Twins Minor League Report (8/8): Tanner Hall, Cory Lewis, Zebby Matthews Pitch Great Again

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 63-50
St. Paul Saints: 56-54
Wichita Wind Surge: 45-60
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 56-47
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 54-46
DSL Twins: 24-22

TRANSACTIONS

• RHP Adam Plutko placed on IL by St. Paul with a forearm strain.
• RHP Louie Varland will be recalled by Minnesota to start on Friday.

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Columbus 1
Box Score
Zebby Matthews started for the Saints and it appears he has begun to settle in. Matthews worked five innings allowing just a single run on two hits and (gasp) a walk. Matthews also struck out five and continues to look like an arm that Rocco Baldelli may call on for the big league club down the stretch.

Columbus scored on a Will Brennan first inning home run before the Saints answered with an Anthony Prato single in the second inning. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. scored and the sides remained even until the ninth inning. With no one out and runners on second and third, Rylan Bannon stepped in. He drew a walk to load the bases. Dalton Shuffield was up looking to drive in the winning run, and St. Paul needed to improve from their ugly 1-for-13 with RISP on the evening. Unfortunately he struck out. Jair Camargo did not though, and his single brought Prato in to walk it off. 

Rehabbing Twins infielder Kyle Farmer went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Prato also had a pair of hits, while Edouard Julien doubled. Giovanny Gallegos worked a scoreless inning in relief and Matt Bowman got the victory.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Corpus Christi 2, Wichita 1
Box Score
Cory Lewis was on the bump Thursday night for the Wind Surge and he turned in the best Double-A outing of his career. Lewis threw six innings of one (unearned) run baseball. He allowed just a pair of hits, and though he walked three, he struck out nine. Lewis also threw 56 of his 87 pitches for strikes.

Wichita trailed 1-0 into the ninth inning until Tanner Schobel went yard for the eighth time this season to tie things up. Jarret Whorff, who was one of the Twins best minor league relievers in July, got Wichita in position by throwing a pair of perfect innings with three strikeouts.

Unfortunately Regi Grace couldn’t get Wichita to the tenth inning and a Hooks run walked them off. Both sides recorded just three hits. Schobel’s was the only extra-base knock for Wichita. He also stole his 11th base of the season, and Aaron Sabato grabbed his seventh.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Peoria 4
Box Score
It was bump day for Ricky Castro with the Kernels on Thursday. He worked three innings allowing three runs on five hits and a pair of walks. The Kernels starter struck out a pair.

Misael Urbina drove in Nate Baez in the second inning to score the game’s first run. Cedar Rapids then coughed up three in the bottom half. Peoria pushed it to a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning, but the Kernels answered with a run in the eighth inning. Nick Lucky drove in Rubel Cespedes on a single to make it 4-2. Jose Salas then clubbed a bases-loaded double, scoring Agustin Ruiz, Baez, and Lucky to give the Kernels their first lead of the night.

Jordan Carr, Juan Mendez, and Rafael Marcano combined to work five innings of relief. The only run allowed was an unearned tally tacked to Carr’s outing. Cedar Rapids tallied seven hits with Cespedes and Kyle Hess grabbing two of them each. Both of Hess’ hits were doubles.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Jupiter 0
Box Score
Tanner Hall started for the Mighty Mussels and was nearly perfect. The Fort Myers starter worked seven scoreless innings allowing just a pair of hits while striking out seven. He gave up only a single walk.

Brandon Winokur kicked off the scoring early with a solo shot, his ninth, in the first inning. Fort Myers added a second run when Khadim Diaw scored on an error. Winokur’s pair of hits were the only multi-hit effort, and the homer was the only extra-base hit.

Fort Myers struck out ten times but drew five walks.

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 7, DSL Tigers2 4
Box Score
Anderson Chacon started for the Twins and worked 3 1/3 innings allowing a single run (unearned). He did give up three free passes though and didn’t record a strikeout on the day. Aiberson Ventura got the win with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

While the Twins struck out seven times and didn’t draw a walk, they did rack up 11 hits on the day. Merphy Hernandez, Eduardo Beltre, Carlos Silva, and Guillermo Sosa all recorded two-hit games. Silva picked up a double while Hernandez and Daiber De Los Santos both tripled.

Hernandez continues to be a menace on the bases and stole his 29th bag. In just 39 games, he has been thrown out only twice this season.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Tanner Hall (Fort Myers) - 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Hitter of the Day – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 2-3, R, RBI, HR(9), 2 BB, K

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. 
#1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 
#4 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 0-4
#5 – Zebby Matthews (St. Paul) – 5.0 IP, 
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-4, K
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 2-3, R, RBI, HR(9), 2 BB, K
#13 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K
#14 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 1-5, 3 K
#16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 0-4, BB, K
#17 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-3, R, RBI, HR(8), BB, K, SB(11)

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs Columbus (7:07 PM CST) – TBD
Wichita @ Corpus Christi (7:05 PM) - RHP Marco Raya (1-3, 5.54 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (7:05 PM CST) – RHP C.J. Culpepper (2-1, 2.88 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (2-1, 2.86 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’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!