Twins Minor League Report: With (a Couple of) The Twins Affiliates on Sunday the Force Was

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 15-20
St. Paul Saints: 15-14
Wichita Wind Surge: 15-11
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 17-9
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-13
FCL Twins: 1-0 

TRANSACTIONS
The Mussels have added RHP Xavier Kolhosser from the FCL.

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Columbus 2
Box Score
Zebby Matthews took the mound to start this game. Matthews has had a really good start to his season, certainly one of the best pitchers in the Twins system. He had to work to minimize damage in this game. In his four innings, he gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked two and had five strikeouts. 

Columbus got on the board first in the second inning starting with a double by Kody Huff. Matthews walked Milan Tolentino, and a sac-bunt from Christian Cairo, advanced Milan Tolentino to second and Huff to third with only one out. Matthews managed to get out with only one run scored by Huff on a single from Petey Halpin, and a pop-out to end the inning with 1-0 lead. 

Columbus has a very good small ball system (as you might expect from the Guardians' Triple-A team) and know how to get around Matthews, and snagged a solo home run by Will Brennan off of Matthews for a 2-0 lead. Matthews rebounded in the fourth giving up no runs. The Saints remained scoreless.  

The Saints hitters struggled against Columbus starter Parker Messic. Messic only gave up one hit to the Saints hitters and kept the game scoreless. Royce Lewis, who is on a rehab assignment with the Saints, fouled out and struck out in his first at-bats. The top of the fifth, Messick got the first two outs, but a solo home run from Will Holland got the Twins on the board, now down just 2-1. 

Lewis was amped to run the bases, and his bat finally caught up and finally got on base in the sixth to get some momentum. A failed pitch challenge, for what they thought was a strike, by Columbus resulted in a walk from Emmanuel Rodriguez. With runners on first and second, it prompted a pitching change for Columbus, and after that, a hard line drive single from Carson McCusker, scored Lewis to tie up the game 2-2 and ended with a ground out double play. 

Matthews pitched four innings, giving up the only two runs of the game. The bullpen consisting of rehabbing Michael Tonkin and Darren McCaughan, who spent time with the Twins earlier in the season, kept Columbus from getting any more runs on the board through a combined five innings. 

The teams stayed scoreless through the remainder of regulation, even with a few threats, both teams were relentless in their pitching and defense. The game rolled over into extras with Anthony Prato as the "ghost runner" on second. Ryan Fitzgerald got a single to join Prato on the bases. Lewis, who already had a hit and was the first run in, struck out, so Prato had to wait to come home. Jeferson Morales hit a sac-fly to give Prato the go-ahead run, putting the Saints ahead 3-2 in the tenth. 

Pitcher Brady Feigl came in on the tenth to put Columbus down and secure the win for the Saints 3-2. The Saints were the second team of the affiliates to secure a win to end their series, putting them back above .500. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 1, Frisco 6
Box Score

Wichita and Frisco both came out to battle for this final game of their series. The Surge already had three wins in the series so a win for Frisco would be a split series at worst. 

Seth Update: Frisco was not going to go down without a fight and immediately started attacking starter Christian MacLeod, almost literally.  Here's how the bottom of the first went according to Gameday: 

Why did I highlight and make lines and circles? Well, their sentence reads fairly simply. But I watched it. I went back and watched it a few times. First, if 95 mph is a 'soft line drive' than I can't imagine if it had been hard hit. Next, you'll notice that the ball was lined to left fielder Tyler Dearden. Yes, that is where the ball ended up, AFTER it deflected off the side of MacLeod's head. And yes, apparently the runner scored from first. I didn't even notice that in watching it and watching the replays. Seemed pretty minor. I'll also note that MacLeod never went to the ground. He kind of turned and looked for the ball, and then just walked around in front of the mound.

When the play was deemed dead, teammates calmly walked toward MacLeod, as if they didn't want to scare him with their overreactions. Brian Dinkelman walked out with the trainer. They talked to him for quite a while, did some concussion checks, and then surprisingly had him throw a couple of pitches. He gave the thumbs up and miraculously (or just luckily) was able to stay in the game. He struck out the next batter and the hitter was thrown out attempting to steal second base. MacLeod got the third out on a slow ground ball to second base. 

Then he came out for the second inning. The leadoff man reached on a bunt single, so MacLeod picked him off and then got the next two outs easily. In the third inning, He got a ground out and a line out, then the top of the order came up. Sebastian Walcott beat out an infield single. On a full count pitch the Keyber Rodriguez, he tripled to drive in a second run, before a ground out ended that inning.

And that ended the day for MacLeod. His overall line certainly isn't all that exciting. He went three innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He walked none and had one strikeout. In total, he threw 47 pitches, 30 for strikes. This would be one of those cases where the box score, or even the game log, doesn't tell the full story. MacLeod's ERA now sits at 2.00 after this game. 

Mike Paredes came in. He didn't give up a run in the entire month of April on his way to being named the Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month by Twins Daily. That streak came to an end as he gave up two runs on three hits and a walk over 2 2/3 innings, pushing his season ERA all the way up to 0.77. John Stankiewicz came on and finished the sixth and seventh innings. Two of the four outs he recorded were on strikeouts. Jaylen Nowlin came in to start the eighth inning. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning (both strikeouts). Angel Macuare got the final out of the inning. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Tanner Schobel led off with a single and moved to second on a fielding error by the outfielder. Ben Ross had a "productive out", a ground out to advance Schobel to third base. Rubel Cespedes than lined a single to right field to drive in Schobel with the first, and what was ultimately the last, run of the game. 

The Rough Riders, on the other hand, displayed composure under pressure and executed with precision when it mattered most. Their pitching staff, allowed minimal hits and only walked two players. Their hitters were able to work the Surge pitching staff and really put the pressure on in the sixth inning when the momentum truly changed for the Rough Riders when they scored two runs to make it 4-1. They added two more in the eighth inning to give us the final score of 6-1. .

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 9, South Bend 1
Box Score
The Kernels put on a master class, not only on the mound, but at the plate as well. The team absolutely dominated and finished out the series on a very strong note. 

Kernels pitcher Jeremy Lee’s only run allowed came in the first inning, starting with a double by Jefferson Rojas. The next batter, Carter Trice, ripped a ball to the gap into centerfield, that scored Rojas, putting the Cubs on the board first 1-0. 

The Kernels didn’t have nearly the hits that the Cubs did, but the hits that they had made a difference. The previous two innings, the bats were finding the ball, but couldn’t get anything in motion and finally in the third with two outs, Kaelen Culpepper got his second home run of the season, putting the Kernels on the board, to tie the game 1-1.

The next inning, the Kernels continued to put the pressure on the Cubs, starting with a walk to Danny De Andrade who then stole his seventh base to give the Kernels a little wiggle room, and it ended up paying off. After a fly out from Nate Baez, Kevin Maitan ripped a double from the middle of the strike zone scoring De Andrade and taking the 2-1 lead.

The Kernels returned the next inning getting runners on base immediately. Back-to-back singles from Jose Salas and Culpepper with no outs, and a double steal , gave the Kernels the threat to get runs on the board. Back-to-back singles from Kyle DeBarge and Brandon Winokur put the Kernels ahead 4-1. 

The Cubs brought in a new pitcher earlier in the fifth inning in an attempt to slow the Kernels, but two runs came in before there was even an out. With runners on first and third, on the sixth pitch to Khadim Diaw, he squared up on a two-seamer and singled to left field, scoring DeBarge. 

Nahas continued to struggle against the Kernels, a wild pitch advanced Winokur to third and Diaw to second only for hitter Baez to rip another single that would score another run, before being tagged out on a steal to take second. The Kernels led 7-1 leaving a five-run, fifth inning. 

Lee was replaced by Spencer Bengard to start the sixth. Lee had an outstanding day. He gave up one run on five hits. He walked none and had four strikeouts. After allowing the one run in the first, he shut the rest of the innings down. 

Bengard continued the same attack from the mound on the Cubs hitters. With them remaining scoreless through seven innings. Bengard stayed out through the eighth and struggled a bit, but got out clean to end the inning. Combined the two pitchers only gave up nine hits through eight innings to the Cubs. 

The Kernels had one inning left and continued to play cat and mouse with Cubs pitching staff. With two on base and two outs, Salas at the plate and Culpepper on deck, with the chance to just give a few more runs for funsies if they wanted. And they did. The Kernels got another two runs on a double from Salas. 

Bengard came out again into the top of the ninth inning with new hopes of shutting down the remainder of the game, and another win on the day for the affiliates. Bengard recorded the four-inning save. And in true Jedi fashion a 1-2-3 inning to strike down the Cubs. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Tampa 12
Box Score
The Mussels got to face the rehabbing Jonathan Loaisiga on Sunday afternoon. The veteran Yankees pitcher had elbow surgery about a year ago and is just starting his rehab. On the mound for the Mussels was Dylan Questad. Both pitchers tossed 1-2-3 inning to start the game, but the Mussels got the scoring started in the second inning. Jay Thomason knocked his fifth double of the season. Loaisiga got a strikeout before his day was complete. Cole Zaffiro came in to pitch and gave up a home run to Miguel Briceno to give the Mussels a 2-0 lead.   

After the second out, Peyton Carr ripped a ball 397 feel to left for his second double of the season. Just like earlier, the next hitter, Jefferson Valladares hit his first home run of the season, scoring Carr and pushing the score to 4-0.  

Starter Dylan Questad made his third start for the Mussels in Sunday’s game. Questad carried a 0.00 ERA through his first two appearances, a total of eight innings, and his third appearance he gave up two runs over five, one-hit innings. In April, Questad only allowed two runs, two hits, five walks and had 18 strikeouts in 13 innings, but he struggled on the mound in this one. 

After putting two zeroes on the mound, Questad walked Marshall Toole to start the third inning. Toole stole second, and advanced to third a single line drive to left. Questad had no outs and runners in scoring position, certainly a situation he wanted to get out of, but the next hitter, Edgleen Perez hit a single to right field, scoring Toole to get Tampa on the board. He gave up four runs in the third inning which ended his outing. 

The fourth inning brought more frustration to the Mussels pitching staff. Kade Bragg replaced Questad, but gave up another two runs, before registering his first out, giving Tampa the lead 6-4. Bragg finally got three outs the last two swinging strikes, but threw 32 pitches in his quest to do so. Still, he went out for a second inning and did well.

The Mussels hitters struggled after the four-run second, only for Thomasson to get another double, but be left stranded. The bats seemed to make contact, but continued to find the glove of every defender in the outfield and infield. 

The Mussels rotated through the pitching staff in hopes to keep the damage as limited as they could to give the offense a chance to catch up in the remaining three innings. Zander Sechrist relieved Bragg and really struggled. In his two innings, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on five hits. Xavier Kolhosser made his debut. He had three strikeouts in a scoreless, one-hit eighth inning. 

The Mussels started hot, but ultimately Tampa’s hitters munched their way right through the pitching staff to secure the win on the last game of this series. The Mussels dangle barely above .500 going into the next week 14-13. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day: Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, HR(2),  R, RBI, SB(4)
Pitcher of the Day: Jeremy Lee (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. 

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

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 3 BB, 2K
#7 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, RBI, 2 K (played CF)
#8 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, HR(2), 2R, RBI, SB(4) (played 2B)
#13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-2, 1R, 0BB, 2K
#14 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, R, RBI, SB(14) (played SS)
#16 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, 2K
#18 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 4 K
#19 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, R, BB, 1K

TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Baltimore @ Minnesota (6:40 PM CST) - TBD
Buffalo @ Saints (6:37 PM CST) - TBD
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (11:05 AM CST) - TBD
Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (6:35 PM CST) - TBD
Dunedin @ Fort Meyers (6:05 PM CST) - TBD
F-Pirates @ F-Twins (11:00 AM CST) - TB

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Sunday’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!