Matt Braun

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Henry Mendez) TRANSACTIONS With Byron Buxton going on the injured list, INF Tristan Gray recalled by Twins LHP Michael Carpenter sent to A Fort Myers on Minor League Rehab. RHP Jason Reitz was placed on the 7-Day Injured List. Saints Sentinel St. Paul 4, Omaha 3 Box Score Trent Baker: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K HR: Hendry Mendez (6) Multi-hit games: Kaelen Culpepper (2-for-4), Hendry Mendez (2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI), Cody Morissette (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) The Saints struck late to win on Wednesday. A rain delayed the start of the game, though the drizzle and mist did nothing to dampen a Saints offense that scored immediately. Walker Jenkins walked and Kaelen Culpepper shot a single to right. Up with a chance to strike first, Matt Wallner opted for a cool, democratic sacrifice fly to usher his leadoff comrade home. Though they may have been undampened initially, the lineup quickly turned soggy; the bats fell cold for five tortuous frames in which they squelched and pleaded, yet no Saints runner advanced beyond first base. Only twice did a runner even reach safely; both times a double play curtly cut their adventure down. All the while, the pitching effort started by Trent Baker and continued by Garrett Acton wobbled and toppled. Ruddy Gomez—new to AAA baseball and its details and differences—greeted the level with a walk. A double and sacrifice fly branded him with his inaugural earned run. A wild pitch made it two. C.J. Culpepper’s one earned run a frame later proved to be good news, relatively. Fortunately, by the time of Culpepper’s lapse, the game was simply tied. Hendry Mendez sat on a lethargic breaker from veteran Matt Moore—yes, that one—and drove the offering into right field for an RBI. Then Cody Morissette pounced on a sky-high heater and bludgeoned the wall for a run-scoring double. Tied, Mendez acted. Though you do not see it. Justin Topa explains enough: with a smooth transition from pitched ball to snapped head, he reveals that something has happened, and that something was a solo homer shot the other way to give the Saints a lead they would not relinquish. Rehabbing big leaguer Garrett Acton fired a clean frame, striking out one over 14 pitches. No member of the Royals’ top 30 prospect list played in the game on Wednesday. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 4, Springfield 7 Box Score Preston Johnson: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Khadim Diaw (2-for-4, RBI), Kala’i Rosario, (2-for-4, R) The Wind Surge stumbled in the seventh to fall on Wednesday. First inning two-run blasts don’t tend to help winning. More at 11. The opening blast, hit by Deniel Ortiz, stuck Wichita in a deficit they would actually climb out of—before slipping and plunging back down into the depths dug by themselves early on. A third run came in the third. A counterattack the Wind Surge broke the seal in the fourth, with a Brandon Winokur single dawning the scoring before the bats returned with trio in the fifth. Marek Houston netted a pair with a double smoked down the left field line, and Khadim Diaw followed his friend with a liner beyond the third baseman to score Houston. An empty sixth perhaps fed Wichita a false confidence; as the seventh crushed their hopes for a glorious comeback win. The Cardinals struck with vigor, doubling around the field, taking hit by pitches, and reaching two outs before destroying the Wind Surge’s dreams with a back-breaking two-run homer. In response, two Wichita attempted rallies came up short. The smacker of that two-run homer was the 12th-ranked prospect in all of baseball, catcher Rainiel Rodriguez. He accrued three hits in the game. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 10 Box Score Kolten Smith: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K HR: Jose Salas (4) Multi-hit games: Dameury Pena (2-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB), Eduardo Tait (2-for-5, 2 RBI), Andy Lugo (2-for-4, 2 2B, RBI) The Kernels fell apart and lost on Wednesday. Well, it wasn’t Kolten Smith’s fault. The righty enjoyed perhaps his finest start as a Kernel. He navigated a shaky first and nurtured his outing accordingly, turning what could have been a dead-on-arrival start into four respectable frames. He allowed one earned run. He struck out five. And the Kernels had the lead. Two arrived in the first on a Danny De Andrade double; one came in the second thanks to an Eduardo Tait single. Andy Lugo added a fourth run with an RBI double. Then the trouble started. Cleiber Maldonado started the downfall, though none could have known it at the time, as his work resulted in only one run. Reed Moring suffered the brunt of the collapse. In his Cedar Rapids debut, nonetheless. Four homers. Eight earned runs. Scores in every inning he oversaw except for one. Some part of him likely wanted to crawl into some unseen hiding place, but he took the violence naked and blatant in front of all to see. Better luck next time, youngster. Chiefs starter Yhoiker Fajardo clocks in as the ninth-best prospect in the Cardinals’ system. He surrendered four earned runs in three innings. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 5, Palm Beach 19 Box Score Michael Carpenter: 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K HR: JP Smith II (13, 14) Multi-hit games: Emmanuel Rodriguez (2-for-5, 2B, R), JP Smith II (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), Bryan Acuña (2-for-4, R) The Mighty Mussels were decimated on Wednesday. Amazingly, the Cardinals racked up 29 hits without hitting a home run. Every Fort Myers pitcher allowed at least one earned run. This concludes the pitching portion of the writeup. Rehabbing prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez DH’d after playing left field for a portion of Tuesday’s Mighty Mussels game. He whiffed thrice—perhaps his famous sweeping stroke is still a touch slow—but earned two hits, including a triple. JP Smith II had the game of the day at the plate. He sent a fastball beyond the center field wall in the fourth and then made the batter’s eye his target once more with a blast in the eighth. Palm Beach’s leadoff hitter, Sebastian Dos Santos, is the 12th-best prospect in the Cardinals system. He played shortstop and collected four hits. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Kolten Smith Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – JP Smith II PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-2, R, 2 BB, K #3 – Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2-4, K #4 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (Fort Myers) - 2-5, 3B, R, 3 K #5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-5, 2B, R, RBI, 2 K #7 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI #8 – Kendry Rojas (Twins) - 3 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K #10 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI #14 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-4, RBI #15 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 1-4, RBI, 2 K #17 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-3, BB, 2 K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS ST. Paul @ Omaha (7:05 PM) - RHP Ryan Gallagher Wichita @ Springfield (7:05 PM) - RHP Chris Vallimont Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez Palm Beach @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - RHP Jason Reitz DSL Rangers Red @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM) - TBD View full article

I cannot be held responsible for what gets written in the delirium of the final game of the night (you are correct, that paragraph was confusing).

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photo of Hendry Mendez) TRANSACTIONS INF Quinn McDaniel assigned to A+ Cedar Rapids INF Tanner Schobel assigned to AA Wichita All Twins selections from the 2026 draft were signed (including Vahn Lackey, who signed for $9,740,500) Saints Sentinel St. Paul 9, Columbus 0 Box Score Aaron Rozek: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K HR: Kyler Fedko (17), Ben Ross (9), David Bañuelos (4), Matt Wallner (16), Hendry Mendez (5) Multi-hit games: Hendry Mendez (3-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI), Ben Ross (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI), David Bañuelos (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI) The Saints decimated their opponent on Wednesday. Five homers? And a shutout? In the same game? Even Odysseus didn’t dominate the cyclops in a manner like this. Kyler Fedko started matters with an opposite-field swat that simply refused to fall back to the ground; then, Ben Ross and David Bañuelos went back-to-back to push the lead to 4-0. Mere batters later, Matt Wallner stepped to the plate and smacked a Wallner-ian blast; pulled with a regal authority and such grand power that even the pitcher had to admire what served as his demise. Hendry Mendez swept a two-run shot into what lies beyond the field of men and game—where the common person can grasp a ball and declare themselves an actor in the sport. The five homers accounted for all nine of St. Paul’s runs in the game; they went 1-2 with runners in scoring position. The shutout was an effort combined between Aaron Rozek, Garrett Acton, Julian Merryweather, Alejandro Hidalgo, and Eric Orze, with the former going for four frames with an equal amount of strikeouts, and the latter four combining for the final five frames and three strikeouts. The aforementioned Acton did so in his inaugural Saints’ outing, as he had previously made three rehab outings in the lower levels of the minors. Ralphy Velazquez, ranked as the 35th-best prospect in baseball, played first base for the Clippers, and went 0-for-3. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 7, Midland 5 Box Score Ty Langenberg: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K HR: Billy Amick (21) Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (2-for-4, RBI), Caden Kendle (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI), Jake Rucker (2-for-4, RBI), Jaime Ferrer (2-for-4, R, RBI The Wind Surge were victorious on Wednesday. Four consecutive innings with a score, followed by a pause for a breath, then one more run for good measure. That was the Wind Surge philosophy, as nearly the entire lineup earned a hit and as they went 5-12 with runners in scoring position. 3-8; 1,1,1,3,0,1. The streak that won them the game. Marek Houston broke the shutout with an RBI knock and it only continued from there, with Billy Amick homering the following inning, and Khadim Diaw doubling in the fifth, with the extra-base hit proving controversial enough to cause the RockHounds umpire to be ejected (this author believed the ball to be fair, but more power to those who complain, apparently). And the manager, by the way, is 2018 Twins legend Gregorio Petit. The sixth upended the streak with three runs, rather than the typical one, as Kendle, Jake Rucker, and Jaime Ferrer delivered the goods with singles. A balk in the eighth concluded matters. Midland outfielder Devin Taylor—the sixth-best prospect in the Athletics’ system—collected three hits in five at-bats on Wednesday. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 5, Dayton 6 Box Score Cesar Lares: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K HR: Jose Salas (4) Multi-hit games: Yasser Mercedes (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB), Enrique Jimenez (3-for-4, 2B, RBI, BB), Miguel Briceno (3-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB) The Kernels fell short on Wednesday. 12 hits yet woe and plunder upon them; for the Dragon potency strikes with a mightier awe. Or, at least a timelier one. Only the nerds care, anyways. Cesar Lares’ ERA remains in the double digits, as it has for over a month now. The poor fellow. An eight and then 10 run outing will do that. He found a relative modicum of success on Wednesday, with two earned runs spread across four innings, a 4.50 ERA anathema to the finest of hurlers, yet sweet nectar to a lefty scrounging for any minute luck the game may horribly provide. Miguel Briceno “the .331 man” started the scoring for Cedar Rapids with an RBI double in the second, and Enrique Jimenez knocked in another the following frame. Two empty innings begat a resurgence, albeit a minor one, with a run scoring on a Yasser Mercedes infield hit in the sixth. Soon, swelling in nature, two crossed home when Jose Salas swatted a homer down the right field line. Do the Dragons play in Dayton’s downtown? The surrounding buildings speak to a city that offers fairly well-known cover bands and a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives 10 years ago. How bizarre. Third baseman Tyson Lewis clocks in as the third-best prospect in the Reds system; he went 0-4, with a pair of strikeouts. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 12, St. Lucie 9 Box Score Callan Fang: 2 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 K HR: Luis Hernandez (1), Ricardo Pena (1), Quentin Young (11) Multi-hit games: Jayson Bass (2-for-6, R), JP Smith II (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB), Luis Hernandez (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB) The Mighty Mussels out-slugged their opponents on Wednesday. It started in the second. It only finally stopped in the seventh. Luis Hernandez initiated the scoring with a solo shot slugged out to left-center, opening a Pandora’s Box that no St. Lucie pitcher could shut regardless of the quality of their attempt. A Luis Fragoza sacrifice fly in the third added on—and ushered in a moment of silence; the kind of tepid quiet that could seemingly cut either way; either in complete silence or the calm before a run-scoring storm. This one was the latter. The fifth opened. The terrible fifth. Fragoza started the frame by reaching on a strikeout. The bizarre nature of the inning should have alerted all to what may portend. JP Smith II doubled, Quentin Young scored one on a sacrifice fly, and Harry Genth drove in another with a single. Two arrived in the sixth off a Smith single and a run-scoring wild pitch. With seven in their pocket, the Mighty Mussels were not satisfied—and the score was only tied. Once more for a final offensive? Sure, they thought. They set their Trojan Horse for a final, successful, brutal attack that would once and for all end the threat they sought to silence. Ricardo Pena homered for the first time since May 27th, 2025, a two-run shot. Then, with two on, Young found the right-center wall a worthy target for his blasting, sending the ball sailing with a Nick Castellanos-esque hack and irregular intentions. The St. Lucie Mets employ the labor of the sixth-ranked prospect in the team’s system, infielder Elian Peña. He collected two hits in five at-bats. Complex Chronicles FCL Twins 8, FCL Red Sox 5 Box Score Michael Carpenter: ⅔ IP, 2 H. 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Yovanny Duran (2-for-2, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Victor Leal (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI) An FCL game? On Wednesday? It’s more likely than you think. A remake of a previously weather-prevented match, the FCL game on Wednesday played out like a classic low-level game; when the stolen base portion of the box score reads like a Cormac McCarthy sentence, you know things got weird. Every batter in the lineup outside of Acuña reached base safely. 18-year-old Yovanny Duran displayed an elder understanding of what it means to hit leadoff, earning two hits and two walks in four plate appearances. He also stole three bases, perhaps revealing that he may secretly be Rickey Henderson in a teenager’s body. Reliever Cristian Hernandez provided bulk innings in an impressive manner, totaling 5 ⅓ frames with two earned runs. He struck out seven, his second-highest total this year outside his 11 K outing on June 16th. Minor league rehabbers Bryan Acuña and Michael Carpenter played in the game, with the former going 0-4 and the latter earning two outs with 30 pitches before being relieved. Center fielder Harold Rivas ranks as the 18th-best prospect in the Red Sox system, and he went 1-4 with a run scored. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Cristian Hernandez Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Hendry Mendez ft. Yovanny Duran PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-5, R, K #5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 2-4, RBI, K #7 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, K #10 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 3-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI #11 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-4 #14 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 1-4, 2B, RBI #15 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 1-3, 2 R, BB #17 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-4, HR, R, 4 RBI THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Columbus @ St. Paul (7:07 PM) - RHP Ricky Castro Midland @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP Cory Lewis Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (6:05 PM) - RHP Kolten Smith Fort Myers @ St. Lucie (3:00 PM) - RHP Reed Moring Fort Myers @ St. Lucie (Game Two) - TBD FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (9:00 AM) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL Tigers 2 (10:00 AM) - TBD View full article

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Yasser Mercedes) TRANSACTIONS LHP Connor Prielipp sent to AAA St. Paul on rehab LHP Ross Dunn sent to A Fort Myers on minor league rehab Saints Sentinel St. Paul 5, Louisville 1 Box Score Connor Prielipp: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HR: Kala’i Rosario (1), Aaron Sabato (17) Multi-hit games: Walker Jenkins (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), Aaron Sabato (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Gabriel Gonzalez (2-for-4, 2B), Kala’i Rosario (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) The Saints cruised to victory on Sunday. “Was I supposed to be rusty?” -Connor Prielipp, probably. The rehabbing lefty was utterly phenomenal, corkscrewing Louisville hitters into the dirt with his dastardly, cunning breaking stuff. The poor AAA batters quickly realized why the Wisconsin’s time at the level was previously curt. He ended the day with three strikeouts spread across a trio of scoreless frames. St. Paul opted for an efficient day of plating runs, selecting the third frame as the vessel for the majority of their scoring; four runners would safely touch home plate in the inning. The first, Cody Morissette, trotted, as did Kala’i Rosario after him, as the latter singed his inaugural AAA homer out to left center. Observing the power of… power, Aaron Sabato followed suit, selecting Walker Jenkins as his trailing, sauntering mate. Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as Walker Jenkins slapping a double the other way? Not since Joe Mauer have the Twins had a lefty with the ability to make the simple pleasure look like art from a master craftsman. The seventh inning knock capped St. Paul’s scoring for the day. John Klein, Eduardo Salazar, and Trent Baker each put forth two scoreless innings of relief to carry Prielipp’s excellent effort to the finish line (though Baker was struck for a solo homer to soil the shutout). The Bats employ an outfielder by the name of Héctor Rodríguez. The bastard. He’s terrorized the Saints all season—though his .902 OPS indicates that no one is safe from his wrath. The fourth-ranked player in the Reds’ system homered once in four at-bats on Sunday. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 12, Arkansas 7 Box Score Preston Johnson: 3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K HR: Jay Thomason (2) Multi-hit games: Khadim Diaw (2-for-5, 2 R, BB), Andrew Cossetti (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI), Brandon Winokur (2-for-5, R), Garrett Spain (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB), Kyle DeBarge (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, BB), Jaime Ferrer (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB) The Wind Surge came out on top in an arms race on Sunday. Wichita had more hits than Motown. Ok, that’s not true, but the offensive display was impressive: every batter earned a knock, and seven hitters reached base multiple times. Only four extra-base hits betrays that Wichita also stole six bases without being caught once. It was a pestering unseen outside the dreams of small-ball tacticians of years past. And most of the action was in the bookends. No Mrs. Robinson, instead it was Cossetti, Amick, Spain, and Ferrer who delivered the goods in the first, though, admittedly, Paul Simon chose a more lithe surname than any of the four Wind Surge fellas. Woah, woah, woah. Two more scored in the second off a Cossetti knock, and four dormant innings begat a lone seventh-inning score made suddenly crucial as it was just a 7-6 lead before the knock (Kyle DeBarge provided the hit). Entering the ninth up 8-7, the Wind Surge reached deep down and procured one final, concluding rally. With a man on first, squeezed an awkward fly ball beyond a slightly too lethargic center fielder, whose dive for the ball portended a miss, a ball nestled in the outfield, and a mad dash around the bases. The runner scored. DeBarge claimed third. Ferrer walked and stole second, an action soon rendered unnecessary as Jay Thomason walked to the plate and sliced a three-run homer to left field. Kyle Bischoff set down the Travelers in order to end the game. The Travelers are an affiliate of the Mariners. While Wichita missed the deadly, excellent 1-2 punch of overall top-10 arms Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan, they encountered the team’s 12-ranked prospect, pitcher Teddy McGraw. Not a country singer, nor a long-lost Tug descendent, he allowed four runs in one inning of work. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 11, Beloit 15 Box Score Michael Ross: 2 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K HR: Graham Brown (5), Andy Lugo (3) Multi-hit games: Yasser Mercedes (3-for-6, 2B, R, 3 RBI), Miguel Briceno (4-for-4, 4 R, BB), Andy Lugo (2-for-4, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, BB) A hitting melee broke out on Sunday. Nolan Santos pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Kernels. Every other pitcher line requires parental consent to disseminate. Cedar Rapids’ 14 hits broke down as follows: three doubles, two homers, and nine singles. A bit tepid for an 11-run day? So thought this author. Going 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position helps, as does cracking a Grand Slam in the bottom of the ninth. Sky Carp hurlers are still looking for ways to get Miguel Briceno out; they never did it on Sunday. The left fielder collected four singles and walked once, digging a well-worn trench between the right-handed hitter’s batter's box and first base that he could adventure between blindfolded. Graham Brown authored Cedar Rapids’ other homer. In an unusual performance, every time Yasser Mercedes earned a hit on Sunday, it scored a run. He drove a single to center in the second, snuck a grounder into left in the fourth, then served a double down the left field corner in the sixth. No big, opulent blasts for the 21-year-old; he preferred to scrap for his RBIS. Every starter in the lineup outside of Jose Salas accrued at least one hit. The Sky Carp are a member of the Marlins organization. Fittingly—in tying with the bird team theme—they are spearheaded by the team’s sixth-ranked prospect, Starlyn Caba, who becomes a flying and normal type Pokemon if his “n” is dropped. He totaled two hits and walked once in six plate appearances. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 3, Lakeland 4 Box Score Ross Dunn: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: Ramiro Dominguez (9), Jake Rucker (1) Multi-hit games: Jake Rucker (2-for-3, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB), Harry Genth (2-for-4) The Mighty Mussels came up short on Sunday. Minor league rehabbers flocked to the game and gathered united in their attempts to heal their ailments and re-sharpen their baseball acumen. Some found better fortune than others. Jake Rucker was an offensive firehose: the infielder smacked a pair of hits—including a homer—and walked twice. He now carries a 1.667 OPS in three games with the Mighty Mussels. The pitchers? Maybe skip talking to them after Sunday’s events. The starter, Ross Dunn, fired with scattershot results, walking a pair in a two-run first; just 16 of his 31 pitches went for strikes. Julian Merryweather had the opposite problem: he located the zone just fine but surrendered a two-run homer that counted as just one earned run, as an error preceded it. So, it goes. At least he struck out two and topped out at 98 MPH. Hidden in the hefty seven-man pile of pitchers sent to the mound on Sunday was the awesome outing by Merit Jones. What a gem. He went three scoreless while piling up six strikeouts, as his non-fastballs befuddled Lakeland hitters. Ramiro Dominguez obliterated a homer to start the game. Was his or Rucker’s more aesthetically brilliant? None can definitively say. The Flying Tigers are the winged affiliate of the land-based Detroit Tigers organization. Their fifth-ranked prospect, DH Thayron Liranzo singled and walked in three plate appearances. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Merit Jones Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Miguel Briceno ft. Aaron Sabato PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 2-4, 2B, R, RBI #4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, 2B, RBI, 3 K #5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-5, 2 R, BB, 3 K #10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-4, K #12 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 2-5, R #13 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-5, 2 R, BB #14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 0-3, BB, 3 K #18 – Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 3-6, 2B, R, 3 RBI, K #19 – Billy Amick (Wichita) - 1-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI #20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 2-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI, BB MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS FCL Twins @ FCL Pirates (11:00 AM) - TBD DSL Marlins @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM) - TBD View full article

That's far too kind a compliment to be placed among those masters but I appreciate being appreciated.

It looks like he's getting a bunch of credit for the error in third inning. In WPA's view, he moved the runner to third and placed himself at first, turning a situation where a run was possible, but unlikely, into one where a run was extremely likely to score. Should he actually get credit for that? I don't think so. But that's the logic.

Image courtesy of David Banks-Imagn Images Box Score Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober – 5 ⅓ IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Home Runs: Ryan Jeffers (8) Top 3 WPA: Ryan Jeffers (.130), Bailey Ober (.090), Tristan Gray (.090) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Baseball has returned from its break. Even a sport needs a sojourn. The time off offered a reset—the kind of mental and physical break needed as players and coaches and executives gather their senses midway through the seasonal slog. In their foray into action rebooted, the Twins gathered at Wrigley Field to play against the Cubs. Bailey Ober took the mound, his first start in the hallowed grounds. With a shuttered sigh, he walked Pete Crow-Armstrong to start the game. Was anyone surprised when he immediately stole second? Then a second walk. Then an RBI single. Perhaps Ober should have considered himself lucky to escape the frame with just the lone run against him; he coaxed a strikeout from Alex Bregman and a double play off the bat of Ian Happ. The Twins responded with silence. If you choose not to decide, then you still have made a choice, of course. Colin Rea had them under his thumb. Alan Roden challenged a strike three obvious to the blind and dead. But it was a ruse; Minnesota had a plan after all. Luke Keaschall reached on an infield single in the third, and he made third while keeping Tristan Gray safe on a soft chopper with subtle acumen. The grounder found the second baseman, and the second baseman should have found the shortstop on a force play, but Keaschall blocked the line of sight—and slightly deflected the ball with an unruly, flailing arm—and caused the ball to smack Dansby Swanson square in the jaw, bloodying his square jaw. He would be fine. The Cubs lead would not be. Trevor Larnach slashed a single to left to score one. Then Ryan Jeffers swatted a sweeper that caught too much of the plate, sending the offering 369 feet out to left field for a short, yet potent three-run homer. The teams traded zeroes for two frames, with little resistance from either offense. Attempts were stifled. Balls in play found unforgiving gloves. It was a usual seesaw baseball streak; with scoreless innings and defeated hitters trudging back to the dugout after unsuccessful attempts to add on. The score changed but the deficit righted itself, as the Cubs plated a run on a wild pitch in sixth, and the Twins pushed across a run of their own thanks to a Ryan Kreidler pinch-hit single in the seventh. By now, the entering of the bullpens hadn’t changed either side’s fortune; matters were as they stood when the starters roamed the field. Andrew Morris gave way to Yoendrys Gómez and the lead remained true: Minnesota held still as the victors, besting the Cubs with only tepid resistance from the home team lineup. The Twins bullpen held them scoreless, a statement seemingly impossible in games past. Perhaps something has finally changed. Perhaps this iteration of the Twins have finally found themselves. We shall soon see. Post-Game Interview: Notes: Luke Keaschall is slashing .318/.436/.466 in his last 30 games. Bailey Ober has a 2.61 ERA in two starts since returning from the IL. Andrew Morris' scoreless streak extended to 18 innings. His ERA has dropped from 5.28 to 3.26. Ryan Jeffers' season wRC+ of 164 is the highest of his career and would be the highest mark for a qualified Twins catcher since 2009 Joe Mauer (170). What’s Next? The Twins and Cubs trek back to Wrigley Field on Saturday, with Taj Bradley set to start against Matt Boyd. First pitch arrives at 1:20 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THUR FRI TOT Nance 0 0 0 0 25 25 Gómez 0 0 0 0 22 22 Morris 0 0 0 0 14 14 Rogers 0 0 0 0 2 2 Rojas 0 0 0 0 0 0 Go 0 0 0 0 0 0 Adams 0 0 0 0 0 0 Funderburk 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

And I didn't think he deserved the promotion! Happy to be wrong

Correct. I misinterpreted his FanGraphs page, though the end result sentiment is the same.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Marek Houston) TRANSACTIONS No moves were made on Wednesday. State of the System With just one DSL game on the agenda today, it felt wrong to leave a dearth of unused report space here, unwritten and blank, with the lone match as the only discussion point. What fun is that? So, I thought I would shoot from the hip a bit about the state of the farm system, how the minor league season has gone, and how the draft class looks to affect matters. First, this year has been a little disappointing amongst the best in the system. Not bad, just a little disappointing. Perhaps no individual outcome so far has been worse than Emmanuel Rodriguez, who continues to be plagued by injuries, and is suddenly staring down the barrel of having three option seasons burned before he can even reach the majors (though he'll likely be granted a fourth-year option). That’s tough. Not just for Rodriguez’s development, but for the Twins, who could run into roster logistical issues trying to integrate him into the major league roster (assuming he stays healthy enough to even be able to play). So, thank the Lord for Marek Houston. What a season so far. He’s hit the ground running, and hitting, and fielding. He played his way to AA less than a month ago and has played essentially the same in a small sample; he remains a contact-oriented slick-fielding machine more akin to a shortstop in the aughts and throughout the 2000s before the position grew as powerful as any on the diamond (not that the 6’3” Houston doesn’t look the modern part). Between him and Kaelen Culpepper, it seems likely the Twins have a shortstop of the future currently residing in their farm system. The pitching is… in a strange place. It’s hard to say the group is weak considering Connor Prielipp and Andrew Morris graduated into major league contributors, which places them in an awkward “non-prospect youngster” tier. Still, matters aren’t ideal. Dasan Hill has struggled mightily. Charlee Soto is technically back but only has 2 2/3 innings under his belt. Riley Quick has struggled to throw strikes. Kendry Rojas has struggled to throw strikes. Adrian Bohorquez has struggled to throw strikes. Marco Raya and C.J. Culpepper are relievers. There’s no one yet like a Zebby Matthews or David Festa from years before who breaks out as a late-round college pitcher the team develops into a major league arm. Finally, I’m beyond excited for Vahn Lackey. What a dynamo. The Twins found themselves in a situation like 2023, with an opportunity to take one of the few blue-chip guys in the draft, and Lackey was their reward. He’ll add a solid injection into what is already a thoroughly talented system, and—like with Houston and Culpepper—Minnesota now likely has a long-term fixture at catcher in their organization, whether it be Lackey or Eduardo Tait. Dominican Daily DSL Twins 7, DSL Rangers Red 8 Box Score Yolcar Garcia: 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Juan Holmann (2-for-4, 2 RBI, BB), Anibal Beltre (2-for-5, 2B, R) The DSL Twins lost on a walk-off on Wednesday. This was a DSL game through and through, with hits and walks aplenty, and unearned runs costing the Twins badly. Anibal Beltre led the charge offensively: the 17-year-old stroked a double, and singled. The lineup as a whole flourished, with every batter sans Emmanuel Merlo reaching base safely, and only the aforementioned Merlo and Jeferson Abreu failed to get a hit. Alam Soriano was perhaps the best pitcher of the day, though Arthur De La Cruz flashed quality until the ninth collapsed on him. Soriano covered 3 1/3 innings, allowing a run when Carlos Done tripled for the second time of the day and scored on a sacrifice fly. De La Cruz breezed through the eighth before an error greeted him in the ninth. Faced with trouble, De La Cruz surrendered a single, struck out two, walked two, then watched helplessly as Wisarly Rosario gave up the game-winning knock. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Alam Soriano Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Anibal Beltre PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS FCL Pirates @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD View full article

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Marek Houston) TRANSACTIONS RHP Jack Anderson claimed and optioned to AAA St. Paul Saints Sentinel St. Paul 5, Iowa 4 Box Score Aaron Rozek: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K HR: Kyler Fedko (16), Ben Ross (8) Multi-hit games: Kyler Fedko (2-for-5, HR, R, RBI), Aaron Sabato (3-for-5, R), Ben Ross (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB) The Saints eked out a win on Sunday. The Cubs struck first, with James Triantos jumping on an Aaron Rozek fastball in the second, launching the pitch above the elevated wall in left field. St. Paul was in a responding mood, however, as the Cubs could only celebrate having the lead for five batters before they suddenly were at a disadvantage. How? A Matt Wallner hit by pitch—shocker—an Aaron Sabato single, and an Orlando Arcia double smoked down the left field line. One inning later, Ian Daugherty extended the lead with his first AAA hit. Moisés Ballesteros struck back with a solo homer—these Cubs seem to favor the long ball—which perhaps gave Kyler Fedko a wild idea. Why doesn’t he homer, too? Brilliant. Seeing some logic in this thinking, Ben Ross, too, homered, giving St. Paul their fifth and final run of the day. Iowa struck for two in the ninth, but Trent Baker steeled himself, remained resolute, and whiffed Christian Betancourt on three pitches to end the game. The aforementioned Triantos ranks as the seventh-best prospect in the Cubs system, and he added a double in a 2-4 day. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 8, NW Arkansas 5 Box Score Chris Vallimont: 3 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HR: Jaime Ferrer (3), Marek Houston (2) Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB), Jaime Ferrer (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI) The Wind Surge rode an explosive offense to victory on Sunday. Someone let Marek Houston know that Twins Daily writers are running out of superlatives to shower him with. His supernova season remains shining and dominant: on Sunday, he collected three hits—two for extra bases—and took a walk, his first time reaching base four times in a game at AA. Watch him uncork one over the berm and into the scattered fans in left field: Art. Further down the lineup, Jaime Ferrer also had a potent day at the ballpark. He actually preceded Houston’s bomb with a tank out to right-center—a blast self-evidently impressive yet accentuated even further by the fact that he scored a direct hit onto the bouncy house beyond the outfield wall. Ruddy Gomez dominated the game’s final two frames, striking out three without allowing a run. His season ERA sits at 2.30. Billy Amick’s 61 RBIs are good for sixth-most in the Texas League. The outfielder Carson Roccaforte is the 16th-ranked player in the Royals system. He tripled once in five trips to the plate. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 2, Iowa 5 Box Score Dasan Hill: 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K HR: Jose Salas (3) Multi-hit games: None The Kernels struggled to get their bats going on Wednesday. Four hits. Two walks. Hey, at least half of their knocks went for extra-bases! They plated two, at least, as Jose Salas blasted a solo homer and Henry Kusiak drove in the aforementioned Salas with a double socked into the left-center gap. Pitching wise, Dasan Hill put forth one of the strangest pitching lines you’ll ever see. No hits? Two earned runs? Spread across two innings? The first score came on a walk, balk advancement, stolen base, and RBI grounder sequence, while the second arrived on a walk, two steals, and run-scoring wild pitch progression. Both unusual events. Occurring in back-to-back frames. It’s been that kind of season for the young lefty. Yasser Mercedes stole his 36th base of the season, the 21st most of all qualified batters across all of MiLB, which totals 1,321 players. Kane Kepley, the fifth-ranked prospect in the Cubs system, tripled once in three at-bats on Sunday. His alliterative name remains exceedingly pleasant to write. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 2, Bradenton 5 Box Score Merit Jones: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K HR: Luis Fragoza (10) Multi-hit games: Luis Fragoza (2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, RBI) The Mighty Mussels found little offense and lost on Sunday. Though most of the bats oscillated between cold and tepid, Luis Fragoza continued to be a right-handed firecracker. The 19-year-old blasted one way out to left-center, not quite hammered enough to cause the outfielders to remain stationary yet crushed enough that they realized how feeble their efforts were before they could even touch the warning track. He also doubled in the ninth. Fragoza might be the breakout Twins hitter of the low minors. He’s slashing a robust .343/.392/.650 in 137 at-bats for the Mighty Mussels this season, again, as a 19-year-old in his first taste of pro ball above the rookie levels. On the mound, Merit Jones enjoyed arguably his best start of the season, going five shutout innings with four strikeouts to lower his season ERA below “4”. He threw 58 pitches and earned eight swings-and-misses. The Marauders are, naturally, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, though this author must note a "marauder" sounds far more intimidating than a pirate, even if the words are synonymous. Anyways, their best prospect was the 21st team-ranked Edgleen Perez, who went 1-4 from the catcher position. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Merit Jones Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Marek Houston PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - DNP (went 0-2 with two walks in the Futures Game) #4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2 K #5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB #8 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-4, 2 K #12 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-2, 2 BB #13 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 1-4, BB #14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-4, K #18 – Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4 #19 – Billy Amick (Wichita) - 1-2, R, RBI, K MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS FCL Twins @ FCL Braves (11:00 AM) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL Rangers Red (10:00 AM) - TBD View full article

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images Box Score Zebby Matthews: 6 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (-.340), Zebby Matthews (-.190), Luke Keaschall (-.150) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The feeling can be fleeting. The hope and belief in a team. We follow these men—nearly every day, 162 games stretched across three of our four seasons—and want to judge them as right. A collection better than the typical. Sometimes we’re right. Sometimes we’re not. That’s the magic in the game: we get to see the players at every stage in their journey, with every rise and fall in play acutely observed and understood. Are these Twins capable? Is their recent solid streak an omen? Do we need to know more? Adorned in the lake-blue uniforms that mark a Friday home game, our heroes took the field with Zebby Matthews on the mound. Square-jawed and apparently fine after an injury scare in his last outing, the righty was fine in the first, if not a little inefficient, as he surrendered a single and worked deep counts in an otherwise scoreless frame. His opponent, Grayson Rodriguez, started matters differently. He saw an action-oriented frame. The Twins were ready to swing. And swing they did. Trevor Larnach doubled. Ryan Jeffers advanced him to second on a fly ball. Kody Clemens drove him home on a sacrifice fly. Josh Bell swatted a double of his own. Rodriguez had only thrown eight pitches. Beauregard’s bruisers wait for no one. A Royce Lewis lineout ended the frame with a prescient portend of Minnesota’s next few innings. They had opportunities—the runners were in place; the hard-hit balls were had—but the final product failed to match the sum of its parts, as the initial exciting strike devolved into a cold reminder of an inability to add on. Suddenly, after the fifth inning, those who care about such things like runs scored looked up and realized the home team still hadn’t done more. All the while, the Angels had taken advantage of a Matthews who looked hittable. The first inning was no mistake; Matthews worked through quiet second and third innings before the Angels rattled him in the fourth. Vaughn Grissom pelted a fastball into the stands for a solo homer, and Jorge Soler pummeled a double into the left-center gap. He advanced to third. And Matthews was so outside himself, he attempted to pitch from the stretch before switching to the windup in the same at-bat, which the third base umpire easily spotted and sent Soler home on a balk. The fifth mirrored the fourth. Something in Matthews took him out of his game. Los Angeles shot line drive singles around the ballpark, loading the bases with no one out. Nolan Schanuel scored one on yet another liner, and Grissom ushered in a fourth run with a sacrifice fly. Matthews limited the damage somewhat by coaxing a double play from Soler, but the Angels still led 4-1 against a Twins team trudging through the game. Perhaps the team realized they were running low on time, or perhaps Derek Shelton told them “fellas, respectfully, it’s the Angels,” because the bats finally whipped into shape. The struck with precision in the sixth, with Bell doubling, Lewis singling, and Brooks Lee breaking through with a double smacked into the left field corner. Austin Martin grounded out productively; he allowed Lewis to scamper home safely. It felt like a changing tide, the jump-start the offense would smoothly ride into the all-important rally that would shoot the Twins into the lead. The seventh flirted with a run but never finished the deed. The eighth only saw a base runner. Larnach doubled in the ninth. Finally! This must be it. And here it comes: Clemens smokes a ball destined to rattle around the right field corner, knotting the game in dramatic fashion. One problem. Schanuel, the Angels first baseman, leapt and stole the ball from its rightful home in the outfield grass. For out number 27 in the game. That's all. Try again tomorrow. Notes: Andrew Morris last allowed an earned run on June 10th. He's dropped his season ERA from 5.28 to 3.48. Three batters, Trevor Larnach, Josh Bell, and Brooks Lee, doubled twice on Friday. Lee is 13 RBIs and six runs away from tying single-season career-highs in those categories. Ryan Jeffers returned to the Twins lineup with a single and a walk in five plate appearances. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Angels return to Target Field on Saturday for an early-afternoon meeting, with Joe Ryan set to start opposite Ryan Johnson. First pitch is at 1:10 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Rojas 0 0 0 47 0 47 Morris 0 13 0 0 25 38 Rogers 0 17 15 0 0 32 Adams 0 0 20 0 12 32 Funderburk 0 0 20 10 0 30 Gómez 0 3 19 0 0 22 Go 0 0 0 18 0 18 Orze 0 0 16 0 0 16 View full article

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Jayson Bass) TRANSACTIONS RHP Matt Bowman signed and sent to AAA St. Paul OF Caleb Roberts was placed on the Wichita Injured List. Saints Sentinel St. Paul 1, Iowa 3 Box Score Aaron Rozek: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K HR: None Multi-hit games: None The Saints found little offense on Wednesday. Years in the future, when the woes and misdeeds of people of the present have dissipated, turned to a fine sand and silt, returned to the Earth and settled, others will look back upon these times with questions. Some inquisitions will be more serious than others. “How did they live?” “Were they a perfect people?” Certainly not, though they tried. “And who was that pitching all those games for the Twins minor league system?” Oh, that’s just Aaron Rozek. He’s up to 527 2/3 innings since the start of 2021. Travis Adams is in second with 416 1/3. Lethargic they may have been, the Saints got out to a quick start, with a spanked Walker Jenkins double kicking off the game; he soon scored on a sacrifice fly. They never scored again. The Cubs were not biting on Rozek’s hook. Both in a real and metaphorical sense. His adroit fisherman sense proved lackluster, and he suffered an ultimate humiliation in the second with a Cristian Betancourt three-run homer. Iowa also never scored again. The Saints’ bullpen—an effort on Wednesday composed of Raul Brito, Cody Laweryson, and Alejandro Hidalgo—was excellent. They combined for five shutout innings with six strikeouts and one hit allowed. Rehabbing big leaguer Ryan Jeffers went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Cubs left fielder Jonathan Long is a player of note. He ranks as the franchise’s sixth-best prospect and went 0-for-3, with a walk and a strikeout. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 7 Box Score Chris Vallimont: 4 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K HR: Brandon Winokur (1), Garrett Spain (14) Multi-hit games: Marek Houston (2-for-5, RBI), Garrett Spain (3-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI) A late Wind Surge comeback fell short on Wednesday. Scoreboards are expensive, Mr. Winokur; don’t expect this reckless insolence to be forgotten, whether it be your first AA homer or not. And look at the confused children that could have been hurt! After Winokur established what a pro-ball homer could look like, Garrett Spain expanded on the topic, taking an uppercut swing that could only be described as “ferocious” given his 5’9” 180 pound body. The ball might argue the man’s stature makes no difference; it was tattooed with a mighty force. What is there left to say about Marek Houston? Minnesota’s first round pick in 2025 has been a savant, with brilliance at shortstop and a contact, scrappy offensive profile that might satisfy the Nick Punto hole left in all of our hearts. On Wednesday he collected two hits, stole two bases, and made a dazzling play on the diamond. Houston is slashing .302/.367/.415 in 13 games with the Wind Surge. Drew Beam—a sentence an architect might say when talking about their day—is the 10th-ranked prospect in the Royals system. The right-hander pitched seven innings with three earned runs, striking out seven. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 3, Iowa 2 Box Score Riley Quick: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K HR: Yasser Mercedes (6) Multi-hit games: Yasser Mercedes (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) Yasser Mercedes led the Kernels to victory on Wednesday. It started like a lamb and ended like a lion: the spry Mercedes first reveled in his quickness, knocking an infield single to start the game before swiping second base. He arrived at third on a groundout and reached home on a fielding error. A journey unique only to speedsters. But only a speedster, he is not. Mercedes is a man of dimensions, though he chose not to reveal this fact until late in the game. He grounded out twice and stepped up to the plate once more in the eighth inning. To his right, the game-tying run on first. Only one out. Simply pass the buck? No. Mercedes uncorked a mighty hack and blasted a shot to left-center, clearing the outfield wall while slingshotting the Kernels into the lead. Riley Quick. Four walks? A man of your talents? The righty was otherwise excellent, allowing just one earned run over four frames, with one hit. He struck out five. And reliever Ivran Romero was even better. He hadn’t touched five innings in over a month, despite the fact that 10 of his last 11 appearances were starts. No matter. The San Diego product buzz sawed through the Cubs lineup, setting down the final 10 batters in order for the game’s well-deserved win. He also struck out five with just one earned run against him. The wonderfully alliterative Kane Kepley stands as the fifth-ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system. The outfielder went 0-for-5. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 5, Bradenton 6 Box Score Jason Reitz: 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K HR: Jayson Bass 2 (11, 12), Byron Chourio (6) Multi-hit games: Jayson Bass (2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI), Luis Fragoza (2-for-4), Byron Chourio (2-for-2, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB) The Mighty Mussels came up just short on Wednesday. A day for sons of J. The starter—with the traditional spelling—accrued 3 ⅓ innings, allowing a lone run while whiffing three. His season ERA with Fort Myers now sits at 2.84. The one who garnishes the name with a flavorful “y” had a power stroke and a hunger for homers. His first, a liner that landed nowhere near any creature with a pulse; the second a more traditional fly ball that once again eluded a carbon-based lifeform and had to settle for the dull thud of a cold, empty chair. Sandwiched between the Bass blasts was a rally that had, for a time, given the Mighty Mussels a lead. Byron Chourio observed that homering was fun, and decided to do so himself for the sixth time this season. Ricardo Pena followed with a walk, Merphy Hernandez tripled into the right-center gap, and Miguel Briceno squeezed a grounder hit just hard enough beyond the second baseman to plate Hernandez. Unfortunately, the Fort Myers bullpen—and some horrid defense—doomed our protagonists. The team’s third and final error of the game preceded a lengthy rain delay, forcing the players to ponder their defensive miscues knowing that two runners on base lurked in their future whenever Mother Nature was finished pausing the match. Play resumed. The first batter struck out. The second plated two unearned runs. So it goes. Edgleen Perez, Bradenton’s catcher, is ranked as the 20th-best prospect in the Pirates’ system. He singled once in five trips to the plate. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Ivran Romero Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jayson Bass PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, R #4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, K #5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 2-5, RBI #6 – Riley Quick (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K #8 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 0-3, BB, 3 K #10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-4 #12 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 1-4, HR, R, RBI, 2 K #13 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 0-3, BB #14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 0-4, 2 K #18 – Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI #19 – Billy Amick (Wichita) - 0-3, BB, 2 K #20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-4, 2 K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Iowa (6:38 PM) - RHP Ryan Gallagher NW Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM) - RHP Sam Armstrong South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM) - RHP Kolten Smith Bradenton @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM) - RHP Reed Moring FCL Twins @ FCL Rays (11:00 AM) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL NYY Bombers (10:00 AM) - TBD View full article

Right rotator cuff strain. Placed on the IL after the game on the 27th of June.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Wichita walkoff) TRANSACTIONS No moves were made on Sunday Saints Sentinel St. Paul 3, Buffalo 8 Box Score Ty Langenberg: ⅔ IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K HR: Matt Wallner (15) Multi-hit games: None The Saints fell behind early and never recovered on Sunday. Ty Langenberg’s fourth pitch left the field of play. He should have quit while he was ahead (or not as far behind as he would soon be). The initial strike devolved into an elongated, laborious frame with base runners galore, and three runs across home plate. He threw 39 pitches to net two outs. Trent Baker mercifully ended Langenberg’s day. He netted the final out of the inning with one pitch. Baseball sometimes has a sense of humor. A Ben Ross sacrifice fly broke the shutout against St. Paul in the fifth. A Walker Jenkins single claimed a second run. A Matt Wallner clobber shot in the ninth put a beautiful shade of lipstick on this swine. Might Wallner be fixed? He slashed .315/.390/.730 in June and is off to a .333/.500/.933 mark in July. Like Royce Lewis before him, beating the brains out of AAA pitching teaches us nothing about him as a ballplayer. At some point, the Twins will need to bring him back to Minneapolis to see if he can return to his status as Paul Bunyan in the left-handed batter’s box. He even stole a base on Sunday. Rehabbing big leaguer Ryan Jeffers went 1-4 as the DH. Bison starter Jake Bloss is ranked as the eighth-best prospect in the Blue Jays system by MLB.com. He allowed one run across 4 ⅓ innings. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 9, Tulsa 8 (10 Innings) Box Score Cory Lewis: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K HR: Andrew Cossetti (14), Billy Amick (20) Multi-hit games: Khadim Diaw (2-for-3, 2 R, RBI), Garrett Spain (2-for-4, 3B, 2 R, BB), Kyle DeBarge (3-for-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB) The Wind Surge walked off their opponents on Sunday. Woe onto whomever attempts to predict a minor league baseball game. Cory Lewis entered the game on the heels of a ghastly eight run performance against these same Drillers earlier in the week… and, so, he naturally had one his better starts of the season. Though the WHIP wasn’t pretty, the baserunners were the price he paid for an unruly effectiveness, as Tulsa hitters had even less of a clue where his knuckleball was going than he did. The result was four shutout innings and a season-high matching seven strikeouts. Wichita kicked off the scoring in the third with yet another Andrew Cossetti blast, his fifth in his last five games. Two more runs touched home in the inning when Marek Houston stole his way around the diamond and Khadim Diaw knocked him in, and when the RBI-hitting Diaw trotted home off a Kyle DeBarge double. Tulsa racked up five runs, giving them a short lead until Billy Amick blasted a skyrocket that scraped one of Jupiter’s moons before returning to Earth. Matching scores pushed the game to extras, where the Drillers jumped on reliever Sam Ryan to push forth not just the Manfred runner, but an all-important second run to give them an 8-6 advantage. A death knell? Evidently not. The Wind Surge were in a rebellious mood. Rather than letting Tulsa end the day happy, they got to work building up another rally. A DeBarge single advanced the man on second to third, and a Jaime Ferrer hit brought him home. Then, Jose Salas swung an 0-2 count to his team’s favor by wearing an errant pitch off his foot. With the bases loaded—no room for anything but action of some sort—Quinn McDaniel shot a single beyond the first baseman, easily plating one, then two runs as a dashing Ferrer snuck in before the relay could get him. The Drillers are spearheaded by MLB’s fourth-ranked prospect, outfielder Josue De Paula. He singled twice in six trips to the plate. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 4, Quad Cities 8 Box Score Michael Ross: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K HR: Enrique Jimenez (3) Multi-hit games: Enrique Jimenez (2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB), Luis Hernandez (2-for-2, 3B, R) The Kernels squandered an initial lead on Sunday. The Mississippi River is the second longest river in the North American continent, flowing around 2,350 miles from its source at Lake Itasca in Minnesota through the continental US, discharging nearly 600,000 cubic feet of water. At least 260 species of fish—around a quarter of all fish species found in North America—call the river their home. And, after Sunday, it also claims an Enrique Jimenez home run ball. Unfortunately, neither the river or its tributaries could stop Quad Cities from striking back with a vigorous vengeance. They plated two in the first, third, fourth, and eighth innings to give them a clean rally for this author to efficiently describe with just one sentence. Cedar Rapids jabbed back with a run in each the fourth and the sixth; the former off a Dameury Pena single, the latter a Caden Kendle knock. Quad Cities—an affiliate of the Royals—sent the franchise’s seventh-ranked prospect to the ballpark on Sunday, catcher Ramon Ramirez. He doubled twice in five trips to the plate. Mussel Matters Fort Myers 2, Clearwater 6 Box Score Justin Mitrovich: 4 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K HR: Irvin Nunez (3) Multi-hit games: Quentin Young (2-for-4) The Mighty Mussels were thwarted by the only team ahead of them in the FSL standings. The first set the tone for the game. With hopes and sparkling dreams in their eyes, Fort Myers suffered a rough three-spot defensively, as a single, a walk, a hit by pitch, three stolen bases, and a bases-clearing double gave the Threshers a lead they would not relinquish. They didn't even steal another base all day. It was as if they were satisfied with simply revealing once what they were fully capable of. After three empty frames, Fort Myers offered a mild rebuttal of Clearwater’s thesis with a solo shot by Irvin Nunez, and a run-scoring groundout the next inning by Merphy Hernandez. A rough day for Fort Myers pitchers, Kolten Smith nonetheless put forward a respectable performance, hurling two shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts. Lefty James Tallon ranks as the 19th-best prospect in the Phillies system, and he pitched an inning out of the bullpen on Sunday. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Cory Lewis Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Enrique Jimenez PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-4, RBI, K #4 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-5, R, 2 K #5 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-4, R, BB #10 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-4 #13 – Khadim Diaw (Wichita) - 2-3, 2 R, RBI #14 – Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 2-4, 2 K #18 – Yasser Mercedes (Cedar Rapids) - 1-3, BB, K #19 – Billy Amick (Wichita) - 1-5, HR, R, 2 RBI #20 – Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 3-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB MONDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL White Sox (10:00 AM) - TBD View full article