Twins Minor League Report (8/1): JP Smith Powers Mussels to Walkoff Win

TRANSACTIONS   
Trades have been made. Assume more trades are coming. Now the transactions must be made to put the new guys on the 26- and 40-man rosters. 

To make room for LHP A.J. Minter on the roster, RHP Cody Laweryson was Designated for Assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. RHP Zebby Matthews was optioned to St. Paul to make room on the 26-man roster. Additionally, RHP Garrett Acton was activated from the 60-Day Injured List and optioned to St. Paul.  

Cedar Rapids catcher Enrique Jimenez was moved to the 60-Day Injured List. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 0, Omaha 4  
Box Score
On Saturday, the Saints were unable to get things going with their bats. They were unable to get to 24-year-old Henry Williams. He tossed six shutout innings. He made three starts in April for NW Arkansas. He gave up three runs in four innings in the first start. Almost three weeks later, he tossed five shutout innings. Five days later, he gave up one run on two hits over five innings. He has been in Triple-A since mid-May and pitched twice against the Saints. Combined, he had pitched six total innings over two appearances. He had given up eight earned runs. Sunday, nothing. Veterans Jose Cuas (2 innings) and Justin Topa (1 inning) worked the final three innings. 

Ricky Castro made the start and worked the first three innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked none and had three strikeouts. Matt Bowman got the next two innings. He gave up one run on three hits. C.J. Culpepper gave up two runs on two hits over two innings. He had one walk and one strikeout. Eric Orze worked the eighth inning and gave up one run on one hit. 

The Saints had just four hits and a walk. Hendry Mendez had a single and a walk. They had no extra base hits. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, Springfield 4 
Box Score
What more can we say about Marek Houston and what he has done with the bat this season. In this game, he went 2-for-5 with his ninth double and sixth home run. 

Khadim Diaw went 2-for-4. Jake Rucker went 2-for-4 with his sixth double. Caden Kendle kept hitting. He hit his sixth double since joining the Surge.  

In the first inning, Houston doubled and went to third on a Diaw single. He then scored on a single to right field by Brandon Winokur to make it 1-0.   

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Riley Quick hung a slider to Ryan Campos, who didn’t miss it and tied the game with his 11th home run. Quick had a perfect second inning. His third inning began with a fly out. However, the next batter reached on an error. Then there was a walk, and then Quick threw a first-pitch fastball just above the knees and on the inner part of the plate. Jesus Baez quickly deposited over the wall in left field. Then there was a single and a balk. The second out came on a ground out, but then there was another walk. Quick’s day was done. Mitch Mueller came in and got a strikeout to keep two inherited runners from scoring. Mueller went 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits. Quick’s final line was four runs (3 earned) on three hits and two walks over 2 2/3 innings. He had just one strikeout. 

Ty Langenberg came on and tossed four scoreless innings in relief. He gave up just one hit, walked one, and he had four strikeouts.   

KERNELS CHRONICLES
Game 1: Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 5 (Completion of Suspended Game, 10 innings)
Box Score
On Friday night, tornado sirens, lightning and eventually a rainstorm suspended this game in the bottom of the third inning. Danny De Andrade was on first base, and Dameury Pena was batting with a 2-0 count. While the game was just one-third complete, there were already a few Kernels highlights. While it was written about in more detail in yesterday’s minor league report, Dasan Hill tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and struck out six batters. Most importantly, he walked none and their nearly 80% strikes. With one out in the bottom of the first, Eduardo Tait and Danny De Andrade hit back-to-back home runs.

Justin Mitrovich took over on the mound for Hill. He gave up three runs on three hits and four walks over 2 2/3 innings. He struck out three batters. Michael Ross came on with two runners on base and left both stranded. He went 4 1/3 innings and gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits. He had five strikeouts and no walks. He gets the loss thanks to the unearned run in the 10th inning. 

When the game restarted, Dameury Pena finished his at-bat with a single. Pena and De Andrade advanced to second and third on a ground out. Quinn McDaniel drove in a run with a groundout, and Andy Lugo singled to make it 4-0 Kernels.   

However, Peoria scored one in the fifth inning, and two runs in the sixth and seventh innings, to take a 5-4 lead. Following the 7th Inning Stretch, Dameury Pena singled. With two outs, McDaniel singled and Andy Lugo walked to load the bases. Miguel Briceno lined a single to left to drive in Pena with the tying run. McDaniel attempted to score as well, but he was thrown out at home.  

Pena went 3-for-5. Andy Lugo was 2-for-3 with a walk, was hit by a pitch and stole a base. Yasser Mercedes was 2-for-5 with a walk and his 29th steal. McDaniel was 2-for-5 

Game 2: Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 13 (Regularly Scheduled Game)
Box Score
The regularly scheduled game? Well, that did not go well. Lefty Ross Dunn made his second Kernels start since his return from surgery. He gave up one run on three hits over the first two innings. Cleiber Maldonado pitched the third inning and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks. Christian Becerra gave up two runs on two hits and two walks over his two innings. Guess how many strikeouts he had. That’s right. Two. Brian Zeldin gave up two runs on one hit and two walks. At that point, it was time for a position player. Graham Brown came on and gave up five runs on five hits and two walks in the seventh inning.  

Emmanuel Rodriguez played his first rehab game for Cedar Rapids. He should play again on Sunday and then head north to St. Paul. In this game, he played right field and went 2-for-3. 

Danny De Andrade went 2-for-3 with his 14th double. Byron Chourio knocked his first High-A hit and his first High-A home run, both with the same swing.   

MIGHTY MATTERS
Fort Myers 8, Palm Beach 7 (10 innings)
Box Score
Sometimes you can do two things at once. For instance, with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Mussels first baseman JP Smith crushed a long home run to give the Mussels a walk-off win. It was his 15th home run of the season. It was also the 104th home run for the Mussels this season, a franchise record.   

How did they get there?  The Mussels fell behind early. Palm Beach scored in each inning from the second through the fifth. In total, they scored six runs over those innings. Ramiro Villanueva started and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks over two innings. Guess how many strikeouts he had. That’s right, three. Dylan Questad gave up an unearned run in the third inning on no hits and two walks and a wild pitch. He struck out two batters. Hendry Chivilli came in for the middle three innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits and two walks. He struck out four batters. 

Down 3-1 going to the bottom of the third, the Mussels got on the scoreboard. Merphy Hernandez was hit by a pitch. He stole second and went to third on a throwing error. After a fly out, Vahn Lackey lost a bat, but he earned his first professional base hit, a broken-bat single that cut the deficit to 3-1. Lackey then stole second.   

Down 4-1 going to the bottom of the fourth, the Mussels got a huge hit and took the lead. Luis Fragoza led off with a walk. Smith doubled. Quentin Young walked to load the bases. That brought 2026 13th round pick Isaiah Lane to the plate. He lined a triple to the gap that cleared the bases and tied the game at 4-4. Hernandez drove in Lane with a single to give the Mussels their first lead. Hernandez then stole his 30th base for the Mussels (41 games). 

The Cardinals reclaimed the lead 6-5 in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, the Mussels tied it again. Ramiro Dominguez doubled to lead off the inning. Lackey lined a single to right field, but Dominguez was thrown out at home on a perfect throw. Following a ground out, Colby Turner drove a double to the gap in left-center field to drive in Lackey and make it 6-6.  (Turner also made a great catch earlier in the game)   

That’s how things stood through nine innings. Jake Murray struck out three batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. Adam Falinski  gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth inning. Jonathan Stevens came in for the top of the 10th inning. With a runner on second, Stevens started with a strikeout. A walk put runners on first and second. A passed ball pushed runners to second and third. Stevens got a fly out to center, just deep enough to score the Manfred Man. There was another single, but no more runs in the top of the 10th. 

Carson Tinney was the Manfred Man for the Mussels. The first two batters of the bottom of the 10th struck out swinging. Tinney took off for third on a wild pitch, and then the throw went into left field and Tinney scored the tying run. And then, JP Smith got a pitch and ended the game in style. 

Isaiah Lane went 2-for-3 with a walk, his second double, and the three RBI triple. JP Smith was 2-for-5 with his eighth double and 15th home run. Vahn Lackey went 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. 

Luis Fragoza hit his 16th double and also walked twice. Ramiro Dominguez hit his 20th double. Colby Turner hit his first career double. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
DSL Twins 13, DSL Yankees 9
Box Score
The Yankees went 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, the Twins put together a 10-spot in the bottom of the first inning. What does that look like? Check it out:

• Daiyer Barboza walked.
• Jendy Martinez singled. 
• Barboza scored on a wild pitch. Martinez stole second base. 1-0.  
• Jhon Gonzalez reached on an error and then stole second. 
• Abel Sosa walked to load the bases. 
• Enmanuel Merlo was hit by a pitch. Martinez scored. 2-0. 
• Gonzalez scored on a wild pitch. 3-0. 
• Anibal Beltre walked to load the bases. 
• Nolwer Barboz sacrifice fly. Sosa scored. 4-0. 
• Pitching Change
• Luis Suarez singled. Merlo scored. 5-0. 
• Misael Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. 
• Daiyer Barboza reached on an error. Beltre, Suarez, Rodriguez scored. 8-0. 
• Jendy Martinez flew out. 
• Jhon Gonzalez walked. 
• Abel Sosa singled. Daiyer Barboza scored. 9-0. 
• Wild pitch, Gonzalez scored. 10-0. 
• Enmanuel Merlo walked. 
• Pitching Change. 
• Anibal Beltre flew out. 
• 10 runs, 3 hits, 5 walks, 2 hit batters, 2 Yankees errors, 3 wild pitches, 

Enmanuel Mena started and threw a perfect first inning. The top of the second started with an error which led to five unearned runs. He struck out two in the inning, but his outing ended after giving up a three-run homer to Isaias Castillo. Yolcar Garcia came in and got the third out of the second inning. He went 2 1/3 innings and gave up just one hit. He had three strikeouts. Adrian Martinez pitched the fifth inning and gave up one run on four walks in the inning. Wisarly Reinoso pitched the sixth inning and gave up three runs on two hits and two walks. Jesus Moreno pitched the seventh inning. He gave up a hit and a walk, but he struck out two batters and completed the game. 

If you add up the runs that Twins pitchers allowed, you will get nine, one less than the Twins scored in the first inning. Fortunately, the Twins added two more runs in the bottom of the second. That inning began with two straight hit batters. Both runners advanced on a pop up to the first baseman. With two outs, Jendy Martinez doubled to drive in both runners. They scored one more with two outs in the sixth inning when Enmanuel Merlo singled and scored on a wild pitch. 

So the Twins scored their 13 runs on five hits and seven walks. There were also four hit batters. Jendy Martinez was the lone Twins hitter with a multi-hit game and an extra base hit. He was 2-for-4 with his 10th double. 

Abel Sosa hit a single and two walks. Enmanuel Merlo had a single, a walk, and was hit by a pitch. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter(s) of the Day  
JP Smith (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, 2B(8), HR(15), 2 R, RBI, 2 K.
Marek Houston (Wichita): 2-for-5, 2B(9), HR(6), 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K   

Pitcher(s) of the Day 
Ty Langenberg (Wichita): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 53 pitches, 37 strikes (69.8%)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. Notice that the prospect rankings have been updated to include the Twins 2026 Draft picks.

#2 - C Vahn Lackey (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, HBP, R, RBI, K, SB(2), E(2), PB(2) (batted second, catcher)
#3 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted first, played SS)  
#4 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Rehab in Cedar Rapids: 2-for-3 (batted second, played RF)
#5 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita) - 2-for-5, 2B(9), HR(6), 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K (batted first, played SS)
#6 - RHP Riley Quick (Wichita) - 2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, K, 51 pitches, 30 strikes (58.8%)
#7 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1: 1-for-5, HR(19), R, RBI, K (batted second, played DH), Game 2: 0-for-4 (batted third, catcher)
#10 - OF Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) -1-for-3, BB (Batted fifth, played LF) .
#11 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-3 (batted sixth, played 1B)
#13 - C Carson Tinney (Fort Myers) - 0-for-5, R, 3 K, (batted third, Catcher)
#14 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-for-4 (batted second, Catcher)
#15 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 1-for-4, RBI, 2 K, SB(6) (batted third, played CF) 
#17 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB, R 2 K (batted seventh, played 3B)

UPCOMING PROBABLES
Sunday, August 2
St. Paul @ Omaha (5:05 pm CT) - RHP Trent Baker (3-3, 6.29 ERA) 
Wichita @ Springfield (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Cory Lewis (1-4, 4.15 ERA)
Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Ivran Romero (3-5, 7.60 ERA)  
Palm Beach @ Ft. Myers (11:05 am CT) - TBD 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 56-56
St. Paul Saints: 60-46
Wichita Wind Surge: 38-61
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 38-61
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 53-46
FCL Twins: 33-26
DSL Twins: 12-29 

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!