Twins Minor League Report (9/3): Langenberg Dazzles, Winokur Wallops

TRANSACTIONS

• In Triple-A RHP Jarret Whorff was assigned back to the Wichita Wind Surge as RHP Caleb Boushley was outrighted to the St. Paul Saints from the major-league club.
• Down in Cedar Rapids SS Rayne Doncon was activated from the 7-day injured list, and C Matthew Clayton was transferred to the Development List.
• OF Jose Rodriguez was activated from the temporary inactive list for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.

The St. Paul Saints and Wichita Wind Surge enjoyed Tuesday off, but are both back in action on Wednesday. The Saints face off against the Iowa Cubs at CHS Field, while the Wind Surge head to Frisco, TX to face the RoughRiders.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Wisconsin 2, Cedar Rapids 1
Box Score
The Kernels got a fantastic start from right-hander Ty Langenberg at home against the Timber Rattlers. He went five shutout innings, taking a no-hitter into the fifth. He retired twelve of the first thirteen hitters he faced, then erased a leadoff walk in the fifth with a double-play ball before surrendering a single. He followed that up with his seventh strikeout of the game to punctuate his night. Of his 80 pitches, 56 went for strikes (70%), including 11 swinging.

Despite his efforts he’d end up with a no decision as left the game with the score still tied at zero, as Wisconsin’s Stiven Cruz matched him as well as he could for those five innings. In the sixth, Cedar Rapids was finally able to break through with a two-out rally. Rubel Cespedes drilled his 21st double of the season to put a runner in scoring position, and Nate Baez followed with a single that included a fielding error, allowing them to go out front 1-0.

Samuel Perez came out of the bullpen in the sixth inning and continued to keep the Timber Rattlers off the scoreboard for his two innings. He allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out two. 

Nolan Santos came on for the eighth and got the leadoff man to ground out, before allowing a single to put the tying run on base. The next hitter, unfortunately, took him deep for the 2-1 lead. Santos retired the final five hitters he faced to give his team a chance in the ninth.

Rixon Wingrove led off the bottom of the ninth by driving a ball to left field that landed for a single, but looking to play hero and get himself into scoring position he ended up being thrown out at second trying to stretch it. The next two hitters went down swinging to end the game in the loss column.

Wingrove was the only Kernels hitter with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 on the night. Walker Jenkins, Cespedes, and Jose Salas added doubles to the effort. Gabriel Gonzalez (1-for-4, K) and Kaelen Culpepper (1-for-3, BB) each had a single.

In good news for the day, Walker Jenkins was named the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Week.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 5 (6 innings)
Box Score
The Mighty Mussels and Flying Tigers began their six-game series on Tuesday with a second half West Division championship, and playoff spot, on the line. Rain was also in the forecast, and it would end up cutting this one short in the sixth inning.

On the mound for Fort Myers was left-hander Cesar Lares. He worked a one-two-three opening frame, including two strikeouts, but in the second his defense let him down a bit. He hit the first batter of the inning, but recorded two outs on the next two hitters before a double scored the first run of the game. Then consecutive batters reached on throwing errors from third baseman Nick Lucky that made it 2-0 Lakeland. Lares was able to pick up another strikeout to get out of the inning with limited damage. He would go on to pitch into the fourth inning, but a single run in the third and then two more in the fourth put an end to his outing after 3 2/3 innings. He was charged with all five runs (four earned) on four hits and a pair of walks. He struck out five.

Tyler Stasiowski pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing no hits, walking one, and striking out one.

The Mighty Mussels offense put up single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, but were denied any further comeback attempt by the rain.

In the fourth, down 3-0, Brandon Winokur connected for his 14th homer of the season. To say he got all of it would be an understatement.

Winokur is the first player since 2014 to hit that many bombs in a season for the franchise.

In the top of the sixth, Caden Kendle (single), Winokur (walk) and Khadim Diaw (single) loaded the bases with one out. They were only able to score one on an RBI groundout from Jaime Ferrer to make it 5-2 before the tarp came on the field for good.

Winokur was the only batter to reach base twice. As a team they were 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left only four men on base.

With the loss, the Mighty Mussels lead over the Flying Tigers is just 0.5 games, which means the rest of the series will function as a “best of” five games to determine the West Division winner.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day - Ty Langenberg, Cedar Rapids Kernels (5 IP, H, 2 BB, 7 K)
Hitter of the Day - Brandon Winokur, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (1-for-2, R, HR, RBI, BB)

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

#1 – Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, 2B
#2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-4, 3 K
#6 – David Festa (Minnesota) – L, 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K
#7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, K
#9 – Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, BB
#12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-2, R, HR (14), RBI, BB
#16 – Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) – 1-for-3, K

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CDT) - TBD
Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CDT) - LHP Jaylen Nowlin (5-6, 4.90 ERA) 
Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CDT) - RHP John Klein (8-3, 4.92 ERA)
Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Charlee Soto (1-6, 5.04 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!