Twins Minor League Report (8/21): Jake Rucker, Carson McCusker Provide Power Surge

Two extra-inning games. Two 2024 draft picks hit their first pro home run during the Mussels doubleheader. Another 2024 draft pick recorded his first double in High-A. The Wind Surge were powered by two hitters who each hit two home runs. Pitching wasn't real strong on Wednesday, but there was certainly some hitting.  

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 71-56
St. Paul Saints: 57-64
Wichita Wind Surge: 49-67
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 61-53
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 61-51
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) 

TRANSACTIONS
In a rarity, there were no transactions in the Twins minor league system on Wednesday. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6 (10 innings)
Box Score
The Saints got on the scoreboard first, but over the first six innings, they fell behind 6-1. However, the Saints got a big blast in the seventh and another run in the eighth frame to tie the score at 6-6. See how it ended below. Were the Saints able to end their 10-game losing streak? 

The Saints took the lead in the top of the first inning. Payton Eeles led off with his sixth double. Saints manager Toby Gardenhire was ejected from the game. Originally, Eeles shot was called a home run, but after the umpires met, they changed it to a ground-rule double. Diego A. Castillo singled him to third base. Castillo stole second. Eeles scored on a sacrifice fly by DaShawn Keirsey. However, Castillo was thrown out trying to advance to third base. 

Louie Varland started for the Saints and went five innings. He gave up four runs on six hits and two walks. He had three strikeouts. Josh Winder gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the sixth inning. At that point, the Saints were down 6-1. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Patrick Winkel led off with a double. Anthony Prato reached on an error. A pitching change was made. #OldFriend Nick Burdi came out and Oddanier Mosqueda came into the game. Eeles walked to load the bases. Castillo made it a game again by launching a grand slam to cut the deficit to 6-5. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Rylan Bannon pinch hit and led off with a single off the pitcher. Bannon went to second base on a bunt by Prato and a ground out by Eeles. Castillo came up, but he struck out. However, he reached first base, and Bannon scored, when strike three resulted in a passed ball. The game was tied 6-6. 

Hobie Harris worked two scoreless innings. Caleb Baragar pitched a scoreless ninth inning and a scoreless 10th inning. 

The Saints started the bottom of the 10th inning with Jair Camargo at second base. Chris Williams successfully advanced him to third base with a bunt. Bannon was intentionally walked before Prato came up and laced a single to right to drive in the winning run. 

Diego A. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his seventh home run of the season. He also stole his 11th base. Prato went 2-for-4. Winkel went 2-for-3 with his 15th and 16th doubles. Eeles went 2-for-4 with a walk. (if you missed our interview with him from Monday, click here.) 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 10, Midland 11 (11 innings)
Box Score
This game was very back-and-forth. Wichita had three, three-run innings. Midland had two, three-run innings, but also a two-run inning, and three, one-run innings including in the bottom of the 11th inning as they got the walk-off win over the Surge. 

Midland took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. In the top of the third inning, the Surge tied it up. With one out, Dalton Shuffield walked and stole his fourth base. He moved up to third base on a Jorel Ortega single. Tanner Schobel walked to load the bases. Jake Rucker unloaded them with a bases-clearing double. 

Then Midland scored two in the bottom of the third inning and another in the fourth. Down by three runs again, Wichita responded in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Schobel walked. Jake Rucker emptied the bases again with a two-run homer. 

With two outs, Carson McCusker’s 12th home run of the season tied the score at 6-6. 

Then it was time for Wichita to surge into the lead. In the top of the seventh inning, the Surge took a three-run lead. With one out, and no one on base, Jake Rucker just went ahead and drove in himself with his second home run of the night. Andrew Cossetti followed with a single, and McCusker knocked his second home run of the night. That gave the Wind Surge a 9-6 lead. 

C.J. Culpepper made his second Double-A start. He gave up four runs on two hits and four walks over 2 2/3 innings. He struck out two batters. Regi Grace got the next four outs. He was charged with two runs on three hits.

Pierson Ohl came on and tossed three scoreless innings. However, in the eighth inning, he was charged with three runs (2 earned) which made it a 9-9 game after eight innings 

Taylor Floyd got the final out of the eighth inning and pitched a scoreless ninth frame to send it to extra innings. 

In the top of the 10th, Ben Ross was the Manfred Man on second base. Jeferson Morales walked, and then Aaron Sabato walked to load the bases. With one out, Shuffield flew out to center, deep enough for Ross to coach. Ortega walked to re-load the bases. 

Jarret Whorff came in for the 10th inning and immediately threw a wild pitch to advance a runner to third. A double scored him, and an infield single put runners on first and third with nobody out. Somehow, Whorff got out of it with a ground out, a strikeout and a fly out.

The Surge went 1-2-3 in the top of the 11th inning. Brennan Milone doubled to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning to score Jack Winkler and end the game. 

Rucker led the offense going 3-for-6 with his 20th double, his eighth and ninth home runs, and six RBI. McCusker hit his 12th and 13th home runs. Cossetti went 2-for-4. Morales was 2-for-4 with a walk.        

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 3, Dayton 4 
Box Score
Rubel Cespedes gave the Kernels an early lead, but the team was unable to hold small leads early and then late. 

Leading off the top of the second inning, Cespedes connected for his 12th home run of the season. Two innings later, Cespedes put the Kernels up 2-0 with a single to drive in Walker Jenkins.

Dayton’s Leo Balcazar homered in the bottom of the fourth to make it 2-1. Then two innings later, he tied the score at 2-2 with an RBI single.

The score remained 2-2 until the eighth inning. In the top of the frame, Kaelen Culpepper led off with his first Kernels hit, a double to left. Jenkins walked. A wild pitch advanced both runners a base. Culpepper scored on a ground out by Gabriel Gonzalez, but the team now held a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, the Reds High-A affiliate scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and held the Kernels scoreless in the ninth inning. 

Tanner Hall made his second Kernels start. He gave up two runs on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. He had three walks and four strikeouts. Mike Paredes was charged with two runs on four hits over 1 2/3 innings. Paredes started the bottom of the eighth but wasn’t able to get an out. Gabriel Yanez came in and gave up one hit to allow an inherited runner to score. 

Cespedes went 3-for-4 with his 12th homer and two RBI. Walker Jenkins hit his seventh double, and Misael Urbina hit his 15th double. Unfortunately, the Kernels went just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base.  

MUSSEL MATTERS
Game 1: Fort Myers 1, Tampa 4
Box Score
Charlee Soto started for the Mussels. He gave up three runs in four innings, all scoring in the second inning. He allowed seven hits, walked one and had six strikeouts. 

Ben Ethridge worked the final two innings. He gave up one run on two hits. 

The Mussels got on the board in the fourth inning when second-round pick Billy Amick hit his first professional home run. 

Kyle DeBarge reached base twice, once on a single and once via a walk. Ceden Kendle hit his sixth double since joining the Mussels. 

Unfortunately, base runners were at a premium for the Mussels in Game 1. They were just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. 

Game 2: Fort Myers 1, Tampa 4
Box Score
The Mussels’ offense was much better in Game 2. In fact, they had five runs in the first three innings of the game. Unfortunately, a 5-0 lead could not be held as the Yankees affiliate scored seven straight runs to grab the win.  

Fort Myers manufactured a first-inning run. Kyle DeBarge singles and stole his 11th bag. He advanced to third when Brandon Winokur grounded out to second base on a 1-2 pitch. Billy Amick grounded to the shortstop who threw home but not in time to get the speedy DeBarge.  

In the second inning, Jay Thomason hit the first home run of his professional career.   

Maddux Houghton followed with a walk and his 18th stolen base. With two outs, Winokur drove him in with a single to center that made it 3-0 Fort Myers. 

Khadim Diaw, the catcher/center fielder drafted in the third round this year from Loyola Marymount, led off the inning with a single. He stole second base and advanced to third on a Jaime Ferrer double. After an infield pop out, Diaw scored on a wild pitch. Thomason then drove in Ferrer with a single that made it 5-0. 

Unfortunately the Mussels managed just one more hit over the final four innings. 

Cesar Lares started the game with three scoreless innings. However, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on seven hits, a walk, and two hit batters in 4 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Juan Mercedes came in with two runners on, and he stranded them. He went a total of 2 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs on one hit, one walk, and one hit batter. He had three strikeouts.

Jaime Ferrer went 3-for-3 with his sixth double. Jay Thomason went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Tanner Hall (Cedar Rapids) - 5 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 75 pitches, 46 strikes (61.3%).
Hitter of the Day – Jake Rucker (Wichita) - 3-for-6, 2B(15), HR(8), 3 R, 2 RBI. 

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, BB, 2B(7), R, K 
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-4, RBI.   
#8 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – Game 1: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 72 pitches, 43 strikes (59.7%)
#9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2B(1), R, K.
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – Game 1: 0-for-3, 2K, Game 2: 1-for-4, RBI.  
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - Game 1: 1-for-2, BB, CS(1), Game 2: 1-for-4, R, SB(11), 3 K. 
#17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, 2 BB, 2 R, K.
#19 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 2 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 62 pitches, 37 strikes (59.7%)   

THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) – RHP Caleb Boushley (9-5, 4.73 ERA)
Wichita @ Midland (7:00 PM CST) – RHP Travis Adams (4-7, 4.08 ERA) 
Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (4-2, 4.50 ERA)
Ft. Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (2-1, 2.57 ERA) 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s 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!