Twins Minor League Report (8/9): Saints Rally Late, DSL Twins Dominate, and Prospect Shine All Over

A walk off on Joe Mauer Night in St. Paul. Three hits for the prospect with the Mauer-esque swing. The return of a top pitching prospect. A two-homer game in Wichita.  A four-walk game. A six RBI game. So many interesting things happened throughout the Twins minor league system.  

And check out what 2025 second-round draft pick Quentin Young did in his first at-bat in the Bridge League yesterday. 

TRANSACTIONS
The Twins placed outfielder Matt Wallner on the paternity list. His wife Sydnie gave birth to the couple’s first child early on Saturday morning. 

Carson McCusker was called up from St. Paul to take that roster spot. 

RHP Andrew Morris was activated from the IL by St. Paul. He made his first appearance since June 19. 

Ricardo Olivar was placed on the 7-Day injured list for Wichita. 

RHP Kyle Bischoff was sent from the Saints to Wichita. 

IF Yilber Herrera was assigned to the Mighty Mussels from the FCL.   

Cedar Rapids placed RHP Eston Stull on the seven-day IL. LHP Wilker Reyes was also released from the Kernels roster. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 5, Iowa 4
Box Score
Mauer Magic and Ninth-Inning Heroics: Saints Walk Off in Style
The game was delayed by a few minutes due to the Saints pre-game ceremony to celebrate Joe Mauer. There were bobbleheads handed out to fans ordering special tickets.  

Andrew Morris’s return was successful by most any account. In the first inning, he issued a one-out walk to Cubs top prospect Owen Caissie. He responded by getting his second strikeout of the inning, and Noah Cardenas threw him out trying to steal second to end the inning.

In the second, he got a ground ball to shortstop. He then struck out Kevin Alcantara. The next batter ripped a groundball to the mound at 100 mph, but Morris fielded his position well and calmly threw to first for the out. 

Cory Lewis entered the game to start the third inning. Morris tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up no hits. He walked one and had three strikeouts. 21 of his 31 pitches were strikes. 

Lewis gave up two hits and four walks over his four innings. He gave up three runs, all on a home run by Alcantar. 

Darren McCaughan gave up one run on three hits over two innings. He gave up a solo homer to Owen Caissie. Noah Davis walked one but worked a scoreless ninth inning

The Saints bats were pretty quiet until the final third of the game. They cut their deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh. DaShawn Keirsey scored on an Aaron Sabato double.

In the bottom of the eighth, James Outman scored on a triple by Keirsey to make it a 4-2 game.  

That’s where the score remained for the bottom of the ninth. Gavin Hollowell came in for the Cubs. Jose Miranda led off with a walk. He went to third on a double by Anthony Prato. After a strikeout, Payton Eeles hit a high chopper toward second base. Miranda came in to score, and Eeles beat the throw to first base by a half-step. He stole second netase, and the throw went into center field which allowed Prato to score the tying run. After the second out, Outman was walked intentionally. He went to second on defensive indifference. 

That brought Gabriel Gonzalez to the plate. On an 0-1 pitch, Gonzalez launched a liner to dead center at just over 100 mph, well beyond the reach of the fielder. Eeles scored and the Saints were jubilant! 

Seven Saints batters had one hit. Prato hit his seventh double and walked twice. He also stole his 16th base. Miranda walked twice. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, NW Arkansas 3
Box Score
Rucker's Power Surge and Gallagher's Gem Lead Wichita to Victory
Ironically (or coincidentally), it was Carson McCusker bobblehead night in Wichita. 

In his first start with the Twins organization and with the Wind Surge, Ryan Gallagher gave up six runs on seven hits over five innings. It was just his third Double-A start having recently been promoted by the Cubs to their Double-A affiliate in Knoxville. Maybe the 22-year-old is a quick learner. On Saturday night, he was fantastic in his first home start in Wichita. 

Gallagher gave up five hits and hit one batter, but he tossed five scoreless innings. He walked none and had seven strikeouts. 

He was also blessed with some run support in this game. In the third inning, Walker Jenkins got things going with a one-out double. Kala’i Rosario followed with a walk. Next up was Hendry Mendez, and he hit a single to drive in Jenkins with the game’s first run. Nate Baez drove in Rosario with a sacrifice fly. 

The Wind Surge added on in the fourth inning. Ben Ross led off with a single. He scored on Jake Rucker’s fourth homer of the season. Jorel Ortega followed with a walk and stole second. He went to third on a groundout by Kaelen Culpepper. Jenkins singled to right to make it 5-0. 

Jake Rucker led off the sixth inning with his second homer of the game, his fifth of the season, to put the Wind Surge up 6-0. 

Logan Whitaker came in to replace Gallagher for Wichita. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning. He recorded two outs in the seventh but gave up two runs before Mike Paredes got the final out and ended the threat. Paredes got the final seven outs of the game, three on strikeouts. 

Rucker was 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. Ben Ross went 2-for-3 with a walk. Walker Jenkins went 3-for-4 with a walk, and his ninth and 10th doubles. Kala’i Rosario went 0-for-1 with three walks. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 4, West Michigan 5 (10 innings)
Box Score
Kernels Explode in Fifth but Fall in Extras
The Kernels lost 13-2 on Friday night, but they did a nice job of flushing that one and showing up ready to play. They played a good game, but they were unable to get that one more run. When the game went to extra innings, the Kernels were walked off. 

Cedar Rapids scored all four of their runs in the top of the fifth inning. Poncho Ruiz led off with a walk. He went to third on a Kyle Hess single. Hess stole second, and Jefferson Valladares walked to load the bases. With one out, Caden Kendle singled to drive in two runs. 

Eduardo Tait singled and drove in two more. 

Lefty Garrett Horn made his first start in the Twins organization, his first appearance since July 25th. The 22-year-old gave up four runs (3 earned) on four hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out two batters. 

Xander Hamilton struck out two over the next 1 1/3 innings. Samuel Perez struck out three batters in 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Ruddy Gomez got out of the ninth inning unscathed. However, he gave up the winning run in the 10th. He got five total outs, four on strikeouts.  

Caden Kendle went 3-for-5 with two RBI. He also stole his 12th base of the season. Maddux Houghton was 2-for-5 with his third double. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Clearwater 7
Box Score
Mercedes Sparks Rally, Stevens Debuts Strong in Mussels Loss
It can sometimes take a lot of arms to get through nine innings, and on Saturday, that’s what the Mussels had to do. Lefty Dasan Hill started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and two walks. He had three strikeouts. Jakob Hall came in and got the final out of the fourth inning without any further damage. 

Kyle Jones came on for his second rehab appearance, and it didn’t go well, though he didn’t pitch all that poorly. His line was three runs in just two-thirds of an inning. However, having watched the inning, there were three errors on ground balls. And frankly, one of the two hits Jones allowed could have very easily been deemed an error too. 

Brent Francisco came in and got the final out of the fifth inning and worked a scoreless sixth inning. 

Next up was Jonathan Stevens, the Twins 16th round draft pick last month. He became the first pitcher from the 2025 Twins draft class to get into game action. Of course, the other pitchers drafted all pitched a lot of innings in college this year. Stevens did not. But he threw, and impressed, in the Cape Cod League and the Twins took a shot. He struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked one batter. 

Julio Bonilla pitched the ninth and gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. 

Down 5-0 going to the bottom of the fifth, the Mussels mounted a comeback attempt. Ian Daugherty started things with a walk. He went to second when Dameury Pena walked. That brought Yasser Mercedes to the plate, and he launched a long home run to the berm in left field. His ninth home run cut the deficit to 5-3. 

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, JP Smith hit his second Mussels home run. Fort Myers was down 5-4. That was as close as it got. 

Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk and is batting .400 with a 1.171 OPS. Yasser Mercedes was 2-for-5. Along with his ninth home run, he stole his 32nd base of the season. Enrique Jimenez went 1-for-3 with a walk. 

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 13, DSL Rangers 5
Box Score
Almanzar Drives in Six as DSL Twins Run (and Walk) Wild
We’ll just start with this. The Twins scored their 13 runs on eight hits and 13 walks. Thirteen! Just four Twins hitters recorded a hit while five of them had at least one walk. The Twins scored once in the first inning and were shut out in the second and third innings. They added runs in the final five innings they batted, totaling another 12 runs. 

Darwin Almanzar went 3-for-5 with two doubles and six RBI. Jamesson Val was 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and his third home run of the season.

Now let’s get to the 13 walks. Santiago Leon went 0-for-1 but walked four times. Yovanny Duran was 1-for-2 with three walks. Joyner Perez was 0-for-2 but walked three times. Jhomnardo Reyes walked twice. 

Duran, Leon and Reyes each scored three times while Perez and Val scored twice. Duran stole three bases in the game to give him 27 on the season. The team had seven total steals. 

Geremy Villoria, who turns 17 next week, started and gave up two runs on five hits over three innings. He had two strikeouts. Brandy Ceballos worked the fourth inning and gave up three runs on two hits and two walks. Rainer Marin came on and struck out five batters over three scoreless innings. He allowed five hits and a walk. Jensi Infante threw two scoreless innings despite giving up a hit and two walks.    

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Danny Almanzar (DSL Twins):  3-for-5, 2-2B(16), 6 RBI
Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, R, 2 RBI, SB(12)
Jake Rucker (Wichita): 2-for-4, 2 HR(5), 2 R, 3 RBI.
Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 3-for-4, BB, 2-2B(10), R, RBI

Pitcher of the Day 
Ryan Gallagher (Wichita): 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 7 K, 92 pitches, 59 strikes (64.1%)

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - 3-for-4, BB, 2-2B(10), R, RBI (played RF)
#2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-4, (played 2B)
#3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 0-for-5, K (played SS)
#5 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 K (DHd)
#7 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches, 41 strikes (63.1%)
#11 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, GW RBI, K
#14 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, K (played 3B)
#15 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 31 pitches, 21 strikes (67.7%)
#17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, 3 K
#20 - Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, RBI (played LF)

SUNDAY PITCHING PROBABLES
Kansas City @ Minnesota (12:05 PM CT) - Bullpen Game on Roku 
Iowa @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CT) - RHP Mick Abel (7-2, 2.16 ERA)
NW Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CT) - RHP Sam Armstrong (0-0, 7.20 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ West Michigan (1:00 PM CT) - RHP Jacob Kisting (1-3, 2.11 ERA)
Clearwater @ Fort Myers (11:05 AM CT) - RHP Joel Garcia (first Mussels start)

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 55-61
St. Paul Saints: 50-61
Wichita Wind Surge: 57-50
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-47
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 45-60
FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs)
DSL Twins: 20-28

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!