Twins Minor League Report (9/2): Kala'i Rosario and Kaelen Culpepper Power the Wind Surge, Olivares Shuts Down the River Bandits

• With the major league squad, RHP Mick Abel was optioned back to the St. Paul Saints while the Twins recalled OF DaShawn Keirsey Jr, RHP Noah Davis, and RHP Travis Adams.
• For the Cedar Rapids Kernels OF Caden Kendle was placed on the 7-day injured list and, in his place, IF Billy Amick was activated from it.
• Down in the Florida State League SS Yilber Herrera was assigned back to the FCL Twins. They then were assigned 2025 draftees RHP Michael Hilker, RHP Merit Jones, SS Bruin Agbayani, and SS Quintin Young to bolster their roster.

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 7, Louisville 9
Box Score
Lefty Kendry Rojas took the bump for the Saints on Tuesday in their series opener with the Mets, but he is going to want to forget this one pretty quickly.

He was only able to record one out, throwing 40 pitches (22 for strikes) in the first that ended with Louisville up 7-1. He was charged with those seven earned runs on seven hits and two walks. His lone out came on a strikeout of Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

Darren McCaughan cleaned up the mess in the first and finished two more scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and walked two in 2 2/3 innings, striking out four.

The Saints did strike first in the top of the first when Payton Eeles led off with a double. Kyler Fedko brought him in three batters later with an RBI single. Fedko drove in their second run of the game in the third on another single.

The Bats added two more in the bottom of the fourth against Christian MacLeod, but he was able to complete three innings in relief. He allowed five hits, one walk, and struck out three. Cody Laweryson finished off the final two innings, allowing no runs on one hit and one walk, while striking out three.

The Saints did make it close in the end, scoring three in the sixth and one in each of the eighth and ninth frames. In the sixth it was a double from Carson McCusker, an error, and three walks that allowed them to close the lead to four. In the eighth Jose Miranda led off with a double and scored on an Eeles groundout. Walker Jenkins led off the ninth with his first triple as a member of the Saints.

He scored on a McCusker single. The Saints did get the tying run on base, but Miranda went down swinging to end the game.

The Saints got multi-hit efforts from Fedko (2-for-5, 2 RBI), McCusker (2-for-5, R, 2B, RBI, K), and Miranda (2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, BB, K). Jenkins batted third playing center field and had three hits in his five at-bats.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Tulsa 2, Wichita 12
Box Score
The Wind Surge battered the Drillers with an eight-run third inning to pick up their seventh win in a row and pull within one game of a playoff spot in the Texas League. 

Starting on the mound for Wichita at home was Ryan Gallagher, and backed by that big inning picked up his fourth win of the season. He finished five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk. He struck out eight and 59 of his 84 pitches went for strikes (70.2%).

With Tulsa up 1-0 in the bottom of the third, the Wind Surge sent 11 men to the plate that culminated in a grand slam from Jake Rucker to put them up by seven. There were two singles, two errors, and four walks that contributed the tally.

Ben Ross added an RBI double in the fifth, and Kaelen Culpepper his 10th home run of the season for the Wind Surge in the sixth to make it 10-2. Kala’i Rosario got into the fun in the eighth, launching his 25th home run of the season, a Wind Surge franchise record, to make the final score.

The bullpen trio of Darren Bowen (2 IP, H, 4 BB, 2 K), Logan Whitaker (IP, 2 H, K), and Hunter Hoopes (IP, K) kept the Drillers in check for the rest of the game after Gallagher’s fine start.

The Wind Surge were outhit 9-6, but took advantage of eight walks from Tulsa pitchers and the big inning to win this one handily. Rosario had two hits in five at-bats, scored two runs, and drove in three. Culpepper scored three runs out of the leadoff spot, finishing 1-for-4 with the homer, a pair of walks, and stole his ninth base.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, Quad Cities 1
Box Score
Kernels pitching owned the night on Tuesday, as the good guys outhit the hosting squad 10-2 on the game.

Jose Olivares made the start, and was excellent for the first six innings. After a pair of errors and a double in the first that led to the River Bandits lone run, he retired the next seven before a two-out walk in the third. He allowed his second walk of the game in the fifth, but struck out the side in the sixth to end his dominance with an exclamation point. His 10 strikeouts on the game set a new career high, and of his 85 pitches, 59 went for strikes (69%), including a whopping 21 swings and misses. He evened his record at 6-6 on the season.

After the defensive miscues in the bottom of the first, the Kernels had Olivares back in the top of the second. Danny De Andrade delivered a one-out double to put a runner in scoring position. Rayne Doncon brought him in with an RBI single. With two outs, Jefferson Valladares delivered a single to move Doncon up a base, and Marek Houston’s grounder to short was misplayed for a run-scoring error and 2-1 lead that would hold up for all the final seven-plus innings.

That was because reliever Matt Gabbert didn’t miss a beat following Olivares to begin the seventh. He retired his first seven before a one-out single in the ninth. Just like Olivares, he responded by bearing down and striking out the final two hitters of the contest. He picked up his first save of the season with Cedar Rapids, with his three scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and struck out five, including nine more swings and misses on his 33 total pitches (27 for strikes).

Doncon led the way with three hits in four at-bats and scored a run. Jaime Ferrer added a double to the effort. Eduardo Tait and Houston each picked up a hit. Valladares finished 2-for-4.

MUSSEL MATTERS
St. Lucie 11, Fort Myers 6
Box Score
After five innings the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels led this one 6-4, but the St. Lucie Mets had other plans for the rest of the game.

The Hammond Stadium faithful were treated to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, as Enrique Jimenez launched his sixth home run in just 19 games with the team.

This number is even more noteworthy, as team leader Yasser Mercedes has 10 homers in 92 games on the season.

In the bottom of the fourth the Fort Myers offense pushed across three runs after Jimenez led off with a single. Eduardo Beltre was hit by a pitch and Ryan Sprock drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Mercedes provided a sac fly to score their second run of the game, before JP Smith II sent a two-RBI single into left field for the one run lead.

Starting pitcher Michael Ross got the home team through five innings and left with the score 6-4 Mighty Mussels. He was charged with those four runs (three earned) on four hits and a pair of walks. He struck out one. 

Dylan Questad came on to start the sixth inning, and a leadoff triple followed by an RBI double snowballed into a 6-6 tie after six. Questad gave up one more run in the seventh and began the eighth, but wasn’t able to record another out. When it was all said and done Questad had given up six runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks, while striking out three. Brent Francisco got them through the eighth, but allowed a pair of inherited runners to score and one of his own to make the final score. He struck out three. Xavier Kolhosser got the ninth, walking one and striking out one.

Jimenez (2-for-4, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB) and Smith II (2-for-4, 2 RBI) each had two hits in the loss. 2025’s second round draft pick, Quintin Young made his professional debut at shortstop, batting second. He finished 0-for-4 with a walk and scored three runs, but also struck out three times. Bruin Agbayani batted leadoff and played second base, finishing 2-for-5 with a run scored. While the home team hit .500 (2-for-4) with runners in scoring position, they managed far less opportunities than the Mets (5-for-20) as they allowed 11 stolen bases to the opposition.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Jose Olivares, Cedar Rapids Kernels (W, 6 IP, H, R, 2 BB, 10 K)
Hitter of the Day – Kala’i Rosario, Wichita Wind Surge (2-for-5, 2 R, HR (25), 3 RBI, K)

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

#1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 3-for-5, R, 3B
#3 – Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 1-for-3, 3 R, HR (10), RBI, 2 BB, SB (9)
#5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 2 K
#9 – Kendry Rojas (St. Paul): 1/3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, K
#11 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 0-for-5, RBI
#13 – Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, K
#14 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, 2 K
#17 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, K, SB (64)
#19 – Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, BB, K
#20 – Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 0-for-5, R, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul @ Louisville (11:05 AM CDT) - RHP Andrew Morris (4-4, 4.12 ERA)
Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CDT) - RHP Sam Armstrong (1-1, 5.40 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CDT) - LHP Garrett Horn (0-1, 2.87 ERA)
St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CDT) - RHP Eli Jones (2-10, 5.44 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’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!