Seth Stohs

Image courtesy of Vanessa Buentello, Wichita Wind Surge Individually, things can seem minor, but I enjoy following this game and this organization because there is always something to be happy about. First, congratulations to Cody Laweryson. He was the Twins 14th round pick in 2019 out of the University of Maine. He has put in his dues in the organization and had a very solid 2025 season. He earned his promotion to the big leagues when Justin Topa went on the Injured List. On Saturday night at Target Field, he made his MLB debut. He gave up a leadoff single, but that was erased by a double play. Another ground out meant that he had a seven-pitch, scoreless first inning in the big leagues. He earned a second inning. In it, he struck out the first two batters before getting a fly out to right field. Two scoreless innings in his big-league debut. Very nice! Wichita came into the week two games behind Tulsa for the final spot in the Texas League playoffs. They are helped by the fact that they have the tiebreaker. With their win on Saturday night, Wichita has gone 4-1 this week. But Tulsa won too, and they have gone 3-2 this week. That means that Sunday’s season finale will matter a lot. The Wind Surge need to win, but they also need Arkansas to beat Tulsa to put them in the playoffs. If both of those things don’t happen, the Wind Surge season will be complete. TRANSACTIONS The Kernels activated RHP Xander Hamilton from the 7-Day Injured List. To make room, LHP Dasan Hill was placed on the Development List. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Columbus 9 Box Score One day after ending their 12-game losing streak, the Saints started a new streak with a loss at CHS Field. The Saints got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. DaShawn Keirsey led off with a single. With one out, he went to third on a single by Walker Jenkins. Aaron Sabato grounded to third but Keirsey scored on a fielding error. Emmanuel Rodriguez drove in Jenkins with the second run. Connor Prielipp made the start for the Saints. He was fantastic through the first three innings. He gave up only a single. However, the fourth inning happened quickly. He gave up a leadoff single. After getting one out, he walked the next two batters to load the bases. Catcher Kody Huff followed with a grand slam, and the Saints were down 4-2. Beyond that quick stretch, Prielipp was fantastic. He went five innings and gave up four runs on three hits and three walks. He also had six strikeouts. Aaron Rozek came in and gave up five runs on six hits (including 2 homers) over two innings. Brooks Kriske and Noah Davis each threw a scoreless inning. The Saints added a run in the sixth inning off of Triston McKenzie. Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He went to third on a Jose Miranda single and scored on a Keirsey sacrifice fly. Keirsey went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and the sacrifice fly. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 7, Corpus Christi 5 Box Score A five-run fifth inning gave the Wind Surge a 7-3 lead. Were they able to hang on and keep their playoff hopes alive? Ryan Gallagher made the start. He gave up one run in each of the first three innings. He gave up three runs on five hits over the first four innings. He walked one and had seven strikeouts. The Surge got on the scoreboard in the third inning. With one out, Jose Salas hit his fifth homer with the Surge. With two outs, Kala’i Rosario and Hendry Mendez hit back-to-back singles. Ricardo Olivar drove in the second run with a single of his own. Jump ahead to the fifth inning. With one out, Kaelen Culpepper singled and stole second base. It was his first game back since being hit by a pitch last weekend. With two outs, Mendez walked. Olivar singled to drive in Culpepper and tie the score at 3-3. After a pitching change, Ben Ross and Andrew Cossetti walked. The latter drove in the second run of the inning. With the bases still loaded, Jake Rucker drilled a line drive to right field to clear the bases and give the Surge their 7-3 lead. Michael Martinez recorded two outs but gave up one run in the fifth inning. John Stankiewicz got the final out of that inning, but he gave up a single and two walks to load the bases with just one out in the sixth. Kade Bragg came in and got a ground ball, but they just missed a double-play. One batter later the inning was over. Bragg was huge. He not only got the team out of that sixth inning jam, but he went two more innings without any further damage. Kyle Bischoff came on for the ninth inning. He gave up a leadoff single but got two strikeouts and a ground out to end the game. Rucker went 2-for-3 and his second triple of the season drove in three huge runs. Olivar went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Hendry Mendez was 2-for-4 with a walk. The Wind Surge did their part, but so did Tulas. They won 10-8 at home against Arkansas. Both teams play on Sunday. If Tulsa wins or Wichita loses, they make the playoffs, and the Wind Surge go home. If Tulsa loses and Wichita wins, the Surge will head to the playoffs as they have the tiebreaker. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids - West Michigan Box Score The Midwest League championship series starts on Sunday. The Kernels will play Game 1 in West Michigan. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Jake Rucker (Wichita): 2-for-4, 3B(2), 3 RBI. Pitcher of the Day Kade Bragg (Wichita): 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 38 pitches, 24 strikes (63.2%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1– Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, R, K (played CF) #2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-4, R, BB (played 2B) #3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, R, K, SB(10) (played SS) #5 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, RBI, K (DHd) #7 - Connor Prielipp (St.Paul) - 5 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 77 pitches, 49 strikes (63.6%) #19 - Kyler Fedko (St. Paul) - 0-for-5, K (played LF) SUNDAY PROBABLES Columbus @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CT) - LHP Kendry Rojas (1-3, 7.56 ERA) Wichita @ Corpus Christi (2:05 PM CT) - RHP Sam Armstrong (2-1, 4.55 ERA) Midwest League Championship Series Game 1: Cedar Rapids @ West Michigan (2:05 PM CT) - LHP Garrett Horn CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 65-83 St. Paul Saints: 59-82 (26-42 second half) Wichita Wind Surge: 76-61 (39-29 second half) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 72-60 (30-33 second half, reg season complete, beat Beloit in MWLW Division series, playing in Midwest League Championship series)) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 52-73 (25-36 second half, season complete) FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Hendry Mendez) On Wednesday afternoon, Major League Baseball announced which players will be participating in the 2025 Arizona Fall League. The Twins are sending eight players and a coach. Twins prospects will be playing for the Peoria Javelinas along with prospects from the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and Cincinnati Reds. The Javelinas will play in the first game of the season. It will take place on Monday night, October 6, in Scottsdale. The four other teams will open their season the following day. They will play games until November 12. As per usual, the Twins are sending some quality hitting prospects to the Fall League IF/OF Brandon Winokur: The 20-year-old is Twins Daily's #13 prospect. Drafted in the third round in 2023 out of high school in California, Winokur has steadily performed, playing one level each season. He spent 2024 with the Mighty Mussels. In 122 games for the Kernels in 2025, he hit .226/.304/.388 (.683). He filled out the stat sheet well, with 20 doubles, three triples, 17 home runs, and 26 stolen bases in 30 chances. At 6-6, Winokur is a terrific athlete. This season, he played 48 games in center field, 46 games at shortstop, and 30 games at third base. IF Billy Amick: Amick spent two seasons at Clemson before transferring to Tennessee for his junior season. In July 2024, the Twins used their second-round pick (60th overall) to select this corner infielder. He began the season hitting well for the Kernels. In 21 games in April, he was hitting .342/.475/.447 (.922) with six doubles and a triple. Unfortunately, he went on the IL with an oblique injury and didn't return to Iowa for two months. He played in 29 games and hit .283/.376/.396 (.772) with six doubles and two homers. But he went back on the IL and missed another month before returning just a week ago. In those four games, he had six hits including three doubles and two home runs. He is playing in the Fall League to try to get another 100 plate appearances or so. OF Hendry Mendez: The 21-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic came to the Twins from the Phillies at the trade deadline in the Harrison Bader trade. Of the transition to his new organization, Mendez told Twins Daily, "It's been really positive. Everyone has been very supportive, and I feel like I've adjusted well. I thank God for putting me in this organization and I'm excited about the opportunity to keep growing here." In 29 games with Wichita, he has hit .320/.451/.423 (.874) with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs. As you can see from his on-base percentage, he's got a tremendous approach at the plate. In fact, he has 22 walks to just 17 strikeouts since joining the Surge. Mendez was originally signed as a 16-year-old by the Brewers. He remained in the organization until a November 2023 trade sent him to the Phillies for Oliver Dunn. The trade came about a month after Mendez first played in the Fall League. "I haven't been there as a fan, but I did play there, and it was a great experience. I learned a lot, and I'm excited to go back." Regarding the opportunity, Mendez said, "I'm really looking forward to competing at a high level again and making the most of the opportunity. The AFL has great talent, so it's exciting to challenge myself and keep learning. I thank God for this opportunity. " "I want to keep working on my consistency and building on the progress I've made this season. It's a chance to sharpen my skills and prepare for next year." RHP Miguelangel Boadas: The 22-year-old has not thrown a pitch in a game since June 8th of 2024. He had made 11 appearances for Cedar Rapids when he was shut down and later had Tommy John surgery. He has spent the entire 2025 season on the 60-Day Injured List. Clearly the hope here is to get him into some game innings so that when he goes home for the offseason, he can say that he's done it. Originally signed by the Twins in July of 2019 from Venezuela, he slowly worked his way up the Twins system, one level each year. While his numbers don't look great, he has the size and stuff to potentially figure out things like throwing strikes. RHP Jakob Hall: The 23-year-old was the Twins eighth round pick in 2024 out of Oral Roberts University. While he worked as a starter in his final two seasons of college, the Twins had him work primarily out of the bullpen. He made three starts among his 28 appearances. In 54 innings, he went 3-1 with a 6.83 ERA with a 1.56 WHIP. He had 22 walks and just 45 strikeouts. RHP Hunter Hoopes: Hoopes spent two years at UNC Asheville before spending 2022 and 2023 at the University of Alabama. He went undrafted and spent the rest of that summer in the independent leagues. The Twins signed him in June of 2024, and he didn't pitch at all that season. This year, he pitched in 16 games in Fort Myers (2.14 ERA) before posting a 1.56 ERA over 14 games in Cedar Rapids. He ended the season with the Wind Surge. Combined, he has 64 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings. And following the Wind Surge season, he'll head to the Arizona Fall League. He recently told Twins Daily that he is "really looking forward to playing against the talent and getting to play more baseball." He added, "It's been three years since I had a full season. The Twins seeing something in me and sending me is the biggest blessing and the greatest opportunity to start the offseason." He said that the biggest things he wants to work on in the AFL are attacking hitters and throwing his pitches with more conviction. "Getting into the competitive mindset outing after outing without my stuff taking a dip in bullpens or warming up compared to the game. Overall confidence is where I'm at and where the Lord has placed me! Fine tuning my pitches as well as I think they're in a good spot right now as well." RHP Dylan Questad: The Twins drafted the right-harder out of Waterford High School in Wisconsin with their fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft. Easily the youngest Twins player headed to the AFL this year, he will turn 21 on November 2nd in Arizona. Maybre that is what he is most looking forward two for his AFL experience. Following the draft last year, he pitched in 12 games in the FCL. It didn't go well. He was 2-4 with a 10.48 ERA. In 28 1/3 innings, he gave up 35 hits and 29 walks, but he also struck out 39 batters. He spent the entire 2025 season with the Mighty Mussels. Overall, the numbers don't look great. He went 4-7 with a 6.87 ERA. He went 74 2/3 innings and gave up 64 hits. He also had 62 walks. However, he had 83 strikeouts. He has good stuff. He throws hard. He has the makings of solid secondary pitches. Hopefully he can get to the Fall League and either talk to another coach or one of his teammates might show how he throws a certain pitch, and Questad will try it and if it works, great. LHP Zander Sechrist: Like Hoopes, the 23-year-old southpaw signed with the Twins in July of 2024 after four seasons at the University of Tennessee. Undrafted, he signed with the Twins. He made his professional debut this season and threw 69 innings over 36 games for the Mighty Mussels. He was 4-5 and had two saves. Sechrist told Twins Daily recently that he has never been to an AFL game. "It'll be a great experience seeing not only the high-level competition but also the different parks we play in." He's looking forward to the work he'll be able to do as well. He wants to see that competitive level "to see what I am capable of as well as what I need to work on in order to get better for next spring training." Specially, he's looking to do a couple of things. "Being able to execute pitches at a high rate and get my change up where it used to be. Just working on becoming a better pitcher every single day." In addition, Danny Marcuzzo will be the team's hitting coach. He is the hitting coach (and usually the first base coach) for the St. Paul Saints this year. This was his first year in the Twins organization. Marcuzzo played two years at Coffeyville Community College before playing two seasons at Western Illinois. He went to Central Oklahoma to earn a Master's Degree and help with the baseball program. Since then, he has coached at Coffeyville CC and spent the previous four seasons at the University of Nebraska. As we have for all of our years at Twins Daily, we will again be posting weekly updates from the AFL on how the TWins prospects are performing. Be sure to check back throughout the offseason for tons of Twins content. View full article

Are there actually doubters??

Nope...

How many extra fans would that bring in? 10 home games to go... 3 vs Arizona, 3 vs Yankees, 4 vs Cleveland.

Emmanuel Rodriguez has joined the Saints. Jimenez hasn't been added to the Kernels roster. Caden Kendle is off the IL with Julio Bonilla going on the development list. There is a ton to like about Rojas... As long as he doesn't end up with the yips, he'll be fine. He's so young. DeBarge is a good athlete. I don't think it's a top five speed guy in the organization, but he's a ballplayer. Good instincts. He's gotta be wearing down. He's been caught often of late and isn't going as much. Calling up Jenkins at the end of this season makes absolutely no sense. Especially from the 40-man roster angle. Why use up a 40-man roster spot that you don't have to just to get a 4-5 game glimpse of Jenkins now. In my opinion, they have a pretty strong idea of if Jenkins will make the Opening Day roster or not. Of course, I don't think moving him up to St. Paul was needed for that to be true. It might be just a nice thing to get him a week of games in St. Paul since he probably won't do any next year.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Ben Ross) The Kernels played their final game of the regular season on Sunday. On Tuesday, they start their playoff run. The Mighty Mussels season came to an end on Sunday with another rain out which is certainly unfortunate. Wichita has its work cut out for them if they want to earn a playoff spot, but there Sunday win was absolutely huge for a number of reasons. And the Saints, well, hey, Walker Jenkins is going to make his CHS Field debut with the Saints on Tuesday night! TRANSACTIONS The Twins played catcher Ryan Jeffers on the 7-Day Concussion List on Sunday, retroactive to Friday. The Twins Also DFAd RHP Brooks Kriske. Taking those spots on the big-league roster are OF Carson McCusker and RHP Pierson Ohl. Wichita placed C/1B Nate Baez on the 7-Day IL. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 1, Louisville 6 Box Score Jenkins Drills First Triple-A Home Run, Saints Lose 9th Straight Walker Jenkins hasn’t played in a home game for about a month. His last two series with the Win Surge were away from Wichita, and his first two weeks with the Saints have been spent in Toledo and Louisville. On Tuesday night, he will make his CHS Field debut. Tickets available! On Sunday, Jenkins had three more hits. In his six games played in Toledo, he had one hit in 20 at-bats. This week in Louisville, he went 13-for-25 (.520). He had at least one hit in all six games. He had at least two hits in five of the six games. He had three hits in two of the games. That is a pretty good week of baseball. Consider this, coming into the week, he was hitting .050. Heading into his first series in St. Paul, he is now hitting .311/.404/.489 (.893) with three doubles, a triple, and a home run. The Saints winning percentage this season is lower than the Twins winning percentage, but this can be a fun team to watch. This week, you can watch several of the Twins Top 20 prospects. Walker Jenkins (#1) and Gabriel Gonzalez (#10) are top ten Twins prospects in the lineup. Kyler Fedko (#19) has forced his way into the Top 20 with a tremendous season. Andrew Morris (#16) is expected to make the start on Tuesday which likely means that he will start next Sunday too. Mick Abel (#6), Connor Prielipp (#7), and Kendry Rojas (#9) are likely going to each get a start while Marco Raya (#15) has been working out of the bullpen the last few weeks. Two pitchers from Minnesota are on the Saints roster. Lefty Aaron Rozek has been an innings-eater in the organization for a few years now. John Klein was recently promoted to Triple-A and had his best outing last week. There are several players that we have seen with the Twins like DaShawn Keirsey, Jonah Bride and Jose Miranda. Former first-round pick Aaron Sabato has hit 13 homers with the Saints since coming up from Wichita. Tanner Schobel has been a Top 20 prospect. He just returned after missing about three months of the season with injury. And, Twins Daily readers love following Payton Eeles and his remarkable story. Oh, and since the Mighty Mussels season is over, I think we should expect to see Emmanuel Rodriguez return to the Saints. He is currently the #5 Twins prospect. Six home games left for the Saints. If you can get to CHS Field for a game or six, that’d be great. Check out the schedule here. Oh, yeah, back to the game. Kendry Rojas was on the mound to start for the Saints. The lefty walked two in the first innings, but a double play helped get out of that inning without giving up a run. In the second, he walked two and gave up a single run. In the third inning, a single and two walks, but no runs. So, Rojas went three innings and gave up just one run on three hits despite six walks. Jarret Whorff pitched the fourth inning and gave up one run on a hit and a walk. Marco Raya gave up four runs on four hits over 2 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts, but two of the hits were home runs. Cody Laweryson came in and got the final four outs without any further damage. Jenkins had three of the Saints’ nine hits. Jonah Bride went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double. Fedko hit his eighth double since joining the Saints. St. Paul went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base. Chase Petty faced his former organization for the second time this week. In this game, he gave up one run on seven hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings. He is 6-11 with a 5.48 ERA at Triple-A this season. Petty made his MLB debut in last April. In it, he gave up nine earned runs on seven hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings. He made another start in May. He went three innings and gave up four runs on six hits and six walks. He made one other appearance out of the Reds bullpen. He gave up an unearned run on one hit and a hit batter in 2/3 of an inning. He is 0-3 with a 19.50 ERA in the big leagues. Dude is just 22 years old with good stuff. He’ll have a nice career. Also, Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 2-for-4 on Sunday with a double and a home run. This year, he has 202 minor-league at-bats and hit .252/.321/.520 (.841) with 19 doubles and 10 homers. In 151 big-league at-bats, he has hit .208/.234/.377 (.611) with six homers. He has been injured quite a bit the last couple of years yet he is still just 25 years old. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 12, Tulsa 11 Box Score Cossetti, Ross Power Wind Surge to Season’s Biggest Win When the week started, Wichita was two games behind Tulsa in a race for one playoff spot. On Sunday, the Wind Surge gave up a six-run lead, but Ben Ross saved the day with a walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to keep the team’s hope alive. Ryan Gallagher made the start. He was charged with three runs (2 earned) on four hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. He left the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning. Gabriel Yanez came in and got the third out without additional damage. The lefty tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit, walked none and struck out two batters. Wichita got on the scoreboard in the third inning, but it did not start out well. With one out, Kaelen Culpepper worked a 3-2 count before being hit by a pitch on the wrist area of his left hand. Clearly in a lot of pain, the decision was made to remove him from the game (obviously the right and easy decision despite the relative importance of the game for the Wind Surge). photos are screenshots from milb.tv. Jose Salas entered the game for him. He went to second on a ground out. Hendry Mendez then lined a single to right to drive in the team’s first run. Ricardo Olivar walked. Next, Andrew Cossetti hit a three-run homer to give his team a 4-3 lead. Wichita added on in the fifth frame. Kala’i Rosario led off with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. Then Hendry Mendez switched places with him with his first triple with the Wind Surge. After one out, Cossetti came up and walked. Soon after, Mendez scored on a balk which also moved Cossetti to second base. Following a second out, Jake Rucker walked before Maddux Houghton singled to center to drive in Cossetti with the team’s seventh run. John Stankiewicz came into the game for the seventh inning and gave up two runs on one hit and one walk. The first run scored on a “disengagement violation.” The second run of the inning scored on a wild pitch. With just a two-run, 7-5 lead, the Surge responded with four more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Olivar led off with a single. Cossetti came to the plate and drilled another home run, his 13th of the season. Ben Ross followed with a walk. With one out, he stole second base, and Houghton doubled to make it 10-5. With two outs, Salas drove in the 11th run with a single. Hunter Hoopes, who has quietly been one of the best relievers in the Twins minor leagues this season, came in for the eighth inning to protect a six-run lead. He got two fly outs to right field to start the inning, and then things went weird. First, he hit a batter. Then he walked three straight batters to make it 11-6. That was followed by a soft single to left to drive in two runs and make it 11-8. With two runners on, Jaylen Nowlin came in. The first batter he faced hit a triple which cut the Surge lead to 11-10. Nowlin then coaxed a flyout to end the inning. Nowlin returned for the top of the ninth, trying to hold on to a one-run lead. With one out, he issued a walk, but he got the second out right away on a ground out. He then threw two wild pitches which allowed the tying run to score. However, he got a strikeout to end the inning. Ben Ross came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the ninth. He didn’t wait long. He got a first pitch that was up in the zone (or maybe a bit above the zone) and drilled a long home run beyond the left field wall to give the Wind Surge a huge win. Andrew Cossetti went 2-for-4 with a walk, his 12th and 13th home runs, and five RBI. Hendry Mendez went 3-for-5 with a triple and two RBI. Maddux Houghton went -for-4 with his sixth double. Ross’s home run was his 12th of the season. With the win, the Wind Surge take the Propeller Series. It’s the first time that Wichita has won the season series with Tulsa since 2021. That might just be really important over the next week. The Wind Surge really needed that win. That would have been a bad loss. With the win, the series ended in a 3-3 tie. So, with one week left to play The Wind Surge are again two games behind Tulsa for the final playoff spot. The Wind Surge will head down to Texas to take on Corpus Christi. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 4 Box Score Kernels Fall Way Behind Early, Score Late Early in the game, both teams put up multiple single-run innings. Quad Cities notched the lone ‘crooked’ number, and it was enough to give them a slight advantage in the final regular-season game for both teams. After four strikeouts on Saturday night, Kyle DeBarge led off the game on Sunday afternoon with his eighth home run of the season. The River Bandits evened the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second. However, in the top of the third, Danny De Andrade started the inning with a triple. With one out, Poncho Ruiz doubled to give the Kernels a 2-1 lead. The River Bandits evened the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Misael Urbina walked. He went to third on a Ruiz single and scored on a single by Jaime Ferrer to make it 3-2 Kernels. The River Bandits didn’t score in the bottom of the fifth, or the bottom of the sixth inning. However, they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Kernels were unable to tie the score or reclaim the lead. Spencer Bengard started and went the first 3 2/3 innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a walk. He had five strikeouts. Matt Gabbert went the final 4 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits. He had five strikeouts and no walks. Poncho Ruiz went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 13th double. DeBarge hit his eighth home run, but he also walked and stole his 66th base of the season. Brandon Winokur and Marek Houston did not play. Presumably they will be ready to go on Tuesday in Beloit. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers, St. Lucie Box Score It’s Florida, It’s Sunday, It Rains. For the third straight Sunday, the Mighty Mussels game has been cancelled due to rain and poor field conditions. It is especially unfortunate as that was the final game of the season for Fort Myers. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Andrew Cossetti (Wichita): 2-for-4, BB, 2-HR(13), 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 K. Pitcher of the Day Gabriel Yanez (Wichita): 2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 26 pitches, 20 strikes (76.9%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1– Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, HR(1), R, RBI (played RF-CF) #2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-4, R, 2-SB(11), K (played 2B) #3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 0-for-1, HBP (left game in 3rd inning) (played SS) #9 - Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 1 K, 67 pitches, 33 strikes (49.3%) #10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, (DHd) #15 - Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 51 pitches, 31 strikes (60.8%) #17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(8), R, RBI, SB(66), 2 K (played CF) #18 - Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, R, K (played SS) #19 - Kyler Fedko (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, K (played LF) THE WEEK AHEAD Monday Minnesota @ LA Angels (8:38 PM CT) - TBD Tuesday Minnesota @ LA Angels (8:38 PM CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (4-4, 4.73 ERA) Columbus @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CT) - RHP Andrew Morris (4-4, 4.08 ERA) Wichita @ Corpus Christi (6:35 PM CT) - TBD Game 1: Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (1:00 PM CT) - TBD Wednesday Minnesota @ LA Angels (3:07 PM CT) - RHP Taj Bradley (6-7, 4.92 ERA) Columbus @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CT) - RHP John Klein (0-3, 5.60 ERA) Wichita @ Corpus Christi (6:35 PM CT) - TBD Thursday Columbus @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CT) - TBD Wichita @ Corpus Christi (6:35 PM CT) - TBD Game 2: Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CT) - TBD Friday Columbus @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CT) - RHP Mick Abel (7-2, 2.19 ERA) Wichita @ Corpus Christi (7:05 PM CT) - TBD Game 3 (if needed): Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CT) - CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 63-80 St. Paul Saints: 58-78 (25-38 second half) Wichita Wind Surge: 72-60 (35-28 second half) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 72-60 (30-33 second half, reg season complete, playoffs)) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 52-73 (25-36 second half, season complete) FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photos of Bruin Agbayani and Quentin Young) Don't worry. Be happy! TRANSACTIONS RHP Tanner Andrews went on the Wind Surge 7-Day Injured List. Wichita activated RHPs Kyle Bischoff and Michael Martinez. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Louisville 4 Box Score Saints Fall Behind Early; Comeback Attempt Falls Short Connor Prielipp was back on the mound for the Saints, and he pitched pretty well. The southpaw gave up one run on three hits and three walks over four innings. He had five strikeouts. One could argue that the run he gave up shouldn’t have scored as a fly ball to left field landed after hitting the end of Gabriel Gonzalez’s glove. Christian MacLeod came on and gave up three runs (1 earned) on three hits and a walk over 2 2/3 innings. Trent Baker got the final out of the seventh inning but not before allowing two inherited runners to score. He pitched a scoreless eighth frame. The Saints offense took a while to find the scoreboard. Through seven innings, the Saints were down 4-0. In the top of the eighth, Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch to start things. With one out, Jose Miranda singled to center off of the pitcher. Eeles made it to third base. Noach Cardenas grounded out to short which drove in Eeles and Miranda advanced to second. Tanner Schobel lined a single up the middle to drive in Miranda and make it 4-2. With one out in the top of the ninth inning, Aaron Sabato came up and drilled his 13th Saints homer (22nd overall) to pull the Saints to within one run. Carson McCusker followed with a pinch-hit single. Will Holland ran for him. Unfortunately, the next two batters struck out and the Saints fell 4-3. Walker Jenkins began his Triple-A career by going 1-for-21. With a 2-for-4 on Saturday, he has gone 10-for-20 since that slow start and is now hitting .258 (.765) with the Saints. The Saints had seven hits and no walks. They went just 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, Tulsa 10 Box Score Wind Surge Fall Behind Early, Stay There Tulsa scored early and often and drilled the Wind Surge on Saturday. The loss puts Wichita three games behind Tulsa for the second playoff spot in the division. The Wind Surge won on Tuesday. When they won the first game of Thursday’s double header, the two teams were tied for that final playoff spot. However, since then, Tulsa has won the last three games by a combined score of 30-7. Ricky Castro started and gave up two runs in the first inning and three more in the second inning. In 1 2/3 innings, he gave up two hits and three walks. Darren Bowen inherited two runners and allowed one of them before getting out of the second inning. Bowen went 2 1/3 innings and gave up one run on two hits and two walks. Kade Bragg threw two innings and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. Kyle Bischoff came in to start the seventh inning. He gave up a hit and two walks before coming out of the game. Michael Martinez came on with two runners on and allowed one inherited runner to score. He went the final three innings without giving up any runs. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out three batters. Tulsa scored in five of the first seven innings (four of them were multi-run innings). The Wind Surge had a total of three hits in the game. Ben Ross went 2-for-4. Maddux Houghton had the other hit, an RBI single in the fifth inning. Penultimate: I've always liked the word penultimate. Short definition? Not the last, but the one before the last. The second-to-last. For the Kernels and the Mighty Mussels, Saturday night's games are their penultimate games of the 2025 regular season. Fortunately, the Kernels will be playing in the playoffs next week starting with Game 1 in Beloit. Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) will be in Cedar Rapids. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Quad Cities 10 Box Score Kernels Fall Way Behind Early, Score Late Ty Langenberg has been much improved in the second half of this season. He’s been pitching quite well. Things didn’t go so well for him in this one, and frankly, he had to eat it for a while. The former Hawkeye gave up 10 runs on 11 hits and two walks over the first three innings. He had three strikeouts. He also had three wild pitches. After that, it was just about getting the final 15 outs. Julio Bonilla, Nick Trabacchi, and Brennen Oxford combined for five scoreless, hitless innings. They combined for three walks and eight strikeouts. The offense wasn’t exactly clicking in this game either. They did not score until the top of the ninth when they put a two on the scoreboard. With one out, Danny De Andrade walked and scored on a Misael Urbina double. With two outs, Urbina scored on a line-drive single by Jaime Ferrer. Prior to the ninth inning, the Saints had just two hits and two walks. Peyton Carr hit a double for his first Kernels hit. Urbina went 1-for-3 with a walk and his 15th double. A quick note: Brandon Winokur was hit in the hand by a pitch on Friday night. He was not in the lineup on Saturday, but I am told that he is doing fine. If I were to speculate, I would guess that he’s likely not to play again on Sunday, use the scheduled off day on Monday, and get back for Game 1 against Beloit on Tuesday. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 3, St. Lucie 14 Box Score It’s Florida; They Should Have Stopped to Count After One Inning The game began about an hour and 40 minutes late due to rain, but once they started, they were able to play uninterrupted. Down 1-0 going to the bottom of the first inning, the Mussels took the early lead. Emmanuel Rodriguez led off with a single. Quentin Young followed with a single. Bruin Agbayani walked to load the bases. Jacob McCombs grounded out, but Rodriguez scored, and the other runners moved up. Enrique Jimenez grounded out, and Young scored the second run. Eduardo Beltre followed with a two out double to drive in Agbayani. Through two innings, the Mussels held a 3-1 lead. And then… The Mets scored four runs in the third, three runs in the fourth, and five runs in the first inning to take a 13-3 lead through five innings. That was quick. Joel Garcia went the first three innings. He gave up five runs on five hits and a walk. He had three strikeouts. Dylan Questad came on in relief. He was charged with six runs on two hits and five walks in just 1 2/3 innings. He left the game with two runners on. Tyler Stasiowski came in and allowed both inherited runners to score and two more runs in his 1 1/3 innings. Tanner Hall struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning. Anthony Narvaez gave up a run on three hits and a walk in the eighth inning. Will Armbruester struck out one batter in a scoreless ninth inning. The Mussels spread out five more hits over the final eight innings. Bryan Acuna went 2-for-4. Bruin Agbayani went 1-for-2 with two walks. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Bruin Agbayani (Fort Myers): 1-for-2, 2 BB, R, K. Pitcher of the Day Michael Martinez (Wichita): 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 36 pitches, 24 strikes (66.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1– Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, K (played CF) #2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-4 (played 2B) #3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB (played SS) #4 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 K (caught) #5 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Rehab in FM: 1-for-5, R, 2 K (played CF) #7 - Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 76 pitches, 46 strikes (60.5%) #10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 3 K, E (played LF) #17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, 4 K (played SS) #18 - Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, R, K (played SS) #19 - Kyler Fedko (St. Paul) - 0-for-4 (played RF) SUNDAY’S PITCHING PROBABLES St. Paul @ Louisville (12:05 PM CT) - LHP Kendry Rojas (1-2, 8.18 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (1:05 PM CT) - RHP Ryan Gallagher (4-1, 5.40 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (1:00 PM CT) - RHP Spencer Bengard (5-2, 4.43 ERA) - season finale! (playoffs start Tuesday!) St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (11:05 AM CT) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk (3-6, 5.00 ERA) - season finale! CURRENT W-L RECORDS Minnesota Twins: 62-80 St. Paul Saints: 58-77 (25-37 second half) Wichita Wind Surge: 71-60 (34-28 second half) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 72-59 (30-32 second half) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 52-73 (25-36 second half) FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related. View full article

If I read it right... Davis was outrighted, which means he was DFAd and taken off the 40-man roster. He cleared waivers and went back to St. Paul. Why would they want him? Cuz he throws a baseball and is breathing. Wichita has playoff hopes, so they shouldn't be getting anyone from there. So, they just need arms.

Wichita's playoff hopes are spelled out in their section above.

Cedar Rapids.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Sam Armstrong) TRANSACTIONS These transactions often come in a few days after they happen, but in recent days, the Twins have released four players from the DSL Twins roster. They released pitchers Brandy Ceballos, Jeicol Surumay, and Marlon Mirabal, and outfielder Cristian Bonifacio. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Louisville 4 Box Score Saints Face Old Friend, Old Friend Wins There was no score through two innings. Then the Saints scored two in the top of the third. With one out, Walker Jenkins beat out a slow roller to second base for a single. Gabriel Gonzalez followed with a single to right. Jenkins went to third, and when the throw went beyond the third baseman, he ran home with the first run. After an Aaron Sabato single, Gonzalez scored on a single by Carson McCusker to give the team a 2-0 lead. John Klein was on the mound to start for the Saints. He put two zeroes on the board. Then with the lead, he got the first two outs of the third inning. However, a double, a hit batter, and a walk loaded the bases. After a wild pitch, a two-run single gave the bats the 3-2 lead. He gave up a single to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but he responded by striking out the next three players, each with big-league service time. On the night, Klein went four innings. He gave up three runs on four hits, a walk, and a hit batter. He also had seven more strikeouts. Overall this season, the 23-year-old has 121 strikeouts in 98 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, the Saints offense was done scoring runs. Jarret Whorff came on and gave up one run on two hits over two innings. He struck out three batters. Pierson Ohl tossed two scoreless innings and struck out two batters. Hitting third and fourth in the Saints lineup, Walker Jenkins and Gabriel Gonzalez went 2-for-4. Each hit his third double with the Saints as well. Jhonny Pereda was also 2-for-4. By the way, the starting pitcher for Louisville in this game was #OldFriend Charlie Barnes. The southpaw was the Twins fourth-round pick in 2017 out of Clemson. In 2021, he pitched for the Saints and then made nine appearances (8 starts) for the Twins. He signed with the Lotte Giants for the 2022 season. Over three seasons, he went 32-28 with a 3.42 ERA. He made eight more starts for the Giants this season before he had a shoulder injury. Because Korean teams can only have three “foreign” players, if a guy gets hurt, he is usually released. That’s what happened to Barnes. In early August, he signed a minor-league deal with the Reds. He’s been building back up over his first three starts. On Thursday against his former team, he gave up two runs on eight hits over six innings and earned the Win. WIND SURGE WISDOM Game 1: Wichita 2, Tulsa 0 Box Score Armstrong, Paredes Combine for Two-Hit Shutout The Twins traded two months of Willi Castro in exchange for two Double-A starting pitchers. In Game 1, Sam Armstrong started and was fantastic! He tossed five innings of shutout baseball. He gave up just one hit and one walk ,and he had four strikeouts. The Wind Surge gave him a little run support in the first inning. Kaelen Culpepper led off with a single. With one out, he went to third on a single by Hendry Mendez. Ricardo Olivar put the team on the board with another single to make it 1-0. With two outs, Ben Ross singled to center which drove in Mendez and made it 2-0. That was it for Surge runs scored, so fortunately Armstrong was great. The final two innings went to a reliever who has been great all season, Mike Paredes. He struck out four batters and maintained the shutout to record his sixth save of the season. Culpepper went 2-for-3. Ross was also 2-for-3. Game 2: Wichita 5, Tulsa 14 Box Score Kaelen Culpepper Drills 20th HR of Season in Loss C.J. Culpepper has been really good in most of his starts this season. In August, he had three starts in which he gave up zero runs. His previous three starts all went five innings. On Thursday, we were reminded that he is human. He gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks over just 3 2/3 innings. Four of those runs came in the fourth inning. He had three strikeouts. John Stankiewicz has been strong since was signed after the 2020 draft. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings. Jaylen Nowlin came on and gave up one run on two hits and a walk in his inning. Jacob Wosinski gave up four runs on four hits and a walk in his inning. Thankfully, as part of the doubleheader, it was just a seven-inning game. In this game, the Surge faced lefty Jackson Ferris, one of the top pitching prospects in the Dodgers system. Down 2-0 going to the bottom of the third inning, Maddux Houghton cut the lead in half with his first Wichita homer. With one out, Kaelen Culpepper hit his 11th Wind Surge homer to tie the game at 2-2. The Drillers scored the next seven runs which made it 9-2. The Surge got a run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Kala’i Rosario drove in Kyle Hess. Fast-forward to the bottom of the seventh inning. Now down 14-3, Wichita added two runs to their total. Kaelen Culpepper led off with a walk and scored on Kala’i Rosario’s 27th double. Ricardo Oliver and Andrew Cossetti walked to load the bases before Ross drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly. Rosario was 2-for-4 with a double and his 26th stolen base. Nate Baez was 2-for-3 with a walk. Kaelen Culpepper was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run. In addition to it giving him 11 with the Surge, he had nine in Cedar Rapids. A little math tells us that he has now reached 20 home runs this season, joining Kyler Fedko (26), Kala’i Rosario (25), Carson McCusker (22), and Aaron Sabato (21) as Twins prospects to reach that milestone this season. The doubleheader split means that there is no change in the standings. Heading into the weekend, Tulsa is 35-25 and Wichita is 34-26. Springfield is four games ahead of Tulsa, but they won the first half title. So, Tulsa and Wichita are facing each other for three more games. Next week is the final week of the regular season. The Wind Surge will play at Corpus Christi. They are 23-37 in the second half. Tulsa will be hosting Arkansas next week. They are 30-30 in the second half. Should be fun to watch, and great for the minor leaguers to get to play “playoff-like” baseball games late in the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Quad Cities 5 (10 innings) Box Score Amick, Urbina Power Kernels to Win This was a back-and-forth game in Davenport on Thursday night, and it wasn’t decided until 10 innings were completed. The game started with two scoreless innings, but then the Kernels broke the tie in the top of the third when Misael Urbina led off the inning with his fourth home run of the season. Billy Amick pushed the lead to 2-0 an inning later when he led off with his third homer of the year. Adrian Bohorquez started for the Kernels and went the first five innings. He started with four zeroes and then gave up a run in the fifth inning. Over those five innings, he gave up just the one run on two hits and a walk. He also had five strikeouts. Jacob Kisting started the sixth inning. He only recorded one out. He gave up two runs and left the game with the bases loaded. Nick Trabacchi came on and got the final two outs, but not before two inherited runners scored. Heading to the seventh inning, the River Bandits had a 5-2 lead. In the top of the seventh, Eduardo Tait led off with a double, his eighth in 28 games with the Kernels. He moved to third base on a ground out and scored on a single by Danny De Andrade. After a pitching change, Poncho Ruiz singled. After a wild pitch put runners on second and third, Urbina singled to drive in two runs and tie the game at 5-5. Brennen Oxford came in and pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Ruddy Gomez struck out four batters over two hitless innings. That sent the game to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Urbina started at second base. Jaime Ferrer’s 20th double drove him in to make it 6-5. Ferrer advanced to third base on a deep fly ball to center by Jefferson Valladares. Kyle DeBarge walked, and Ferrer scored on a wild pitch. Bill Amick provided the final punch with his fourth Kernels home run which made it 9-5. Paulshawn Pasqualotto started the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk. After a line out, he struck out the next two batters to give the Kernels another win. Amick went 2-for-5 and doubled his season home run total to four. He drove in three runs. Urbina went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. De Andrade went 2-for-5. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, St. Lucie 3 Box Score Sprock Drives in 4 to Lead Mussels; Hilker Dominant Pro Debut The St. Lucie Mets were the division champs in the first half and in the second half and likely are the favorites when the Florida State League playoffs start next week. In this game, the Mets scored two right away in the top of the first inning. The Mussels got on the board in the bottom of the third innings when Ian Daugherty hit his second home run to make it 2-1. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Quentin Young and Enrique Jimenez walked. With two outs, Ryan Sprock knocked his second pro homer to give the Mussels a 4-2 lead. Christian Becerra made the start and tossed the first four innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He also struck out four batters. 2025 draft pick Michael Hilker came in for the fifth inning. He had two strikeouts and fielded a bunt. He got another strikeout in the sixth inning. The first pro outing for Hilker was certainly a success. Six batters faced. Six outs. Three strikeouts. Oh, and the first Win as a pro. Ian Daugherty led off the fifth inning with a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Bruin Agbayani walked. Quentin Young drove in the fifth run with a sacrifice fly. Enrique Jimenez singled Agbayani to third base. After Eduardo Beltre walked to load the bases, there was a pitching change. Ryan Sprock came to the plate and took a walk to drive in the sixth run of the game. Zander Sechrist gave up an unearned run on two hits in the seventh inning. Sam Rochard struck out two batters over the final two innings to record his second save. Ryan Sprock went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer, and an RBI walk. Quentin Young recorded his first professional hit, a solid single to right field. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, 2 HR(4), 2 R, 3 RBI, K. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 3-for-6, BB, HR(11), 3 R, RBI, K. Ryan Sprock (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, BB, HR(2), R, 4 RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day Sam Armstrong (Wichita): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 61 pitches, 39 strikes (63.9%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. Notice the updated Top 20 prospect rankings. There were a few guys who moved a few spots and there are some new names at the back end. #1– Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B(3), R, 2 K. (played CF) #2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 4-for-5, 2 R, RBI, SB(9), (played 2B) #3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - Game 1: 2-for-3, R; Game 2: 1-for-3, BB, HR(11), 2 R, RBI, K (played SS both games) #4 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 2B(8), R, 2 K (caught) #5 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Rehab in FM: 0-for-4, 3 K (played CF) #10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B(3), R, K (DHd) #13 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5 (played SS) #17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, R, K, CS(8) (played CF) #18 - Quentin Young (Fort Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, R, RBI, K (played SS) #19 - Kyler Fedko (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, K, OF Assist (played LF) #20 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 3 2/3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 73 pitches, 49 strikes (67.1%) TOMORROW’S PITCHING PROBABLES St. Paul @ Louisville (6:15 PM CT) - RHP Mick Abel (7-2, 2.22 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CT) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (0-3, 11.49 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CT) - RHP Chase Chaney (7-4, 3.56 ERA) St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CT) - LHP Michael Carpenter (0-6, 5.18 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 62-78 St. Paul Saints: 58-75 (25-35 second half) Wichita Wind Surge: 71-58 (34-26 second half) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 71-58 (29-31 second half) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 51-72 (24-35 second half) FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Rumor is Billy Amick listened... and then doubled his season HR total.

Walker JenkinsEduardo TaitLuke KeaschallKaelen CulpepperMick AbelEmmanuel RodriguezGabriel GonzalezKendry RojasAndrew MorrisBrandon WinokurCharlee SotoDasan HillQuentin YoungMarco RayaRiley QuickMarek HoustonHendry MendezKhadim DiawEduardo BeltreSantiago Castellanos

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Kala'i Rosario) For the second straight week, the Mussels had games cancelled on Sunday. Their season includes just one more week of games, at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers if you want to go. TRANSACTIONS There were a few moves on Sunday morning. Connor Prielipp was activated from the Development List for St. Paul, and Aaron Rozek was put on the Development List. Ricardo Olivar was activated from Wichita’s IL. Michael Martinez was placed on their Development List. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 1, Toledo 2 Box Score Pablo Lopez is Ready After Strong Rehab Start. Saints Lose Late. It was a Triple-A pitching matchup for the ages! Pablo Lopez, making his third rehab start, was on the mound for the Saints. The home team Toledo Mudhens starter was long-time friend Randy Dobnak. Dobnak, who went 8-5 with a 3.12 ERA over 75 innings for the Twins in 2019 and 2020, was traded to the Tigers last month with Chris Paddack. On Sunday, he faced several of his literal #OldFriends with the Saints. “Dobber” tossed five scoreless innings. He gave up just two hits. He walked three and had three strikeouts. Pablo Lopez was even a little bit better. He tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, walked just one and had seven strikeouts. The pitcher who came in for the Mudhens after Dobnak was another long-time friend, Jordan Balazovic. He tossed a scoreless sixth inning. In the seventh, the Saints were able to get on the scoreboard. Carson McCusker led off with a solid single to left. He advanced to second base on a fielding error by another former Twins friend Akil Baddoo. After a strikeout, Jonah Bride singled to center to drive in McCusker with the unearned run. Lopez faced two batters in the sixth inning and got both out. With 82 pitches thrown, his night (and presumably his rehab assignment) is now over (though obviously not officially until he can pitch next and gets added back to the Twins roster. Lefty Connor Prielipp came on in relief. He struck out Jace Jung to end that inning. Baddoo led off the seventh with a single which was followed by another single. After a strikeout, Prielipp coaxed Kevin Newman into hitting into an inning-ending double play. Prielipp struck out two and got a ground out in a scoreless eighth which was only interrupted by a Parker Meadows walk. Prielipp was back out there for the bottom of the ninth inning. Jung led off with a single, and Baddoo moved him to third on another single. After a strikeout, Trei Cruz singled to drive in Jung and tie the game at 1-1. Next, Newman lined a single to center which scored Baddoo with the game-ending run. The Saints did very little on offense. Jonah Bride had three of the team’s five hits. Walker Jenkins had two of the Saints’ four walks. He was also hit by a pitch and stole his first Triple-A base. Gabriel Gonzalez had a single and a walk. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 6, Arkansas 3 Box Score Surge Power Their Way to a Sweep of the Travelers On Sunday, Wichita grabbed an early lead, but when the Travelers came back, the Wind Surge put together a three-run inning to reclaim the lead and complete the six-game sweep over Arkansas. Wichita got on the board first when Andrew Cossetti drilled a leadoff home run to start the bottom of the second inning. He now has 11 on the season. With two outs in the fourth inning, Nate Baez hit his fifth homer to make it 2-0. Ricky Castro started for the home team. He tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two batters. Jacob Wosinski came into the fourth inning with two runners on base, but he kept both from scoring. He gave up one run in the fifth inning. Kade Bragg, who got the final out of the fifth frame, gave up a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning that put Arkansas on top 3-2. But the Surge punched back with power. Kala’i Rosario led off the bottom of the sixth with his 24th home run of the season to tie the game. It also tied him for the franchise record for home runs in a season. What an August for Kala'i! With one out, Cossetti walked. He went to third on a Baez double. With two outs, Ben Ross drove in both with a double to give the Surge a 5-3 lead. The Surge added an insurance run in the seventh when Harry Genth scored on a Baez walk. Baez was the fourth Wichita player to walk that inning. John Stankiewicz worked a scoreless seventh inning, and Mike Paredes picked up his fifth save with four strikeouts over his two innings. Baez led the way. He went 2-for-3 with a walk, his eighth double and his fifth home run. Ben Ross was 3-for-4 with his 14th and 15th doubles; the latter gave his team a lead that they never gave up. With the sweep, the Wind Surge are 12 games over .500, their best mark of the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Beloit 1 Box Score Win the 2nd Inning, Win the Game There were 17 half-innings played in Cedar Rapids on Sunday afternoon. Zero runs were scored in 15 of them. Nine innings were played in Cedar Rapids on Sunday afternoon. Zero runs were scored in eight of them. Sometimes the game can be won or lost in the second inning. Ty Langenberg has been pitching quite well of late. He gave up just one run on three hits and two walks over six innings. He had four strikeouts. Chase Chaney tossed three scoreless innings to close out the game and record his first save of the season. He gave up two hits and struck out three batters. Both teams went 1-2-3 in the first inning, so let’s take a look at the second frame. Langenberg walked the leadoff batter, but then he struck out the next two batters. After a stolen base, Jay Beshears doubled to drive in Beloit’s run. The bottom of the second began with a strikeout. Misael Urbina followed with his fourth triple of the season. He scored on a Poncho Ruiz single to center. After a second out, Jaime Ferrer singled Ruiz to second. Jefferson Valladares followed with his fourth double which drove in Ruiz and gave the Kernels the 2-1 lead. Frankly after that, there were very few scoring chances. Very few base runners. In the fifth inning, Kyle DeBarge singled and stole his 63rd base. He went to third on a wild pitch but was unable to score. The Kernels got two runners on (walk, hit batter) in the sixth. The Sky Carp had two singles in the top of the eighth inning but didn’t get a runner past second. Pitching was the story of the game, and Ty Langenberg and Chase Chaney were terrific. But so was the defense. Yes, there were strikeouts, but also a lot of ground ball outs, forced outs, double plays and a couple of caught steals. Six Kernels had one hit. There were three players who had a walk. Ruiz was the only Kernel with one hit and one walk. Valladares had the lone double, and Misael Urbina had the lone triple. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers/Dunedin (cancelled) Box Score As per usual, baseball in August is always a question mark down in Florida. Sunday’s series finale in Dunedin was cancelled due to rain. So, the Mussels season road record was 25-39. They return to Hammond Stadium on Tuesday to host the St. Lucie Mets for, hopefully, six more games. And that will make the end of the Mussels 2025 season. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Nate Baez (Wichita): 2-for-3, BB, 2B(8), HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI, Pitcher of the Day Ty Langenberg (Cedar Rapids): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 81 pitches, 55 strikes (61.6%) Chase Chaney (Cedar Rapids): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 51 pitches, 32 strikes (62.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1– Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, 2 BB, HBP, (DHd) #2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-2, BB, HBP, 2 R, RBI (played 2B) #5 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, 2 K (DHd) #6 - Connor Prielipp (St.Paul ) - 2 2/3 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 53 pitches, 34 strikes (64.2%) #7 - Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Sunday reports from multiple people tell me that Hill is fine and will make his next start. #11 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB (played LF) #13 - Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K (played SS) #17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, K, SB(63) (played CF) #20 - Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, SB(2) (played LF) WHAT’S NEXT? MONDAY White Sox @ Minnesota (1:10 PM CT) - TBD (4 game home series) TUESDAY St. Paul @ Louisville (5:35 PM CT) - LHP Kendry Rojas (1-1, 5.40 ERA) vs RHP Chase Petty (4-11, 5.77 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CT) - TBD Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CT) - TBD St. Lucie @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CT) - TBD CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 62-74 St. Paul Saints: 58-72 (25-32 second half) Wichita Wind Surge: 69-57 (32-25 second half) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 69-57 (29-31 second half) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 49-71 (22-34 second half) FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

sounds like Hill is just fine. Just had some tightness in his forearm. I don't know if they imaged it. I tried to get the opinion of multiple people but everything came back that he is just fine. I still think it'd be OK to shut him down for the season.

Hey all, I finished writing this around midnight last night... Did I really not publish it until now?!?! If so, my apologies.

Image courtesy of David Malamut It was a rough day for the Twins and their affiliates. But usually with the bad comes some good. Usually. For instance, Mick Abel had another rough outing for the Twins. On the other side, Taj Bradley was good. He gave up just one run in and struck out six batters in five innings. Byron Buxton hit his 28th home run. James Outman had two hits, and so did Trevor Larnach after his three hits on Friday night. Maybe most positive, Ryan Fitzgerald pitched a 1-2-3 inning! I mention that as a reminder that with the minor league games too, you can find good in the bad most of the time. There were a few rough games in the organization on Saturday night, but in each, there is something to hang onto. Wichita was the only affiliate to win on Saturday, but the biggest news of the day came out of Cedar Rapids. TRANSACTIONS None. Really. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 1, Toledo 13 Box Score Saints Stifled and Tormented in Toledo. It was a rough one in Toledo. Pierson Ohl made his first appearance since coming back from the Twins. In three innings, he gave up three runs on four hits. He walked none and had five strikeouts. Jarret Whorff came on for the fourth inning. He recorded just two outs and was charged with six runs on six hits and two walks. Marco Raya came on with two runners on and issued a walk to load the bases before he got the final out without additional runs scored. However, he was in early season form unfortunately. In the fifth inning, Raya gave up two runs on two walks and a double. He came back out for the sixth inning. He walked the first two batters he faced before Darren McCaughan came on and struck out the next three batters. Raya’s final line was two runs on one hit and five walks in 1 1/3 innings. McCaughan worked two innings and gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits and a walk. He struck out five. Erasmo Ramirez walked one in a scoreless inning in his first appearance since accepting the assignment to St. Paul. The Saints lone run came in the top of the sixth. Payton Eeles led off with a single. With one out, he moved up to second on a Gabriel Gonzalez single. DaShawn Keirsey singled to drive in Eeles with the lone run. The Saints had seven hits and two walks. Gonzalez went 3-for-4. Eeles was 2-for-3 with a walk. The bottom four in the Saints lineup accounted for 12 of the Saints 16 strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Arkansas 2 Box Score Wichita Surges Ahead Early and Hangs on to Win The Wind Surge jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings. That was about it for the offense, but the pitching staff held on to the lead the rest of the way. After a 31-minute rain delay the game started with Alejandro Hidalgo faced three batters in a scoreless top of the first inning. In the bottom of the first, Kaelen Culpepper and Kala’i Rosario started things with singles. Hendry Mendez laid down a sacrifice to advance runners to second and third base. Nate Baez grounded to second, and Culpepper beat a throw to the plate leaving runners on first and third. Andrew Cossetti singled to drive in the second run. With two outs, Jake Rucker singled to drive in Baez with the third run. Then with one out in the second inning, Maddux Houghton singled. Culpepper followed with a walk. Rosario singled to center to drive in Houghton, and then Mendez singled to drive in Culpepper and make it 5-0. That was it for the Surge scoring. Then it came down to the pitching, and they were good. Hidalgo gave up just one run on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts and no walks. Gabriel Yanez gave up one run on three hits in 1 1/3 innings. Logan Whitaker and Jaylen Nowlin each struck out two batters in a scoreless inning. Tanner Andrews picked up his second save with a scoreless ninth inning. Kaelen Culpepper went 3-for-3 with a walk. Kala’i Rosario was 2-for-5. Hendry Mendez was 2-for-3 with a walk and the sacrifice bunt. Jake Rucker was 2-for-2 with two walks. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Beloit 6 Box Score Dasan Hill Sets Career-High Strikeout Mark in 3 2/3 Innings, Leaves with Injury Dasan Hill was back on the mound for the Kernels on Saturday, and he looked really good. The lanky left tossed three scoreless innings and gave up just two hits. He struck out one batter in the first inning, three batters in the second inning, two more in the third inning. In the fourth inning, he gave up a leadoff walk. He proceeded to strike out the next two batters, even though he didn’t quite look right. The second strikeout of the fourth inning came on an 84-mph changeup. But when he caught the throw back from the pitcher, he grimaced. He walked across the mound and looked in the dugout. Quickly, pitching coach Argenis Angulo was on the mound talking to the southpaw. Soon after, he called up manager Brian Meyer and the trainer. When the ump got to the mound, Angulo pointed to his elbow. When the manager got to the mound, Angulo pointed at Hill’s outer elbow. The trainer talked to him and checked things out. It didn’t take long for Meyer to look toward his bullpen and call on another pitcher. (the following are screenshots from MILB.com) It’s hard to read what happened, to be honest. We're talking about tightness in his forearm; it has to be a must to remove the pitcher from the game immediately. Hill appeared to be disappointed to leave the game, which seems positive. However, the next step will be to get some imaging done. We can hold our collective breaths. Brennen Oxford came on to replace Hill with a runner on second base. He gave up a walk and a double steal. That was followed by another walk. And then a balk drove in the inherited runner to score. The next two batters drove in runs with singles to make it 3-0. On a positive note, Marek Houston led off the bottom of the fourth with his first Kernels home run. And that was about it for the Kernels offense. Jaime Ferrer hit his 18th double, and Poncho Ruiz hit a single. Three hits, two walks. One hit batter. Just one run. Spencer Bengard came in to start the fifth inning and gave up two unearned runs over three innings. He had three strikeouts. Nick Trabacchi gave up a run on a solo homer and had two strikeouts in two innings. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 0, Dunedin 6 Box Score Enrique Jimenez Keeps Hitting, but Mussels Offense Goes Quiet Enrique Jimenez hit a single and a double in his four at-bats on Saturday night. Those were the only two hits for the Mussels in the game. Yilber Herrera walked and stole base. He had the Mussels only walk in the game. The Mussels had a season-high 16 strikeouts in the game. That is the offensive piece of this game recap. (Read that however you will.) The pitching wasn’t actually too bad. Joel Garcia drops to 0-3 with the Mussels, but he gave up just one run on four hits and a walk. He had three strikeouts. Tyler Stasiowski gave up one run on four hits and a walk over two innings. Jakob Hall gave up only a solo home run in his inning. Will Armbruester was charged with three runs (1 earned) on three hits in the eighth inning. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 3-for-3, BB, HBP, 2 R Pitcher of the Day Alejandro Hidalgo (Wichita): 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 63 pitches, 45 strikes (61.6%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1– Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, K, (played RF) #2 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 0-for-4, SB, (played 2B) #3 - Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) - 3-for-3, BB, HBP, 2 R (played SS) #5 - Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, E (caught) #7 - Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - 3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 74 pitches, 45 strikes (60.8%) #8 - Mick Abel (Minnesota) - 1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 59 pitches, 37 strikes (62.7%) #11 - Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, (played LF) #12 - Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 53 pitches, 26 strikes (49.1%) #13 - Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HR(1), R, RBI, K, E (played SS) #14 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, 2 K (played CF) #17 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, K (played 2B) #20 - Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 2-for-3, BB, SH, BB, RBI (played LF) SUNDAY PITCHING PROBABLES St. Paul @ Toledo (5:05 PM CT) - RHP Pablo Lopez (0-2, 4.35 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CT) - RHP Ricky Castro (3-3, 5.19 ERA) Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (4-5, 4.30 ERA) Fort Myers @ Dunedin (11:00 AM CT) - RHP Xavier Kolhosser (0-1, 9.00 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 61-74 St. Paul Saints: 58-71 (25-31 second half, 7th in IL West, 14 GB) Wichita Wind Surge: 68-57 (31-25 second half, 3rd in Texas Lg North, 4 GB) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 68-57 (28-31 second half, T-3rd in MWL West, 4.5 GB, first half winner) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 49-71 (22-34 second half 6th in FSL West, 9.5 GB) FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 24-32 (season complete) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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