houghton led the offense. He went 3-for-4 with his 10th and 11th doubles and an RBI. He also stole his 15th base. Garrett Spain went 2-for-3 with a walk. Andrew Cossetti went 2-for-5. He stole his second base. Jay Thomason

KERNELS CHRONICLE 
Cedar Rapids 1, Wisconsin 10
Box Score
After losing 9-1 on Thursday night in Wisconsin, it was a 10-1 loss on Friday night. 

The Kernels actually took the first lead of the game. In the top of the second inning, Caden Kendle hit his fourth home run of the season. 

Ivran Romero started and gave up three runs (1 earned) on five hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out four. Cole Peschl came on and gave up one run on one hit and one walk over two innings. Nick Trabacchi came in and gave up six runs on six hits (including two home runs) in 1 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Brian Zeldin got the final two outs. 

The Kernels had four hits in the game. Kendle homered. Jacob McCombs and Henry Kusiak each doubled. 

MIGHTY MATTERS
Ft. Myers 6, St. Lucie 2
Box Score   
The Mighty Mussels showed some early muscles that were mighty enough to club four, early home runs, take an early lead and hang on. 

Ryan Sprock’s hitting streak came to an end at 18 games on Saturday night, but he did continue his on-base streak. He led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk. He went to second on a wild pitch. With one out, he scored on a JP Smith single to center.

The streak was the third longest in Fort Myers franchise history. In 2021, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit in 20 straight games. Mike Gonzalez had a 19-game streak in 2014. Sprock said after Friday’s game, “This is the best stretch I have had.” He added later, “Baseball is a rollercoaster, and you have to try and stay levelheaded.” 

The second inning began with a walk by Irvin Nunez. Byron Chourio followed by crushing his fourth home run into the Southwest Florida twilight to give the Mussels a 3-0 lead. 

JP Smith led off the top of the third inning with a solo home run. As he was still celebrating and giving high-fives in the Mussel dugout, Jayson Bass followed with another home run to make it 5-0 Fort Myers. 

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Mussels added one more run when speedster Merphy Hernandez clubbed his second homer since joining the Mussels. 

Jason Reitz started for the Mussels and tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked three and had three strikeouts. Dylan Questad came on and stranded an inherited runner. He got three outs. He was charged with one run on no hits. He walked three and had two strikeouts. Matt DesMarets came on and allowed Questad’s inherited runner. He got four outs without additional runs scoring. He gave up two hits, walked one and had two strikeouts. 

Michael Hilker pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Brent Francisco gave up a run on two hits in the ninth. 

Merphy Hernandez went 2-for-3 with a walk and his second home run. He also stole his 21st and 22nd bases. JP Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk and his ninth homer. Harry Genth went 2-for-3 with a walk and his sixth double. Bass’s home run was his 10th of the season, and Chourio hit his fourth home run. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 2, FCL Red Sox 8
Box Score  
The Red Sox scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning, and four more in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Twins countered with a two-run top of the seventh, but when it’s a seven-inning game, it comes to an end quickly.  

The Twins signed Billy Oldham as a non-drafted minor league free agent out of Southern Mississippi right after the 2024 draft. Unfortunately, soon after reporting for spring training 2025, he was injured and missed the full season. He started this season on the 60-Day Injured List but is just beginning his path back. In his second rehab appearance, the 25-year-old worked one inning. He gave up one hit and struck out two batters. 

Jake Covey came in next. He gave up four runs (2 earned) on three hits in three innings. He had three walks and six strikeouts. Omar Montana came in for the seventh inning. He gave up four runs on two hits and three walks, though he did record two strikeouts. 

The Twins scored their two runs on three hits and five walks. Yovanny Duran was also hit by a pitch. Victor Leal had the only extra base hit, his third triple. Teilon Serrano walked twice. Both runs scored in the top of the seventh when Daiber De Los Santos reached on a fielding error. 

DSL Twins 4, DSL Marlins 10
Box Score  
Here is another good example of a game illustrating the value of offenses putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard. Both teams scored runs in four of their innings. However, the Twins scored one run four times. The Marlins had innings in which they scored one, two, three and four runs to take an easy win. 

Adrian Martinez started and gave up five runs (4 earned) over the game’s first three innings. He gave up six hits and walked two batters. Jeremy Jimenez gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits and a walk over the next 2 1/3 innings. Aldwin Morillo came in and got the final five outs. He was charged with two runs on two hits and two walks. 

The Twins scored their four runs on just four hits. They were helped with 10 walks. All nine batters at least contributed something to the Twins offense. I’ll just walk through the batting order. Jendy Martinez walked twice and scored a run. Daiyer Barbosa walked twice. Enmanuel Merlo walked twice and scored a run. Abel Sosa had the lone extra base hit, his first double, and an RBI. Juan Holmann had a single and two walks. He also stole a base. Luis Duarte walked twice. Jeferson Abreu had a single and scored a run. Luis Suarez had a single. Misael Rodriguez had one of the team’s two RBI. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
Merphy Fernandez (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, BB, HR(2), R, RBI, 2-SB(22)

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Jason Reitz (Fort Myers): 4 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 69 pitches, 40 strikes (58.0%)

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) - 1-for-4, K (batted second, played CF) 
#4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K (batted second, played DH).
#5 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, 2 R, K, SB(2)l (batted second, played SS)
#9 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 2-for-3, RBI (batted sixth, played LF)
#10 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4 (batted third, played 1B)
#12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K (batted first, played 3B)
#14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, 2 K. (batted fifth, played DH)
#18 - OF Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3 (batted fifth, played LF)
#20 - 2B/SS/CF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 3 K (batted first, played 2B)  

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Saturday, June 27
St. Paul @ Louisville (DH at 2:05 pm CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (2-2, 5.79 ERA), RHP Ryan Gallagher (2-2, 7.97 ERA)
Wichita @ Midland (7:00 pm CT) - RHP Preston Johnson (0-3, 6.10 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (6:40 pm CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez (0-0, 11.25 ERA)  
St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Merit Jones (2-1, 4.55 ERA)
FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 am CT) - 
DSL Rangers @ DSL Twins (10:00 am CT) -  

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 39-44 (3rd place (of 5) in AL Central, 4.5 GB))
St. Paul Saints: 44-33 (2nd place (of 10) in IL West Division, 3.0 GB))
Wichita Wind Surge: 26-45 (5th place (of 5) in TL North Division, 21.0 GB))
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 31-39 (5th place (of 6) in MWL West Division, 12.5 GB))
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 42-30 (2nd place (of 6) in FSL West Division, 0.5 GB))
FCL Twins: 22-18 (3rd place (of 6) in FCL South Division, 2.0 GB))
DSL Twins: 6-12 (7th place (of 7) in DSL East Division, 6.5 GB)) 

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

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