Twins Minor League Report (7/11): Walk-Offs and Blowouts

Spot starter Kris Johnson made took the mound for Minnesota on Friday, but wasn’t able to give the Twins much of a chance in Colorado as he surrendered two, one, and two runs in the first three innings of the game, setting them back 5-1 before he was removed after just 57 pitches and four innings. Drew Stubbs and Troy Tulowitzki blasted home runs as part of the early barrage, and the Twins offense wasn’t able to recover against Rockies’ starter Jorge De La Rosa and their bullpen.

In the minors, there were two dramatic finishes and two dramatic “finish him!” mercy rule scores reflected on scoreboards. Read on to find out which were good and which were bad.

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5

Box score

Starting pitcher Mark Hamburger had a good effort in his first start in AA last week, but wasn’t able to duplicate that effectiveness in this one. The St. Paul native went four innings, giving up seven hits, three walks and five earned runs to earn him the loss. On a positive note, he did strike out five. Edgar Ibarra (2 IP, 2 H’s, 1 BB, 2 K’s) and Michael Tonkin (2 IP, 1 H, 2 K’s) combined for four innings of scoreless relief, but the offense wasn’t able to mount any semblance of a comeback.

On the night the lineup did collect ten hits, but only one went for extra bases and despite going 3-11 with RISP, they drove in only one run and left 11 men on base. Wilkin Ramirez (2-5) and Doug Bernier (2-4, 3B) collected multiple hits and every other batter except Pedro Florimon reached base. Unfortunately, Josmil Pinto (1-3, BB) collected the only RBI, driving in James Beresford with a third inning single to center field.

ROCK CATS REVIEW

Reading 5, New Britain 3

Box Score

New Britain scored early but not often enough in this one. They took a 1-0 lead on doubles from Aaron Hicks and Reynaldo Rodriguez in the first inning and extended it to 2-0 after an Eddie Rosario double and Lance Ray single in the third. In the top of the fourth however, an error by SS Brad Boyer led to two runs and a tie score before Reading took the lead for good in the fifth after a sac fly.

Starter Pat Dean pitched 5.2 innings, giving up 10 hits and four runs (2 earned) while striking out two. Adrian Salcedo replaced him and pitched 2.1 innings of perfect baseball, picking up three K’s in the process. Jim Fuller came in for the top of the ninth and gave up three hits, one walk, and one insurance run to finish the game for the Rock Cats.

The Rock Cats threatened in the ninth with runners on first and second with one out, but pinch hitter Tony Thomas and Mike Kvasnicka would K to close out the loss.

The standout in the lineup was Eddie Rosario, who went 2-4 with a double, a game tying home run in the bottom of the fifth and two runs scored.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Dunedin 1, Fort Myers 2

Box Score

Blue Jays’ starter Kendall Graveman was locked in a pitchers duel with whe Miracle’s Brett Lee for over two-thirds of the game, as collectively they pitched 13.2 innings, allowing only eight hits, two walks, two runs (one earned), while racking up thirteen K’s. The game was tied at 1-1 when Lee was relieved by Alex Wimmers with two out in the top of the seventh. Wimmers struck out the next batter to finish the inning, then loaded the bases in the eighth before striking out the final two hitters to keep the game tied.

In the top of the ninth, Tyler Jones retired all three men he faced to leave Fort Myers with sudden death conditions for their at-bat.

Niko Goodrum started the inning with a walk, moving to second on a wild pitch. Travis Harrison moved him to third with a sac fly, and in stepped Dalton Hicks. It wasn’t flashy, but he got the job done with another sac fly for a walk-off win at home.

The victory came despite just three hits for the Miracle. Aderlin Mejia had two of them, including an RBI single in the fifth for the first run of the game.

KERNELS NUGGETS

The Kernels were scheduled to finish a suspended game with the Clinton Lumberkings from June 30th before their regularly scheduled contest.

Clinton 4, Cedar Rapids 5 (11 innings)

Box score

After resuming play for the 10th inning, Clinton built a major threat in the 11th after a walk, single and stolen base put runners on second and third with nobody out. One out and one hit later, the game was 4-3 Lumberkings before a play at home extinguished the fire.

In the bottom half, a Jon Murphy single and throwing error from the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt from Bo Altobelli put the Kernels in great position for a comeback. Chad Christensen did not disappoint, delivering another walk-off victory with a 2-RBI single.

Cedar Rapids 6, Clinton 1

Box Score

After being the original starter in the suspended game that was finished earlier, Kohl Stewart again took the mound in this one. This time he went six innings, scattering six hits, one walk and just one earned run while amassing five strikeouts. It was just his second win of the season in sixteen starts despite a now 2.58 ERA. Jared Wilson then pitched two scoreless innings before Nick Burdi came in for the ninth and struck out the side. Since his forgettable debut, Burdi has appeared in three games, allowing just two hits and one walk over three innings, while picking up all nine outs via strikeout.

The Kernels took a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning, before a triple from Chad Christensen, a Mitch Garver single, Bryan Haar walk and Jason Kanzler triple led to four insurance runs and the final 6-1 lead. Logan Wade (2-5, R, 2B), Alex Swim (2-5, R), Kanzler (2-4, R, 3B, 2 RBI), and Jon Murphy (2-3, 2 RBI) collected multiple hits in the game.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Kingsport 12, Elizabethton 0

Box Score

Elizabethton committed nearly as many errors (3) as they collected hits on the night (4), leading to a shutout and thumping at the hands of the Kingsport Mets, who knocked around the Twins pitchers with nineteen hits.

Felix Jorge made the start and lasted 5.2 innings, giving up eight hits, one walk and three earned runs. Randy LeBlanc then gave up five hits and three more runs in 1.1 innings, before Samuel Clay finished the first of two beyond-mercy-rule game of the night for Twins affiliates with two innings worth of six hit, six earned run baseball.

Trey Vavra and Jhonatan Hinojosa were the only batters to get a hit for Elizabethton, each going 2-4.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Red Sox 17, GCL Twins 0

Box Score

It was even worse on the scoreboard for the lower level of the Twins Rookie League teams, but the outcome was similar as the GCL Twins squad committed four errors to combine with fifteen hits and eight walks for the Red Sox lineup, compared to just six singles and three walks for the home team.

Reliever Eduardo Del Rosario was arguably the only standout performer, pitching 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings with two K’s.

DSL TWINS NOTES

DSL Reds 3, DSL Twins 10

Box Score

Of note in this game is the Twins committed six errors, while the Reds managed to commit just two. Fortunately for the Twins, when it came to capitalizing on those mistakes, they scored six unearned runs compared to just two for the Reds.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Pitcher – Brett Lee, Fort Myers Miracle (6.2 IP, 5 H’s, 1 BB, 1 R, 8 K’s)

Hitter – Eddie Rosario, New Britain Rock Cats (2-4, 2 R’s, 2B, HR, RBI)

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre @ Rochester – Sean Gilmartin (1-4, 4.44 ERA), 6:05PM CST

Reading @ New Britain – Taylor Rogers (7-6, 3.91 ERA), 6:05 CST

Dunedin @ Fort Myers – D.J. Baxendale (2-1, 6.67 ERA), 5:05PM CST

Cedar Rapids @ Clinton – Aaron Slegers (5-6, 5.18 ERA), 6:30PM CST

Elizabethton @ Danville – Derrick Penilla (0-1, 6.75 ERA), 6:00PM CST

GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox – TBD, 9:00AM CST

DSL Twins @ DSL Padres – TBD, 9:30AM CST

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