Twins Minor League Report (7/24): Puerto Rican Prospects Prosper

TRANSACTIONS

It was a busy day for transactions in the system. Of course, the big news was that the Twins traded Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners in exchance for right-handed reliever Stephen Pryor. Pryor will report to AAA Rochester. The Twins also DFA'd Matt Guerrier and called up Ryan Pressley. Outfielder Reynaldo Rodriguez was promoted to AAA. Levi Michael was removed from his rehab stint in the GCL and returned to the Ft. Myers Miracle roster. Jorge Polanco was promoted to AA New Britain. However, when Morales was traded, Polanco was promoted to the Minnesota Twins again.

Then following games last night, Stephen Gonsalves and Josue Montanez were promoted from Elizabethton to Cedar Rapids. One could speculate that Kohl Stewart will be going on the 7-Day Disabled List after he was scratched from his scheduled start on Thursday. There are likely more moves in the wings, so be sure to keep track on Jeremy's Rosters & Payrolls pages as well as on the minor league reports.

Without further ado, here is the Minor League Report for Thursday night:

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 1, Durham 0 (Suspended in the middle of the third inning)

Box Score

Trevor May returned to the mound, and was able to go just three innings for the second straight start. Of course, that is because of rain. The game was suspended before the bottom of the 4th inning. May didn't allow a run or a hit. He walked two and struck out three. James Beresford went 2-2 with a stolen base in these early innings. Doug Bernier doubled for the 19th time.

http://twinsdaily.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8322&stc=1Photo by Jerry Lai

ROCK CATS REVIEW

New Britain 7, Portland 1

Box Score

What JO Berrios is doing this year is remarkable. In this start, the young righty went seven innings. He gave up just one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out four to record his first AA win. Cole Johnson struck out two in two perfect innings.

Kennys Vargas has been hitting a little better lately. In this game, he was a perfect 3-3 with two walks. He hit his 15th double, his 17th home run and drove in four runs. Aaron Hicks went 2-3 with a walk. Brad Boyer was 2-3 with his 13th stolen base. The offense did well against Red Sox top pitching prospect, lefty Henry Owens. He lasted just four innings and gave up five earned runs on five hits and four walks.

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 1, Tampa 6

Box Score

DJ Baxendale has struggled this year with injury and with consistency. In his previous start, he was terrific. On this night, he gave up six runs on nine hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out five. Alex Muren struck out two and yielded one hit over two innings in his Florida State League debut. Brian Gilbert gave up two hits but no runs in a scoreless eighth.

The Miracle were limited to just three hits in this game. Levi Michael returned to the FSL for the first time since fouling a ball off his foot on May 8. Byron Buxton went 0-4, but more important, he was back in the lineup after missing five games after being hit by a pitch on the right wrist.

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 1, Bowling Green 2

Box Score

The Kernels managed just six hits in this game. Alex Swim went 2-4 with his fifth double. Chad Christensen hit his 18th double.

Lewis Thorpe was back on the mound. He gave up two unearned runs over just three innings. He gave up four hits, walked four and struck out three. Chris Mazza struck out four over three, one-hit innings. Hudson Boyd gave up one hit and walked three, but he did not allow a run in his two innings of work. He struck out three.

E-TWINS E-NOTES

Elizabethton 3, Bluefield 2

Box Score

Felix Jorge was solid again on this night. The right-hander gave up two runs on five hits. In six innings, he walked one and struck out eight. Josue Montanez struck out two in his perfect inning. Randy LeBlanc gave up one hit over two scoreless innings to record his second save. He struck out three.

Jorge Fernandez led the offense. He went 3-4 and drove in all three runs. Tyler Kuresa was 2-3 with a walk. Trey Vavra doubled for the sixth time. Blake Schmidt went 1-2 with a walk.

GCL TWINS TAKES

GCL Twins 4, GCL Orioles 3

Box Score

It's been a tough season for the GCL Twins, so a win like this one had to feel good. With the game tied going into the bottom of the ninth, leadoff man Manuel Guzman walked. He went to second on a Dubal Baez single. Following an error, Amaurys Minier was intentionally walked. Then, Joel Polanco walked to end the game. Maybe not the most dramatic walk-off win, but this team will take it.

Alexis Tapia started. He threw five shutout innings on three hits. He walked two and struck out one. Seth Wagner came on and gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits and a walk in 3.1 innings. He walked one and struck out four. Eduardo del Rosario struck out three over the final 1.2 innings for the win. He gave up only one hit.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – JO Berrios, New Britain Rock Cats

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Kennys Vargas, New Britain Rock Cats

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

Indianapolis @ Rochester (6:15 CST) – TBD (was scheduled to be Logan Darnell)

Portland @ New Britain (6:05 CST) – TBD

Ft. Myers @ Tampa (6:00 CST) – Tim Shibuya

Cedar Rapids @ Bowling Green (7:05 CST) - Ryan Eades

Elizabethton @ Johnson City (6:00 CST) – TBD

GCL Red Sox @ GCL Twins (11:00am CST) – TBD

Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Friday games.

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!