Twins Minor League Report (9/20): Marco Raya Goes 5 Scoreless in Triple-A Debut

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 81-73
St. Paul Saints: 70-77
Wichita Wind Surge: 58-80 (season complete)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete)
FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete)
DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete)

SAINTS SENTINEL 
Indianapolis 8, St. Paul 6
Box Score

Prior to tonight’s game, manager Toby Gardenhire was asked about Marco Raya making his Triple-A debut by Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson.

“Maybe seeing Cory go out there and do what he did yesterday, maybe that’ll give Raya some confidence, “ Gardenhire said. “I think he’s a pretty confident guy, though, anyways.”

Raya not only answered Lewis’ performance, he one-upped him. 

Indianapolis was threatening in the first inning, but Raya struck out Jack Suwinski to strand a runner on second base. While Suwinski isn’t exactly a contact guy, he does have over 1,100 big-league plate appearances to his credit. Not a bad first feather in your Triple-A cap.

Impressive debut. Raya pitched five scoreless innings, did not walk a batter, struck out four men and threw 67.7% of his pitches for strikes (44 of 65).  He topped out at 96.2 mph. Raya finishes the season with 97 2/3 innings pitched. 

I would have loved to see the Twins take the training wheels off Raya sooner. He didn’t complete five innings in a game until his 17th start of the season and eclipsed 80 pitches in a start just one time. On the other hand, their plan did keep him on the mound. Not many pitchers make it through an entire season healthy these days.

As far as innings go, Raya logged more this year than David Festa (tonight’s Twins starter) did last season. Festa has stayed healthy, and look at him now. Maybe the Twins are onto something here.

Once Raya’s day was done, Justin Topa took over for his first game action since Aug. 7. The Twins bullpen could certainly use help, so it’s great to see the right-hander back on the mound.

As for Topa’s outing tonight, uh, it was great that he got some work in. Did I mention he hadn’t pitched in a long time?

Topa walked the first man he faced, which was immediately followed by a hit by pitch. It looked like he settled in after inducing a flyout to center field and a strikeout, but then Joshua Palacios smoked a three-run homer. The velo on Topa’s pitches were roughly three ticks down from his 2023 averages. Again, it was just great that he got some work in. 

Another arm trying to get back to the big leagues, Kody Funderburk, followed. In the fourth outing of his rehab assignment, Funderburk gave up two runs on four hits over 1 2/3 innings. He struck out three of the nine men he faced, but his velo was also down from usual. 

Luckily, the Saints lineup managed to tally three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to regain the lead. Chris Williams drove in Jeferson Morales on a homer before Rylan Bannon and Payton Eeles tacked on another run with back-to-back doubles. 

Indianapolis tied the game at 5-5 in the eighth inning by scoring a run on a Ryan Jensen wild pitch. They scratched across the go-ahead run in the ninth before Jack Suwinski delivered the knockout blow with a two-run homer later that inning. 

Topa, Funderburk and Jansen combined to give up eight runs over 3 1/3 innings pitched. And you thought the Twins bullpen was struggling …

Chris Williams added his second home run of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. He went 4-for-4 and hit a double in addition to the two home runs. The Saints still lost 8-6. 

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. got picked off at first base in the sixth inning before committing an error in center field in the ninth (a ball rolled under his glove, allowing the runner to advance an extra base). It wasn’t all bad, though, as he also went 2-for-4 to push his average to an even .300.

Speaking of guys having great seasons, Eeles went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and his 38th stolen base of the season (17 of which have come with St. Paul). 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY 
Pitcher of the Day: Marco Raya, Saints
Hitter of the Day: Chris Williams, Saints

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

#2 Brooks Lee (Minnesota): 0-for-2 (entered the game in the top of the eighth as a pinch hitter)
#6 David Festa (Minnesota): 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 103 pitches
#10 Marco Raya (St. Paul): 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 65 pitches

TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS
St. Paul vs. Indianapolis, 5:07 pm CT: Randy Dobnak

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!