Seth Stohs

The Real Deal!!!

"Astute" = "excuse making".... There were at least two balls that Larnach maybe should have caught in LF... And yes, the lighting isn't even comparable to MLB lighting, and the fact that the lights are lower in minor league parks is also true because you loose it when it gets above that level. That said... The Tampa Tarpons outfielders have the same conditions and the minor leaguers who play there, so it's not a great excuse. But it was clear that he was not seeing the ball well at all from the replays.

TRIVIA ANSWER: #1 - Chris Williams. #2 - Mark Contreras.

Personal opinion with zero insight... They're "grooming" him for a very much functional role in the big leagues. Teams talk about how nice it would be to have a long reliever, and I can't imagine that any teams are really actively trying to figure out how to develop a long reliever. Yes, a starter can come up and be a long reliever, but that person may not have figured out a plan for how to get ready to come in to the 4th inning but be adaptable enough that if you need to come into the 2nd inning, you can. With guys like Raya and Prielipp (personal opinion, wisely) being limited to 50 pitches (under the more controlled environment of a starter), I can't help but think that teams will need to develop an idea for how they can best utilize those types. Right now I'm thinking Prielipp as Raya is probably further away. Huge upside, and if they can get 4-5 innings in 65-70 pitches, having another guy able to go 3-4 innings might be good. I've actually thought about your very question, and obviously specifically with Travis. He can start. He's thrown a lot of innings in recent years, been very durable. (second reminder: I am mostly just thinking out loud)

Image courtesy of Ashley Monjaras The Twins earned a walkoff win thanks to France. On Friday night, it was Holland that helped Wallner, Festa, Gardenhire and company to a big win. TRIVIA On Thursday, Matt Wallner hit two home runs in his first rehab game with the Saints. (you'll be happy to see how he did in this second rehab game on Friday) He has hit 38 total home runs in a St. Paul Saints uniform. That ranks third in the Saints Career Home Run Leaders (since 2021, of course). Which two players have more career home runs with the Saints than Matt Wallner? Leave your answers in the comments below. I'll answer the question around noon on Saturday, and if you got it right, I will think "Good job!" CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 28-22 St. Paul Saints: 24-21 Wichita Wind Surge: 23-20 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 24-18 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 19-24 FCL Twins: 9-5 DSL Twins: Scheduled to start on June 2. TRANSACTIONS What? No transactions the whole day? Well, Carlos Correa was reinstated from the concussion list, but Ryan Fitzgerald was already optioned a day earlier. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 10, Norfolk 2 Box Score If you are looking for offense from your minor-league affiliate, you might only want to read the Saints section today. (I’m kidding. You, of course, want to read it all, thoroughly, and add questions and comments.) While the Tides scored first in the top of the first, a five-run second inning gave the Saints an early lead. The added on late in the game. And, they got strong pitching, and that rehabbing outfielder from Forest Lake played a big role in the win. Let’s start with pitching. David Festa made his first appearance in over two weeks due to an arm issue. He needed to use a lot of pitches, but his pitches looked good. In 3 2/3 innings, gave up one run on two hits and a walk. He had seven strikeouts. One of the two hits was a hard-hit ball to the left-center field gap that Emmanuel Rodriguez clearly lost in the sun and was unable to catch. That runner came around to score. Travis Adams came in and had one of his best performances of the season. He tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and had six strikeouts to earn his third win in his long-relief role. Kyle Bischoff gave up one run on two hits and two walks in the ninth innings. He had two strikeouts. He just wanted to make things entertaining for the crowd at CHS FIeld. Matt Wallner was back in the lineup, one night after he homered twice in Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader. He was leading off and was the DH. He struck out on a questionable check swing in the first inning. The second inning began with a Jose Miranda walk. Mike Ford struck out. Emmanuel Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, and Armando Alvarez walked to load the bases. After Fitzgerald struck out on three pitches (two of which were on the edge and overturned), Will Holland walked to put the Saints on the scoreboard. That brought Wallner to the plate. On a 2-1 pitch, the Tides’ starter tried to throw a four-seamer inside on Wallner, but he turned on it, hit it 103 mph right down the right field line. With Holland’s speed, all three runners scored and the Saints led 4-1. Mickey Gasper was hit by a pitch, and then Edouard Julien lined a single to center to drive in Wallner with the fifth run of the inning. Have we talked about the speed of Holland lately. Well, the Saints scored a run in the fourth inning because of it. With one out, Holland hit a routine ground ball to second base and beat the throw to first. With two outs, Holland stole second base and went to third on a throwing error. Soon after, #OldFriend Matt Bowman unleashed a wild pitch, and Holland scored easily. Holland led off the bottom of the seventh frame with a walk. He went to third on a solid single to center by Wallner. After two strikeouts, Miranda doubled to drive in Holland. Ford singled to drive in Wallner and Miranda and make it 9-1. The Saints added one more run in the bottom of the eighth inning to put them in double digits. Fitzgerald walked. He went to second on a Wallner single. With two outs, Julien walked to lead the bases, and then Miranda walked to score that 10th run. Wallner went 3-for-5 with the double and three RBI. Miranda was 1-for-3 with a double and two key walks. Holland was 1-for-2 with two walks. He scored three runs. Rodriguez was 1-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, San Antonio 2 Box Score For the second straight day, there was a pitcher’s duel near the Alamo. Unfortunately, the Wind Surge ended up on the short end, losing 2-1 for the second straight night. They are just 4-9 on games decided by one run. Darren Bowen was very impressive in this game. The right-hander, acquired as part of the Jorge Polanco trade, made the start. He tossed five innings. He gave up one run on three walks and four strikeouts. He gave up no hits through his five innings, but when he left the game, it was tied. Joshua Mears, who earlier this week launched a home run recorded at 504 feet, was credited with a steal of home in the third inning which gave the Mission a 1-0 lead. He was one of two batters to walk in that inning. Bowen has now made seven starts (and one bullpen appearance) for Wichita. He is 2-0 with a 2.73 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. In 33 innings, he has given up just 17 hits, walked 14 batters and struck out 26 hitters. With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Aaron Sabato singled. He came around to score on Ben Ross’s sixth double of the season to tie the game at 1-1. In the sixth inning, Michael Martinez replaced Bowen on the mound. The inning started with a double. With one out, Martinez fielded a ground ball and threw the ball wildly in the general direction of first base. That gave the Mission a 2-1 lead they held onto for three more innings. Angel Macuare threw two scoreless innings to keep it close. The Wind Surge scored one run on six hits and two walks. Sabato was 2-for-4. He has seven multi-hit games this season. Four of the hits went for extra bases. Ross and Tanner Schobel doubles. Rubel Cespedes and Andrew Cossetti each hit a triple. But the Surge was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base. San Antonio is the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. A month ago, we kicked off another sister site, Padres Mission. Be sure to check it out and tell your friends from San Diego! Of our top 20 Padres prospects, seven of them are on the San Antonio roster. KERNELS NUGGETS Game 1: Cedar Rapids 2, Fort Wayne 6 Box Score The Kernels jumped out to a fast lead in the first inning, but a four-run third inning for the TinCaps gave them an insurmountable lead. Kaelen Culpepper led off with a single to the hole at shortstop. He stole second, and then scored on a single by Kyle DeBarge. He stole his 21st base of the season, and then scored from second when the throw went into center field, and then the center fielder’s throw got past third base. Ty Langenberg made the start. He was charged with six runs on five hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. He had seven strikeouts. Jeremy Lee got the final four outs of Game 1 for the Kernels. He gave up two hits, but no runs. He had three strikeouts. Cedar Rapids had seven hits in the game. Culpepper went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a stolen base. Game 2: Cedar Rapids 3, Fort Wayne 9 Box Score The Kernels fell behind again in Game 2, but through four-and-a-half innings, the game was tied 3-3. However, the TinCaps scored late and often. Cole Peschl made his first start of the season. He worked the first four innings and gave up three runs (just 1 earned) on five hits. He had five strikeouts and no walks. In the top of the fourth inning, Nate Baez led off with a single. He came around to score on Danny De Andrade’s fourth home run of the season. In the top of the fifth, Misael Urbina led off with his second homer of the season which tied the game at 3-3. Wilker Reyes came out for the fifth inning. He gave up two runs on one hit and two walks. He had two strikeouts. Jacob Wosinski came in for the bottom of the sixth inning. He was charged with four runs on two hits and two walks in just one-third of an inning. The big hit was a bases-clearing triple by Brandon Butterworth. Eston Stull came in and quickly got the final two outs. The Kernels had just three hits and five walks in the game. Jaime Ferrer walked twice. Kyle DeBarge walked twice and stole two bases. Culpepper stole his 10th bag of the season. Fort Wayne is the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. A month ago, we kicked off another sister site, Padres Mission. Three of our Top 20 Padres prospects play for the TinCaps including arguably the #1 prospect in all of baseball, Leo De Vries. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 3, Lakeland 6 Box Score The Mussels tried to mount a comeback in the ninth inning, but it was too little too late. Eli Jones started and went the first five innings. He was charged with three runs (1 earned) on four hits. He had three walks and four strikeouts. Lefty Brennen Oxford got the sixth inning. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out two batters. Jacob Kisting worked the final two innings without any further damage. He gave up two hits and had one strikeout. The Mussels didn’t score their first run until the sixth inning. They scored two in the top of the ninth but came up well short of the needed runs. The team had six hits, five walks and had three hit batters. Well, Dameury Pena was hit by a pitch twice. Unfortunately, they went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. Jefferson Valladares hit his fifth double. Yohander Martinez hit his first triple of the season. He also walked twice. So did Maddux Houghton. Rehab updates: Rayne Doncon played third base. He went 2-for-5 and stole a base.. Payton Eeles was 1-for-3 with a walk. He also stole a base. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 4, FCL Red Sox 3 Box Score Matt Gabbert made 13 appearances between the FCL Twins and Fort Myers. Unfortunately, arm pain and ultimately surgery meant that he missed the entire 2024 season. On Friday, he made his third rehab appearance in the FCL. He went three innings, and gave up one run on three hits. He had three strikeouts and no walks. Eider Machuca came on and gave up one run on one hit and a walk in the fourth inning. Juan Cota struck out two batters over two scoreless, hitless innings. With a two-run lead heading into the ninth, Xavier Kolhosser entered. He gave up a leadoff triple which he followed with a strikeout. He hit a batter, and the game was turned over to Liam Rocha. The game-tying runner stole second base. Rocha got a ground out that drove in the runner from third base. With the tying run 90 feet away, Rocha got a strikeout to end the game. Down 1-0 going to the third inning, Jayson Bass and Ricardo Paez started the inning with singles. They were then successful on a double steal. Bass scored the tying run on a Yilber Herrera sacrifice fly. With one out in the fourth inning, Ariel Castro and Ricardo Pena walked. Following a groundout, Bass walked. The catcher threw toward third, but the ball went into the outfield and allowed Castro to score. Pena later scored on a wild pitch. Leading 3-2 going to the seventh (and final) inning, Luis Fragoza walked and Bass singled him to third. Fragoza scored on a sacrifice fly by Paez, an insurance run that proved important in the bottom of the inning. The Twins had five hits and six walks. Bass went 2-for-2 with a walk. He also stole two bases. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Matt Wallner (St. Paul): 3-for-5, 2B(1), 2 R, 3 RBI, K Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-6, 2 BB, 2-2B(7), 1 R, 2 K, 2-SB(10). Pitcher of the Day Travis Adams (St. Paul): 4 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 58 pitches, 38 strikes (65.5%) Darren Bowen (Wichita): 5 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 73 pitches, 44 strikes (60.3%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Friday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-2, BB, HBP, R. #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1 (SS): 3-for-3, BB, 2-2B(7), R, SB(9), Game 2(DH): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, SB(10) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1(CF): 0-for-3, K; Game 2(SS): 0-for-3, 2 K. #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1(2B): 1-for-4, R, RBI, 3 K, SB(21); Game 2(CF): 0-for-1, 2 BB, K, 2-SB(23) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(11) SATURDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Kansas City @ Minnesota (1:10 PM CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (0-1, 12.00 ERA) Norfolk @ St. Paul (DH @ 5:07 PM CT) - RHP Marco Raya (0-3, 12.06 ERA), RHP Andrew Morris (1-1, 3.44 ERA) Wichita @ San Antonio (7:05 PM CT) - LHP Christian MacLeod (0-1, 1.38 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Fort Wayne (5:35 PM CT) - RHP Chase Chaney (1-1, 4.50 ERA) Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CT) - LHP Dasan Hill (0-0, 1.26 ERA) FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 AM CT) - RHP Joel Garcia (0-0, 3.38 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Friday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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I was thinking this same thing, but they shouldn't rush him back from a hamstring issue. Also, yes, it would be McCusker heading back down. And, since the Royals are throwing two lefties against the Twins this weekend, I'd keep McCusker around and keep things slow with Wallner. Where it will get interesting is when the second of Wallner and Buxton come back. Who will the second player dropped be? Option Keirsey? DFA Bride?

Why would they release Camargo or Winkel? Camargo has hit and hit for power including at AAA the last two years. Winkel is clearly the top defensive catcher in the organization. They are where they need to be. Cartaya should probably move down to Wichita when he comes off the Development List.

I would not be surprised to see that happen. It could be multiple things. First, he missed quite a bit of time last year with some arm issues, so it's fair to ask if he's at 100% It's also possible that the injury pushed some mechanical change that's a work in progress. It's also possible that his knuckleball is going through a time of less movement. Sometimes, it's important for a pitcher to work through those struggles and find ways to make something else work when the other piece isn't working. Lewis is a smart person, a smart pitcher, so I'm sure he's spending a lot of time checking out video and release points and spin rates, and it's also possible that he's tipping a pitch or something that Triple-A hitters have found. Could be several things.

I don't think Olivar is a plus-plus defensive catcher, but he's solid, and this year, he's throwing out more runners. I had to look to see what the actual breakdown of catching has been. Noah Cardenas - 16 starts Andrew Cossetti - 14 starts Ricardo Olivar - 13 starts I think it's fair to say that Noah Cardenas is the best of the three defensively. Olivar is solid defensively. Cossetti can hit for a lot of power. Total games played for these three: Noah Cardenas - 22 games Andrew Cossetti - 22 games Ricardo Olivar - 32 games. (13 games catching, 8 games in left field, 11 games as DH) We know that this front office and player development believes in trying to keep their catchers fresh. It's a long season. Gotta keep their legs strong. Remember, they're working on defensive skills most days before the game (especially if they're not catching in the game), catching bullpens, working with pitchers and more. So Olivar is catching about 30%, and he's near the top of their lineup in 80% of their games.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints From yesterday's Twins Minor League Report, one of the big talking points in the comments was Connor Prielipp being placed on the Development List. It's a fair conversation, and because of his injury history, Twins fans will find reasons to be concerned. The general purpose of the Development List is to provide a way for teams to manage some aspect of a players development. If we're being completely honest, a lot of times the "DL" is often used as a spot for carrying an extra player in case there is a midweek injury, like the taxi squad. In the past, the Twins have used it when they have six or seven starters on a roster, they would alternate placing pitchers. The pitcher continues to work, and throw bullpens and go about their routines, just in a controlled environment in the bullpen. As it relates to Prielipp, he has been working three or four innings each of his starts. He's been limited to 40 pitches and then 50 pitches as the season has moved from month one to month two. If there was an injury, he would be put on the injured list. If I had a guess, I would guess that Prielipp, along with a couple of pitching coaches and coordinators and members of the front office, met during spring training to discuss how the season might play out. They get on the same page about pitch counts and ups and downs. They likely agree that after X number of starts, we're going to put you the Development List for a week. We can guess (and maybe assume) that he'll continue on his same schedule, his same between-starts routine. On the day he would have normally started, maybe he throws a simulated game, but just 40 pitches. And that continues until he gets activated in a week to make his next start. It's also possible that they told him not to pick up a ball for four days, and maybe a pitching coordinator and a front office person and an analytics person and a video person will meet for a couple of days and determine how they want to proceed over the next couple of months. The first two months of the season and of their plan has seemingly gone quite well, and everyone (Twins, Twins fans, Prielipp) wants to see continued health for the talented southpaw. Alright, keep the conversation going in the comments below. Let's get to today's minor league report. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 27-22 St. Paul Saints: 23-21 Wichita Wind Surge: 23-19 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 24-16 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 19-23 FCL Twins: 8-5 DSL Twins: Scheduled to start on June 2. TRANSACTIONS After being the Twins 27th man on Wednesday, Mickey Gasper was optioned to St. Paul. So was infielder Ryan Fitzgerald, the 30-year-old who made his MLB debut last weekend for the Twins. With those two returning to St. Paul, infielder Jake Rucker was returned to Wichita after two days with the Saints. SAINTS SENTINEL Game 1: St. Paul 3, Norfolk 8 Box Score The purpose of the minor leagues is to prepare players for the big leagues. Due to rain, Matt Wallner’s rehab assignment had to wait a day due to rain, but he started his preparation for his return to the big leagues in Game 1 on Thursday. Leading off the game, he grounded out to first base. In his second at-bat, Wallner crushed the first pitch, a fastball up-and-in, 95.8 mph at 34 degrees and it traveled 362 feet. In his third at-bat, he was called out on strikes. His fourth at-bat came in the bottom of the seventh inning with Patrick Winkel on first base. On a 1-2 pitch, he kept his hands back nicely on a changeup and crushed a 90 mph changeup 112.4 mph at 20 degrees, and it landed 409 feet from home plate in dead center. Now for the rest of the game. Well, Wallner had two of the Saints five hits, the only extra base hits. Wallner had all three of the team’s RBI. Jose Miranda and Eduard Julien each had first-inning singles. Jeferson Morales walked twice. Unfortunately, the pitching wasn’t quite as good in Game 1. Cory Lewis made the start. He gave up five runs (4 earned) on six hits and three walks in just 2 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Ryan Jensen then gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit (a homer). He had two strikeouts. Randy Dobnak struck out two batters over two perfect innings. Tyler Beede got the final inning and gave up a run on two hits (including a homer). Game 2: St. Paul 3, Norfolk 2 Box Score With a short start and three relievers used in Game 1, the Saints really needed a strong start in Game 2. Enter Simeon Woods Richardson for his first start since his demotion recently. The young right-hander gave up just one run on four hits and a walk over six innings. He had eight strikeouts and was in control the whole game. Anthony Misiewicz gave up a solo homer to Chadwick Tromp in the seventh, but struck out two on the way to his fifth save of the season. The Saints got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning when Emmanuel Rodriguez hit his fourth home run of the season. (104.8 mph, 32 degrees, 388 feet) In the fifth inning, Will Holland led off with a double. He advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-1. In the bottom of the sixth, the Saints added an insurance run that they wound up needing. Armando Alvarez singled to lead off and moved up a base on a passed ball. Emmanuel Rodriguez and Jair Camargo walked to lead the bases. Holland then flew out to the warning track in right field to drive in Alvarez and make it 3-1. The Saints had just six hits in game two. Of course, Mickey Gasper had two of them. Rodriguez hit the home run and walked two times. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, San Antonio 1 Box Score It was a pitcher’s duel near the Alamo on Thursday night. Ricky Castro had his best start of the season. He gave up one run, on a first-inning solo homer by Francisco Acuna, over the first five innings. He gave up just four hits and walked none. Pierson Ohl came on and gave up one run on three hits over three innings. He had no walks and struck out three batters. The Wind Surge went scoreless until the top of the seventh inning. Aaron Sabato led off with his third home run of the season. Unfortunately, the Missions scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth and the Surge were unable to counter. Wichita had just seven hits and one walk in the game. Newcomer Gabriel Gonzalez led the way. He went 3-for-4. He is 5-for-11 through his first three Double-A games. San Antonio is the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. A month ago, we kicked off another sister site, Padres Mission. Be sure to check it out and tell your friends from San Diego! Henry Baez is a Top 15 Padres prospect. He tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings in this game. He gave up just three hits, walked one, hit one and had six strikeouts. Other Top 20 Padres prospects who played on Thursday night include RHP Bradgley Rodriguez, first baseman Romeo Sanabria. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Fort Wayne 1 Box Score This was really a nice, clean win for the Kernels. A lot of times, the Kernels have won by just bashing the baseball, but in this game, they got enough key hits, and they got a really nice pitching performance from the starter and the bullpen. Hard-throwing Jose Olivares got the start. He gave up one run in the bottom of the first inning. He gave up three hits, walked four and had six strikeouts. It was his third start in which he recorded six strikeouts. He reached his pitch count limit and then was replaced by lefty Kade Bragg. He was fanatic, notching five strikeouts in 2 1/3 scoreless, two-hit innings. Cole Percival kept it going. He had four strikeouts over two scoreless innings. He gave up a hit and a walk. Paulshawn Pasqualotto had a walk and a strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning to record his fourth save. The Kernels scored their first run in the top of the third inning to tie the game at 1-1. Jaime Ferrer led off with a single. With one out, Kaelen Culpepper singled, and a throwing error allowed Ferrer to score and Culpepper to get all the way to third base. In the top of the fourth inning, the Kernels grabbed a 2-1 lead. Nate Baez led off with a walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch. Khadim Diaw hit an infield singled Baez moved up to third. Caden Kendle drove a single to left to bring in Baez and give the team a lead. It remained a one-run game until the top of the eighth inning when Brandon Winokur led off with a walk. Nate Baez drilled a double and Winokur raced all the way home to make it 3-1. Nate Baez and Khadim Diaw each hit their fourth doubles of the season. Quietly, Baez is now hitting .337 with a .922 OPS. He was 1-for-3 with a walk. Diaw was the lone Kernel hitter with more than one hit. He was 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He is hitting .306 with a .906 OPS. Fort Wayne is the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. A month ago, we kicked off another sister site, Padres Mission. Be sure to check it out and tell your friends from San Diego! Leo De Vries is the consensus top prospect in the Padres system. The 18-year-old shortstop is the youngest player in the Midwest League right now. He had a single and a walk on Thursday night. Third baseman Rosman Verdugo is the third youngest in the league. He ranks just outside of the Padres top 20 but should move up. He had an RBI single in this game. Clark Candiotti had nine strikeouts and one walk over 4 2/3 innings to start in this game. He appears in some Top 30 Padres prospect rankings. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Lakeland 4 Box Score It was a tough night for the young Mussels, taking on the Lakeland Flying (and rehabbing) Tigers. Such is life in Low-A. The top three hitters for the Tigers were Wenceel Perez, Parker Meadows and Matt Vierling. And frankly, the Mussels have done fairly well against that group this week. Dylan Questad started and gave up four runs on four hits over 4 2/3 innings. He had three walks to go with six strikeouts. Tyler Stasiowski came on and allowed an inherited runner to score but then went 2 1/3 innings without allowing another run. He had three strikeouts. Ivran Romero hit a batter in an otherwise clean eighth inning. The Mussels had just one run on three hits and two walks in the game. In the fifth inning, Maddux Houghton scored on a Jefferson Valladares double. Rayne Doncon was 1-for-4 in his rehab appearance. Payton Eeles had a scheduled off day. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 10, FCL Pirates 2 Box Score The Twins scored first in the bottom of the first inning, and then took the lead for good in the third frame. And then they just added on. The FCL Twins got an FCL run in the first inning. Two hit batters, a stolen base, and two walks. In the third inning, Ramiro Dominguez reached on an error. With two outs, Ariel Castro hit his first home run of the season. The fourth inning began with a couple of walks, and an infield single loaded the bases. With two outs, Dominguez hit his fourth double of the season to clear the bases and give the Twins a 6-2 lead. It was another FCL inning for the Twins in the fifth inning. A walk. A hit batter. A double steal. A throwing error. A hit batter. A steal. And then three straight strikeouts. Jump to the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, Castro hit his second home run of the game and the season to make it 8-2. The eighth inning began with a walk. Javier Roman followed with his first homer of the season to make it 10-2. To summarize, the Twins scored 10 runs on five hits, seven walks, and five hit batters. Rehabbing Christian Becerra started and struck out five batters over the first two innings. He gave up one run on three hits. Melvin Rodriguez came on and gave up one run over the next four innings to earn his first Win of the season. Mitch Mueller and Ruddy Gomez struck out four batters over the final three scoreless innings. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Ariel Castro (FCL Twins): 2-for-3, 2-HR(2), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, SB(1) . Pitcher of the Day Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. 88 pitches, 59 strikes (67.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Game 1: 0-for-3, 2 K, Game 2: 1-for-1, 2 BB, HR(4), R, RBI, #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K. #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, R, K #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K. #12 - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) - 2 2/3 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 78 pitches, 41 strikes (52.6%) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 3-for-4. #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 0-for-5, 2 K #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 2 K. FRIDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Kansas City @ Minnesota (6:10 PM CT) - RHP Pablo Lopez (2.40 ERA) Norfolk @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CT) - RHP David Festa (2-1, 3.60 ERA) Wichita @ San Antonio (7:05 PM CT) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-0, 2.89 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Fort Wayne (4:35 PM CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-2, 7.52 ERA), TBD Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CT) - RHP Eli Jones (1-3, 4.41 ERA) FCL Twins @ FCL Red Sox (11:00 AM CT) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Normal transaction. Likely part of the plan that he would have worked with Twins pitching coaches and coordinators to get everyone on the same page. Most likely, he may skip a start and then rejoin the rotation. We've seen the Twins and other organizations use this strategy.

For me... today... Duran - appears to be just fine. Jax - not back to last year's level and may never be, but still very good. Coulombe-IL Varland - can be dominant. sometimes might throw too many strikes. Sands - struggled early, but he's been great of late again in whatever role. Stewart - Could be higher on this list. Velo isn't fully back, but still doing pretty well. Topa - Unlike most of the rest of the Twins pitchers, he isn't a strikeout guy, so occasionally there will be some rough-looking outings with those BABIP hits we all love, but generally speaking, he's quite reliable. Alcala - I want to put him in the Varland/Sands/Stewart conversation, but his inconsistency can be incredibly frustrating. Fortunately - I think - it may be a good thing that he can't be sent down so they have to stick with him. "We" just need to accept that 3-4 times per season, he's going to go through a stretch where he's almost unusable. Because the rest of the time, he can dominate. Funderburk - I believe in Funderburk. He's lacked consistency at times, but his velo and slider can make him really good.

He certainly fits into the Prato, Helman type... can play 3 infield positions and 3 outfield positions. Can absolutely fly.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Andrew Cossetti) Baseball sometimes helps write its own storylines. This week, two such stories have presented themselves to the Twins. Out of bad, comes good. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton went on the concussion list. Ryan Fitzgerald was called up on Friday. Carson McCusker will be called up on Sunday. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 26-20 St. Paul Saints: 21-20 Wichita Wind Surge: 21-17 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 22-15 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 18-20 FCL Twins: 6-4 DSL Twins: Scheduled to start on June 2. TRANSACTIONS Late last week, the Minnesota Twins signed 26-year-old right-handed relief pitcher Eston Stull. A native of Indiana, Stull spent four years at NAIA Indiana-Kokomo where 28 of his 68 appearances were starts. In 2022, he was a graduate student player and worked on his masters at Southeastern University, an NAIA school in Lakeland, Florida. He spent the 2022-2024 seasons with Sussex County in the independent Frontier League, though he pitched just two innings in 2023. He returned in 2024 and in 49 1/3 innings, he had 16 walks and 77 strikeouts. This year, he had signed to play for the Sioux Falls Canaries in the American Association. He had four strikeouts in three scoreless innings to start the season. The Twins signed him and sent him straight to Cedar Rapids. As a starter, he was in the 89-91 range. As a reliever, he is more consistently 93 and 94 mph. He also has a curveball, slider and changeup. A day after joining the Saints, Jaylen Nowlin returned to Wichita. Lefty Christian MacLeod was promoted to St. Paul and made the Saturday start. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 9, Iowa 10 Box Score Saints grab huge lead and still get walked off. Down in Des Moines, the Saints started out fast start against new Cubs starter, Kenta Maeda. Edouard Julien led off by being hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a Mickey Gasper single. Julien scored on a Jose Miranda double. Mike Ford walked. A Jeferson Morales sacrifice fly to give the Saints the 2-0 lead. Emmanuel Rodriguez walked to load the bases. Jair Camargo drove in two with a double and gave the Saints a 4-0 lead. In the top of the fourth inning, Armando Alvarez led off with a home run. Will Holland walked and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a Julien single. With two outs, Ford singled Julien to third base, and the French Canadian scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-0 Saints. Christian MacLeod started and threw three zeroes on the board. In the fourth inning, he got the first two outs but was charged with an unearned run. He had four walks to go with his five strikeouts. Ryan Jensen came in and after a walk, he got a strikeout. He gave up two runs in the fifth inning largely due to three walks. Brady Feigl got the sixth and gave up four runs on four hits and a walk. Jacob Bosiokovic then gave up two eighth inning runs on two hits and a walk. Through eight, the Saints were now down by a score of 9-7. With one out Rodriguez and Camargo had back-to-back singles and Alvarez walked to load the bases. Will Holland singled to score two and tie the game at 9-9. The I-Cubs walked it off in the bottom of the ninth. Camargo went 3- for-5 with his sixth double and two RBI. Armando Alvarez was 3-for-4 with a walk and his third homer. Holland was 2-for-4 with a walk. Julien went 2-for-5 and stole a base. Jose Miranda hit his second and third doubles. The Iowa Cubs are the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. This roster is filled with top prospects despite recent promotions of RHP Cade Horton and C/1B Moises Ballesteros to the big leagues. For more on the Cubs, check out our sister site, North Side Baseball. Here are their Top 20 Cubs prospects. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 11, Arkansas 2 Box Score Back-to-back, three-run innings trend this from a 2-2 game to an 8-2 game, and then they kept adding on. Darren Bowen started and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks over four innings. He struck out four batters. Mike Paredes struck out five over three scoreless innings to improve to 5-0. Jarret Whorff tossed two more innings with a couple of zeroes going on the board to hold the Saints large lead. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Ricardo Olivar walked and scored on a Kyler Fedko double. After a walk by Kala’i Rosario, Aaron Sabato singled in Fedko. The score was 2-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. Jake Rucker and Tyler Dearden walked, but with two outs hadn’t moved. Fedko came up and drilled his seventh home run to make it 5-2. Then in the bottom of the sixth inning, Sabato led off with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Ben Ross. Andrew Cossetti got an RBI on a fielder’s choice. With two outs, Dearden doubled to drive in Cossetti, and then scored on a Tanner Schobel single. Kala’i Rosario led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk. He stole second. With two outs, he scored on Andrew Cossetti’s third homer of the season. The Wind Surge led 10-2 after seven innings. Tanner Schobel led off the bottom of the eighth inning with his fifth home run. Fedko went 2-for-5 with his sixth double and seventh home run of the season. He had four RBI. Schobel was 2-for-5 with his fifth homer. Rucker and Rosario each had two walks. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Peoria 6 Box Score They had a chance, right to the end, but the Kernels were unable to make the full comeback. Ty Langenberg started the game and gave up five runs on seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three. Wilker Reyes got the next four outs without any further damage. Jack Noble gave up an earned run in his inning. Jacob Wosinski gave up two hits over three shutout innings. He had two strikeouts. Kyle DeBarge had a big game. He went 2-for-3 with two walks. He knocked his seventh double and stole three bases, giving him 20 on the season. Khadim Diaw was 2-for-4 with his first triple of the year. Kaelen Culpepper hit a single and walked twice. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Jupiter 5 (12 innings) Box Score After missing one start, lefty Dasan Hill returned to the mound for the Mussels on Saturday. Hill started and went the first 2 1/3 innings. He gave up no runs and no hits. He walked two and had two strikeouts. He had left his previous start early with some minor, non-arm-related tightness. On this night, he threw 41 total pitches, though just 21 were strikes. More importantly, he made a start and left the start healthy. Fellow starter Eli Jones came into the game out of the bullpen. He gave up three runs on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. He had seven strikeouts and no walks. Brennan Oxford came on for his second outing. He struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the 10th inning, he gave up a fly out that advanced the Manfred Man from second to third. He then got another fly out that drove in the run. He then got a ground ball. He faced six batters, got all six outs, and was charged with an unearned run. Ivran Romero pitched the 11th inning and also gave up the unearned run. He came back out for the 12th inning and kept the Manfred Man from scoring and protected the lead for his team. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth innings when Jupiter put a three on the board. Down 3-0 going to the eighth inning, the Mussels responded. Angel Del Rosario started the inning with a bunt single. Rayne Doncon hit an infield single. The next two batters flew out. Trying to make something happen, a double steal put runners on second and third. Jose Rodriguez, hit his fourth home run of the season to tie the game at 3-3. Rodriguez hit .125 in April. He is now hitting .136 in May. However, he has hit in four of his past five games, and is 4-for-18 (.222) with two walks in that stretch. In the top of the 10th, Dameury Pena scored on a Jefferson Valladares sacrifice fly. In the top of the 11th, Yasser Mercedes scored from third when Rodriguez struck out but a throw had to be made to first base to record the out. In the top of the 12th inning, Maddux Houghton started at second base and then stole third base. With one out, Dameury Pena flew out to right field, deep enough to drive in Houghton with the go ahead run. Payton Eeles made another rehab start. He went 0-for-2 and had a walk before his day came to an end. Rayne Doncon was 2-for-4. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 7, FCL Red Sox 2 Box Score A five-run fifth inning pushed the Twins to a win against their cross-town rivals. Joel Garcia made the Saturday morning start. He gave up one run on three hits over three innings. He had three strikeouts and no walks. Hendry Chivilli went the next two innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He had no walks, struck out two, and improved to 2-0. Andrew Huffman had two strikeouts in a scoreless inning. It was his first outing of the season after pitching in just two games a season ago. Will Armbruester gave up a run on two hits in the seventh inning. The Twins got on the board first in the top of the third. With two outs, Eduardo Beltre walked. He went to third base on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. He then scored on a wild pitch. The fifth inning started with Carlos Silva being hit by a pitch. Then Ricardo Paez was hit by a pitch. Then, Eduardo Beltre walked to load the bases. Daiber De Los Santos flew out to drive in Silva, but Paez was thrown out at third base. After a throwing error, Bryan Acuna walked. Jayson Bass followed with a single to right that drove in Beltre and Acuna. Lis Fragoza doubled to drive in Bass. Following a Ramiro Dominguez walk, Irvin Nunez singled to drive in Fragoza and make it 6-1. In the sixth inning, Acuna singled in Paez (who walked and stole two bases) with the team’s seventh and final run of the game. The Twins scored their seven runs on six hits, seven walks and three hit batters. Luis Fragoza led the offense, going 2-for-4 with his second double of the season. He stole his fourth base. Beltre and Paez each walked twice. Dominguez hit his third double and also walked. Acuna was 1-for-2, was hit by a pitch, and walked. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Kyler Fedko (Wichita): 2-for-5, 2B(6), HR(7), 2 R, 4 RBI. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(7), 3-SB(20), 2 R, Pitcher of the Day Darren Oxford (Fort Myers): 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, OER, 0 BB, 3 K. Jacob Wosinski (Cedar Rapids): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. Mike Paredes (Wichita): 3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, R, 3 K #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 BB, R, K. #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 RBI, 2 K #10 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 41 pitches, 21 strikes (51.2%) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(7), 2 R, K, 3-SB(20). #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 RBI, K #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R, K #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 2-for-5, HR (5), R, 2 RBI #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-for-6, R, 2 K. #19 - Carson McCusker (Minnesota) - Did Not Play. Got The Call! #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, R, K. SUNDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Minnesota @ Milwaukee (1:10 PM CDT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (FIrst MLB start of 2025) St. Paul @ Iowa (1:08 PM CDT) - RHP Andrew Morris (0-1, 3.71 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CDT) - TBD Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CDT) - Chase Chaney (1-0, 3.18 ERA) Fort Myers @ Jupiter (11:30 AM CDT) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk (2-1, 5.01 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Gabriel Gonzalez) The Twins streak now stands at 11 consecutive wins, and they have had contributions from more than just the current 26-man roster. St. Paul played two games in Des Moines. You'll want to see how #McCrusher did. You may not want to see how Marco Raya did? Wichita got some solid pitching, but very little offense. Speaking of offense, you will definitely want to see how things went in Cedar Rapids on Thursday night. An "electric" prospect began his rehab assignment with a couple of hits for the Mighty Mussels. And, a rough streak came to an end in the FCL. It was a busy day in the Twins organization on Thursday. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 24-20 St. Paul Saints: 21-18 Wichita Wind Surge: 20-16 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 21-14 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 16-20 FCL Twins: 5-3 DSL Twins: Scheduled to start on June 2. TRANSACTIONS On Thursday morning, the Twins optioned RHP Simeon Woods Richardson to St. Paul. LHP Kody Funderburk, who was the Twins 27th man for Wednesday’s double header, will remain with the team on the 26-man roster. Infielder Armando Alvarez was activated by the Saints before their Thursday afternoon doubleheader. Infielder Payton Eeles begins his rehab assignment following offseason knee surgery with the Mighty Mussels. Unfortunately, Fort Myers put their top hitter, Jay Thomason, on the 7-Day Injured List with a right ankle sprain. SAINTS SENTINEL Game 1: St. Paul 3, Iowa 8 Box Score Marco Raya needed 35 pitches to get through the first inning in his previous outing. Was Thursday’s start any better? Matt Shaw singled to lead off but was erased on a fielder’s choice. He walked Jonathan Long, but Carlos Perez struck out. A walk to Christian Franklin filled the bases. James Triantos came to the plate. With a 2-2 count, on Raya’s 28th pitch, Triantos doubled to empty the bases. One pitch later, Raya was out of the inning. In the bottom of the second inning, Raya got a groundout to start things. A walk to Shaw was followed by a strikeout and a pop out. Raya started the third inning. He gave up a leadoff double but then got the next two batters to ground out. He walked a batter, and that was it for his day. Travis Adams came on and got the final out without any further damage. Raya was charged with three runs on three hits and five walks in 2 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. He reached 67 pitches, but just 32 of them were strikes. Adams had a rough fourth inning in which he gave up four runs, but with the doubleheader, he had to work through it and, to some degree, had to eat some for the team. He went the final 3 1/3 innings and gave up five runs on five hits and a walk. Down 7-0 going into the fifth inning, the Saints tried to mount a comeback. Emmanuel Rodriguez led off with his fifth double. Jair Camargo followed with his second home run of the season to cut the deficit to 7-2. Those two hits accounted for two of the Saints six hits in the game. Carson McCusker went 3-for-3 in the game. Game 2: St. Paul 7, Iowa 8 Box Score The Saints got out to an early lead in the second game, but the late-inning bullpen struggled to close the door in the bottom of the seventh and then again in the bottom of the eighth. Let’s start with the positive, at least from the pitching standpoint. Darren McCaughan started and gave up one run on six hits over five innings. He walked one and struck out five batters. The lone run he gave up was on a Matt Shaw home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Saints took the lead in the second frame. With two outs, Will Holland doubled to drive in Jeferson Morales. Holland scored on a wild pitch. St. Paul added two more in the third inning. Carson McCusker led off with a double. He scored on a Mike Ford single. It was a bit station-to-station with Ford leading the way. Armando Alvarez singled Ford to second. Jair Camargo singled Ford to third. Next, Morales hit a sacrifice fly to left field, deep enough to score Ford from third. Fast-forward to the top of the seventh inning. The Saints were ahead 4-1 and added one more for insurance. Mike Ford doubled and scored on an Emmanuel Rodriguez triple to make it 5-1. A good lead with just three outs to go. Jacob Bosiokovic came in to replace Ryan Jensen who pitched a scoreless sixth inning despite giving up two hits and two walks. The I-Cubs came out attacking the zone. Just eight pitches into the bottom of the seventh, it was a one-run game at 5-4. Owen Caissie doubled. Jonathan Long switched places with him. Reese McGuire hit a two-run homer. But Bosiokovic settled a bit. He got a fly out and a ground out. The Cubs called upon Carlos Perez to pinch hit, and he hit the third pitch he saw 413 feet to tie the game at 5-5. To extra innings, we go, err, they went! In the top of the eighth, Jair Camargo was the Manfred Man on second base. Morales was hit by a pitch. Two outs later, there were still runners on first and third. However, Mickey Gasper came up big again for the Saints and drilled a two-run double. With a two-run lead, the Saints turned to lefty Brady Feigl. With a runner on second base, Royce Lewis’s high school teammate Chase Strumpf hit Feigl’s seventh pitch out of the park for his seventh home run of the season. Game tied. One pitch later, Matt Shaw must have been guessing first-pitch changeup because that’s what he got and he stayed back and drilled it over the wall in right-center field for the walkoff I-Cubs win. The Iowa Cubs are the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. This roster is filled with top prospects despite recent promotions of RHP Cade Horton and C/1B Moises Ballesteros to the big leagues. For more on the Cubs, check out our sister site, North Side Baseball. Here are their Top 20 Cubs prospects. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Arkansas 5 Box Score The Wind Surge have been a bit streaky early this season. In this game, they got some solid pitching but just couldn’t push enough runs across the plate. Lefty Aaron Rozek started and was charged with two runs on six hits and two walks over five innings. He had six strikeouts. John Klein came on and gave up an unearned run on one hit and one walk over his three innings. He had four strikeouts. Michael Martinez came in for the ninth inning and gave up two runs on two hits. The big blow was a two-run homer off the bat of Hunter Fitz-Gerald. The battery did help itself a few times. Ricardo Olivar picked a runner off of third base. Rozek and Klein each picked a runner off of second base. In fact, in the top of the fifth, the second out came on Olivar’s pick off and was immediately followed by Rozek picking off a runner at second. That could be a momentum changer. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Ben Ross led off with a walk and stole second base. He scored on a Noah Cardenas double. Aaron Sabato lined a single to left, pushing Cardenas to third base. Tyler Dearden flew out, but it was deep enough to score Cardenas and tie the game at 2-2. In the top of the sixth, Klein entered. With one out, an infield single with a throwing error put a runner on second base. The next batter grounded back to the mound, but a throwing error pushed the unearned run across the plate. Klein might have been Minnesota Upset, because he got the last two batters that inning to strike out. In the bottom of the sixth, Kala’i Rosario doubled with one out and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Kyler Fedko drove him in with a sacrifice fly that tied things at 3-3. Offensively, the Kernels managed just six hits and a walk. Rosario’s double was his fifth, and Cardenas’s was his fourth. Ross was the only Surge hitter to reach twice, on a single and a walk. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 15, Peoria 7 Box Score This Cedar Rapids lineup is capable of this kind of offensive outburst on any given day or night. They have immense, and very young, talent and enjoy hitting. On Thursday night in Iowa, one of their key instigators returned to the lineup after missing a week, and things clicked throughout the lineup. A week ago, Kyle DeBarge was hit by a pitch and hasn’t played since. He returned to the lineup and immediately had an impression. In addition, on Wednesday night, Kaelen Culpepper took off from third base on The Contact Play ® and slid arms-first into the catcher. It appeared that he may have had a stinger, but it could have been much worse. It was good to see him atop the lineup again on Thursday. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, DeBarge walked. Brandon Winkour followed with a double, but a perfect relay got DeBarge at the plate. Fortunately, Gabriel Gonzalez crushed a home run to center field to give the Kernels a 2-0 lead. High-ceiling Jose Olivares started for the Kernels. He put two zeroes on the board before giving up four runs in the top of the third inning. So down 4-2 going to the bottom of the third, but Kernels batters went back to work. Jaime Ferrer led off with a single. Kaelen Culpepper was hit by a pitch. Kyle DeBarge singled to load the bases. Brandon Winokur drove in two runs with his 10th double of the season. Gabriel Gonzalez drove in two more when he switched spots with Winokur after hitting his 10th double. With one out, Khadim Diaw hit a long, two-run homer, his second of the season, to give the Kernels a six-run inning, and an 8-4 lead. Culpepper led off the fourth with a single, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He was still standing there with two outs, but Gonzalez came through again, driving in the Twins 2024 top pick with his 11th double. The fifth inning began with Khadim Diaw’s second home run of the game and third of the season, but they didn’t stop there, at 10 runs. Nate Baez singled. Caden Kendle singled. Baez scored on Jaime Ferrer’s double. It marked his fourth straight multi-hit game. Culpepper was hit by a pitch for the second time which loaded the bases again. DeBarge lined a double down the left field line and all three runners scored to stretch the lead to 14-4. With one out, Gonzalez lined his fourth hit of the game. This time it was a single to drive in DeBarge for the Kernels 15th run. All four of Gonzalez’s hits produced at least one run. Samuel Perez tossed two scoreless innings to improve to 2-0. Paulshawn Pasqualotto gave up a solo homer but got three strikeouts in his inning. Gabriel Yanez gave up two runs on five hits over two innings. Juan Mercedes gave up a hit and a walk but no runs in the ninth. Kaelen Culpepper - single, twice hit by pitch, stole base, three runs Kyle DeBarge - single, double, two walks, two runs, 3 RBI Brandon Winokur - two doubles, two runs, two RBI Gabriel Gonzalez - single, two doubles, home run, two runs, six RBI Danny De Andrade - single Khadim Diaw - two home runs, two runs, three RBI Nate Baez - two singles, two walks. Caden Kendle - single Jaime Ferrer - single, double, walk, two runs, one RBI. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Jupiter 12 Box Score Payton Eeles was in a lineup for the first time in 2025. He returned after having offseason knee surgery. In his first rehab game, he batted second and played second base. He went 2-for-3 and scored a run. Following the game, Eeles told Twins Daily, “(It) felt really good tonight, excited to be out there again. Was out for way too long.” Based on my DMs and messages, I think that Twins Daily readers are thrilled that Eeles is working his way back and we get to see his name in box scores again. Maddux Houghton went 2-for-3 with two walks. He hit his first triple and scored three runs. He also stole two bases. Miguel Briceno went 2-for-4 with a walk. Peyton Carr walked three times. Overall, the Mussels were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base. Michael Carpenter gave up four runs on six hits over a career-high three innings. He had three strikeouts with no walks. Jakob Hall came on. He gave up seven runs on nine hits and a walk. He had five strikeouts. Ivran Romero gave up a run on two hits in his inning. He struck out two batters. Devin Kirby had a strikeout in a perfect inning. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 1, FCL Rays 2 Box Score In the FCL Twins first game of the season, Eduardo Beltre hit a grand slam in his second at-bat. Since then, in these Twins Daily minor-league reports, his name hasn’t been mentioned with another hit. However, on Thursday, Beltre led off the game with a solid single, ending an 0-for-19 streak. With one out, he stole second base, and one batter later scored on a single by Bryan Acuna to give the Twins a 1-0 lead after a half-inning. Unfortunately, that was it for runs for the Twins. In fact, the only other hit was a double by Acuna. Melvin Rodriguez got the start for the Twins. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. He had one strikeout. Ruddy Gomez got the next two innings. He gave up three hits, but no runs and no walks. He struck out three batters. Santiago Rojas pitched a perfect sixth inning. Not a lot of highlights in this one Beltre’s streak ended, and Bryan Acuna had a single and his second double. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-6, 2-2B(11), HR(5), 2 R, 6 RBI, 2 K. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 5-for-7, BB, 2-2B(11), R, K. Pitcher of the Day Darren McCaughan (St. Paul): 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K. 85 pitches, 55 strikes (64.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Game 1: 1-for-3, 2B(5), R; Game 2: 2-for-4, 2B(6), 3B(1), RBI, K #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2 HBP, 3 R, 2 K, SB(7). #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, 2-2B(10), 2 R, 2 RBI, K. #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, 2 BB, 2B(6), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 K. #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 4-for-6, 2-2B(11), HR(5), 2 R, 6 RBI, 2 K #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 1-for-2, BB, R, K, SB(4) #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 1-for-5, 2 K. OF Assist. #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - Game 1: 3-for-3, Game 2: 2-for-4, BB, 2-2B(11), R, K #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-for-4. FRIDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Minnesota @ Milwaukee (7:10 PM CDT) - Joe Ryan (3-2, 2.74 ERA) St. Paul @ Iowa (7:08 PM CDT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (2-1, 1.93 ERA)? Arkansas @ Wichita (6:35 PM CDT) - LHP Christian MacLeod (0-1, 1.38 ERA) Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CDT) - Jeremy Lee (2-2, 8.20 ERA) Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CDT) - RHP Dylan Questad (1-1, 3.86 ERA) FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CDT) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photos of Eli Jones and Jay Thomason) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 21-20 St. Paul Saints: 20-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 19-14 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 20-12 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-18 FCL Twins: 5-1 DSL Twins: Scheduled to start on June 2. TRANSACTIONS There were no transactions announced on Sunday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Buffalo 2 Box Score This has been a series of wild games. Two games ended in walkoff homers. This weekend, the Saints won two games by one run. Travis Adams has primarily been working as the back-end of piggyback situations this season. On Sunday, he made a start. He went four innings and gave up two runs on three hits and three walks. He had one strikeout. When the backend of the piggyback guy started, it was all hands on deck for the Saints bullpen, and five relievers combined to get the job done. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Mickey Gasper homered again! He had four homers this week against Buffalo, and six home runs in 10 Triple-A games played. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Carson McCusker hit his 10th home run of the season to make it 2-0 Saints. After his 12-game hitting streak came to an end on Saturday, he quickly started a new streak. #McCrusher hit this ball 115.0 mph. Adams gave up two runs in the top of the fourth inning on a two-run single by Damiano Palmegiani. Jeferson Morales singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth and advanced to second on a fielding error. Jair Camargo singled to center to drive in Morales and give the Saints a 3-2 lead. And that was it for the scoring for both teams. Brady Feigl struck out two in a scoreless fifth inning. Kyle Bischoff, Richard Lovelady, Ryan Jensen, and Anthony Misiewicz each struck out one batter in a scoreless inning. It marked the fourth save for Misiewicz. The Buffalo Bisons are the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. Outfielder Alan Roden, 25, made the Jays opening day roster. He was optioned to Buffalo early this week and joined the Bisons in St. Paul on Thursday. He went 1-for-5 in that first game. Then over the next two games, he went 7-for-9 with a double, triple, homer and five RBI. He went 2-for-5 on Sunday. Going 10-for-19 (.526) with a (1.392) OPS over your first four games after a demotion is a good way to show management you want to get back! WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 6, NW Arkansas 4 Box Score The Wind Surge fell behind early, came back and took the lead in the fourth only to see the game tied up in the bottom of the eighth. That’s when the Surge bats’ responded in support of the team’s bullpen that had a solid day. Down 2-0, Ben Ross led off the top of the second with his third home run of the season. In the third, they loaded the bases, but didn’t score. In the fourth inning, Kyler Fedko led off with a walk. Noah Cardenas doubled to drive in him. After a Tyler Dearden walk and a Jake Rucker single loaded the bases again, Tanner Schobel flew out to center to drive in Cardenas. Darren Bowen made the start for the Wind Surge. He gave up two runs on one hit and one walk over three innings. John Klein worked the middle three innings without allowing a run. He gave up two hits and a walk and struck out two. Cody Laweryson got the next four outs and was charged with an unearned run. Jaylen Nowlin got the final five outs, three on strikeouts, to end the game. He allowed the tying run in the eighth inning. Noah Cardenas led off the top of the ninth inning with his second home run of the season. With one out Jake Rucker singled off of the pitcher. Tanner Schobel singled. Next up, Ricardo Olivar drove in Rucker with a double. Rubel Cespedes flew out, deep enough to allow Schobel to score the third run of the inning. Nowlin gave up a run on a wild pitch but held on for the Win. Noah Cardenas hit his third double and second home run of the season. Schobel was 2-for-3 with a walk. Rucker was 2-for-4. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Beloit 5 Box Score After a rare loss on Saturday night, the Kernels found a terrific (nearly-grand) way to start things on Sunday afternoon. The game started with walks to Kaelen Culpepper and Caden Kendle before Brandon Winokur was hit by a pitch. Gabriel Gonzalez flew out to deep-enough left field to drive in Culpepper with the game’s first run. After a strikeout, Khadim Diaw came up and crushed a three-run homer to give the Kernels a 4-0 lead. But you knew it wasn’t going to be just that easy all day. Beloit scored one in the bottom of the first. Gabriel Gonzalez hit his third homer of the season in the third inning to make it 5-1. However, Beloit responded with two in the bottom of the third and one in the bottom of the fourth and it was again a one-run game at 5-4. The Kernels got some help in the top of the fifth. Brandon Winokur reached on a single with one out. The pitcher attempted to pick him off but threw wildly. Then the first baseman got to the ball, he made an errant throw too and Winokur scored all the way from first. The Sky Carp scored one in the bottom of the sixth, but both bullpens locked it down from there and the Kernels won their 20th game of the season. Ty Langenberg worked the first three innings. He was charged with three runs on six hits and two walks and a hit batter. He had four strikeouts. Gabriel Yanez worked an inning and gave up an unearned run on two walks. Paulshawn Pasqualotto worked the next three innings. He gave up one run on two hits and struck out three. Samuel Perez started the eighth inning and got two outs. Jacob Wosinski came on and got the final out of the eighth without allowing the tying run to score. He also tossed a quiet ninth to earn his fifth save. Jaime Ferrer went 2-for-3 with a walk and his third double. Nate Baez went 2-for-4. Winokur went 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Kendle walked three times, and Culpepper had a single and a walk. Gonzalez’s homer was his third of the season, and Diaw’s was his first. Kyle DeBarge missed his second straight game after leaving Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Dunedin 7 Box Score The Mussels got a strong start from an intriguing 2024 draft pick The offense scored in four different innings, but the bullpen had one rough inning and that was the difference in this ballgame. Eli Jones was the Twins seventh round pick in 2024 out of South Carolina. In this game, he gave up one run on three hits. He walked one and had three strikeouts. The run came on a Jean Joseph solo home run in the fifth inning. Things got interesting in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff man Byron Chourio had to leave his first at-bat with injury. Maddux Houghton came in for him and worked a single. He moved to second on a passed ball and scored the first run of the day on Jay Thomason’s eighth double. The Mussels added a run with two outs in the second inning. Angel Del Rosario’s second double of the season drove in Jefferson Valladares from second base. In the fourth inning, it was Houghton who drove in Yohander Martinez to make it 3-0. So through five innings, the Mussels held a 3-1 lead. The game was turned over to the bullpen, starting with Devin Kirby. The oft-used knuckleballer had a rough outing. He recorded just one out and was charged with four runs on two hits, a walk and a fielder’s choice. Ivran Romero came on with two runners on and gave up a single that scored both of them. Romero stayed on and worked 2 1/3 innings without being charged with a run of his own. He had three strikeouts. Tyler Stasiowski got the final four outs, three of them on strikeouts, but he gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits. The Mussels added a run in the seventh when Thomason scored on a wild pitch, but that was as close as they were able to make it. Thomason continues to be the one hitter in the Mussels regular lineup that hits consistently. In this game, he was 3-for-3 with a walk and his eighth double. The other player to hit relatively consistently is Houghton. He went 2-for-5 in this game and is hitting .277. With the younger prospects needing to play, Houghton usually comes off the bench and provides value. After his fast start, Byron Chourio is now hitting just .196 (though his on-base percentage remains at .381). Jose Rodriguez is hitting just .123 in his second season with the Mussels. He hit a double on Sunday. And Yasser Mercedes has really struggled in adapting to the full-season affiliate. He is hitting just .132 after going 0-for-5 with four strikeouts on Sunday. Those three are usually in the top four batters in the Mussels lineup, and they need to be from a Player Development standpoint. Chourio and Rodriguez are still 19 while Mercedes is 20. Meanwhile, Thomason turned 23 last month and was the Twins 17th round pick last summer after four years in the United States Air Force Academy. He hit 58 home runs over the last three seasons in college. And frankly, he is right where he should be as a late round pick last year. He’s showing Twins decision makers that he probably needs to move up in the near future. But it’s why we always need to take a little deeper look. This week, this team faced Blue Jays top pitching prospects Trey Yesavage and Khal Stephens, both with three years of Division I ball under their belts. Mercedes hit a long homer off of Yesavage. The Dunedin Blue Jays are the Low-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Jay Thomason (Fort Myers): 3-for-3, BB, 2B(8), R, RBI, SB(14) Pitcher of the Day Eli Jones (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. 69 pitches, 40 strikes (58.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Sunday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, R, 2 K, 2 SB(6). #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, HBP, 2 R, K #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HR(3), R, SF, 2 RBI. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) -2-for-3, BB, R, RBI. #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-for-5, 4 K. #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, HR(10), R, RBI, K #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, RBI. NEXT GAME SCHEDULE Monday FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CST) - TBD Tuesday Minnesota @ Baltimore (5:35 PM CDT) - Simeon Woods Richardson (2-2, 4.01 ERA) St. Paul @ Iowa (6:38 PM CDT) - TBD Arkansas @ Wichita (6:05 PM CDT) - TBD. Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CDT) - TBD. Fort Myers @ Jupiter (5:30 PM CDT) - TBD. FCL Rays @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CDT) - TBD. Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Sunday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Emmanuel Rodriguez) This series in St. Paul between the Saints and the Bisons has been filled with close games, high-scoring and low-scoring. Are you going to CHS Field on Sunday for Mothers Day? Wichita had a really nice comeback. The Kernels have been really good, but lost on Sunday. Fort Myers had two batters that accounted for a large percentage of their offense. The FCL Twins found themselves in double figures again on Saturday. Check out all that happened throughout the Minnesota Twins organization. Speaking of the Twins, it's so much more fun seeing them on a seven-game winning streak, and on a 13-5 stretch. Saturday's 2-1 win was really impressive. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 20-20 St. Paul Saints: 19-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 18-14 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 19-12 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-17 FCL Twins: 5-1 DSL Twins: Scheduled to start on June 2. TRANSACTIONS RHP Ruddy Gomez has been transferred to the Mighty Mussels from the FCL Twins. The Twins signed Gomez from the independent Windy City Thunder Bolts on April 15th. That day, the Twins had 28 pitchers on their various Injured Lists. The 25-year-old will make his professional, affiliated debut when he gets into a game. The right-hander started his college ball at Division II St. Leo University and then transferred to Central Florida. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Buffalo 1 Box Score There have been some crazy games in this season, but this was just a good, well played, well-pitched game. The Saints got some late-inning heroics from a top prospect to help them win a close, competitive game. Down 1-0 during the playing of the National Anthem, the Saints had a bit of a rally in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Jeferson Morales walked. Emmanuel Rodriguez followed by hitting an opposite-field, two-run homer to give the Saints the 2-1 lead. It was his second home run of the season, in consecutive games, and both were opposite field shots. In the top of the eighth, Buffalo’s Alan Roden led off with a single. With one out, Will Robertson lined a single to center. Roden attempted to go from first to third, but Rodriguez threw a one-hopper to Will Holland who put on the tag for the inning’s second out. Tyler Beede came on for the ninth inning and earned the Save. Zebby Matthews made the start. He gave up only an unearned run on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts to go with no walks. Kody Funderburk got the final two outs of the sixth inning, both on strikeouts. Alex Speas worked out of some tough situations but threw two zeroes on the board. He gave up three hits and issued a walk. The Rodriguez home run almost appeared out of nowhere. The Saints were not hitting, getting on base with much consistency. They had just three hits and four walks. Mickey Gasper had a single and two walks. He played first base in this game after catching a couple of games since his demotion. The other hit was a double by Patrick Winkel, his third of the season. Jefferson Morales walked twice and was hit by a pitch. Carson McCusker’s 12-game hitting streak came to an end. The Buffalo Bisons are the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 1 Box Score So not only did he stay in the game after getting hit by a line drive on the side of his head and work two more innings, but Christian MacLeod made his next scheduled start. The southpaw tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up three singles, walked none and had three strikeouts. Pierson Ohl came on in relief and threw two innings. He gave up one run on three hits. He had one strikeout but issued no walks. Unfortunately, the Wind Surge were unable to get on the scoreboard. Jarret Whorff came in and threw a scoreless seventh inning. In the top of the eighth, Tanner Schobel led off with a single to left. He stole second, and with one out, Kala’i Rosario drilled a triple to tie the game at 1-1. Kyler Fedko grounded to shortstop for the second out, but it was enough to drive in Rosario with the go-ahead run. (Is this an example of The Contact Play working?) Whorff came back out for the eighth inning and had a quick, 10-pitch, scoreless inning. He had three strikeouts over two perfect innings. With one out in the top of the ninth, Noah Cardenas singled off of the pitcher. Jake Rucker reached on an error, and Jorel Ortega singled to load the bases. Schobel followed with a fly ball to left field, easily deep enough to drive in Cardenas and give his team an insurance run. John Stankiewicz came in for the ninth. He gave up a single. He erased it by getting a double play. Another ground out and the Wind Surge had a very nice win. Wichita had 10 hits in the game. All nine starters had at least one hit. Cardenas had two hits. Along with Rosario’s triple, Andrew Cossetti added his third double. Check out the defense of Tanner Schobel and Noah Cardenas. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 8 Box Score When a team comes to bat, scoring a run is great, but putting up a crooked number is even better. In this game, both teams scored runs in four innings. The difference was that the Kernels had just one crooked number on the board, a “2” in the top of the eighth. The Sky Carp had two crooked numbers. They posted a “3” in the bottom of the fifth and the bottom of the seventh, and that was the difference in this game. Jeremy Lee was on the mound to start for the Kernels on Saturday. He put a “0” on the board in three of his first four innings. However, he came out for the fifth and got one out. He gave up one run, but he left the game with two runners on base. Lefty Wilker Reyes came on and allowed both runners to score before getting out of the inning. Reyes went 2 ⅓ innings and gave up three runs on seven hits. Cole Percival gave up one run on one hit and three walks. The Kernels got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning. Danny De Andrade doubled. He moved to third on a balk and scored on a Nate Baez sacrifice fly. The top of the third started with singles from Jaime Ferrer and Jose Salas singled. Ferrer scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Kaelen Culpepper. In the fifth inning, Jaime Ferrer led off with his second double of the season. After a sacrifice bunt and a hit batter, Brandon Winokur drive in Ferrer with a sacrifice fly. At the time, the Kernels had a 3-1 lead. Fast-forward to the top of the eighth, and the Kernels were down 7-3. Brandon Winokur led off with a single. Gabriel Gonzalez followed by ripping a triple over the center fielder’s head. Gonzalez scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 7-5. But that’s as close as it got. The Kernels had just seven hits and three walks. Ferrer was the lone Kernel with more than one hit. He was 2-for-4 with a double. De Andrade knocked his 12th double. Gonzalez’s triple was his first of the year. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 0, Dunedin 3 Box Score Dylan Questad was on the mound to start the game for the Mussels. The 2023 draft pick from Wisconsin gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked two and had two strikeouts. Hunter Hoopes tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and had three strikeouts. Ruddy Gomez came out of the bullpen and pitched a one-hit, scoreless inning in his Fort Myers debut. His second inning was more dominant. Two easy ground balls to second and an infield pop up. Unfortunately, the Mussels offense was really unable to get anything going against the Dunedin pitchers. They managed just six hits and had three walks in the game. Jay Thomason hit his seventh double and accounted for all three of the team’s walks. He also stole his 12th and 13th bases of the season. Daniel Pena went 2-for-3. The Dunedin Blue Jays are the Low-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 12, FCL Red Sox 5 Box Score On Saturday morning, the Twins won for the fourth straight time to improve to 5-1. For the second time in their last three games, they reached double-digits in runs scored. They got a solo homer in the first inning and then scored 10 runs in the second and third innings (combined). With two outs in the bottom of the first innings, Bryan Acuna hit his first home run of the season to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. Down 2-1 going to the bottom of the second, the Twins responded with a six-spot in the second. The inning started out in strong FCL fashion. Irvin Nunez was hit by a pitch. After an out, Yilber Herrera and Ricardo Paez walked to load the bases. After the second out, Eduardo Beltre had an RBI hit-by-pitch, and Acuna had an RBI walk. After a pitching change, Luis Fragoza doubled in two runs to make it 5-2. Yandro Hernandez switched places with Fragoza and drove in two more runs to make it 7-2. The Twins added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Herrera walked. He stole second and went to third on a throwing error. He then scored on a wild pitch. Merphy Hernandez walked, went to second on a wild pitch and then stole third base. He scored when Eduardo Beltre reachen on an error. Beltre went to second on a wild pitch, and he scored on an Acuna single. Fragoza walked. Yandro Hernandez reached on an error to load the bases again. Nunez walked again to score Acuna and make it 11-2. In the bottom of the fifth, Eduardo Beltre reached on an error, stole second, and scored on another error. Joel Garcia made the start. He tossed the first three innings and gave up two runs on three hits. He walked one and had seven strikeouts. Anderson Ramos worked the next two innings. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. He had four strikeouts. Finally, Will Armbruester, who the Twins signed from independent Windy City about 10 days after they signed Ruddy Gomez, gave up three hits over two scoreless innings. The Twins had 12 runs scored with six hits and seven walks. They were helped by five Red Sox errors. There were two hit batters and four wild pitches. Bryan Acuna was 2-for-3 with a walk, the first-inning homer, three runs and three RBI. Luis Fragoza went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and two RBI. Since his Opening Day grand slam in his second at-bat of the season, Eduardo Beltre is 0-for-14. He’s been playing solid defense, taking his walks, stealing bases, and most importantly, hustling enough to get on base via a lot of errors. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 1-for-3, HR(2), R, 2 RBI, OF Assist Bryan Acuna (FCL Twins): 2-for-3, BB, HR(1), 3 R, 3 RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day Zebby Matthews (St. Paul): 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. 73 pitches, 48 strikes (65.8%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, HR(2), R, 2 RBI, 2 K #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, RBI, K (DH) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, SF RBI, 2 K (SS) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, 3B(1) R, RBI, K #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 0-for-3, 3 R, RBI, K, SB(3). #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) -1-for-4, R, SF RBI, SB(2), K. #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, K. #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Buffalo @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) - RHP David Festa (2-1, 3.60 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (2:05 PM CST) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-0, 1.50 ERA). Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-1, 5.93 ERA). Dunedin @ Fort Myers (11:05 AM CST) - RHP Eli Jones (1-3, 4.91 ERA). FCL Twins - No Game Scheduled. Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

It certainly makes a lot of sense for him to get some time at first base in St. Paul. Send Morneau over there to work with him a couple of times per week (depending on his TV schedule). My assumption is that Ty France won't be willing to come back for $1 million next year, so 1B could be open. McCusker makes a lot of sense as an option for the spot.

I think they actually really like Gasper, but not sure how comfortable they are with him playing places other than 1B or 2B and C. I don't know if they'd have trust in him as a long-term #2, though when Christian Vazquez is the current #2, it could probably work. But he's not going to be good behind the plate. My assumption is they're just finding opportunities that make him considered for a call up. There's nothing wrong with him as a #3 catcher. As for Prielipp, definitely an incredible outing last night. I asked myself the same question (about too many strikes). I think the answer is "Yes, you can throw too many strikes" if those strikes are just meh pitches right down the middle. But if Prielipp is on the corners and getting the movement he gets with the velo he has, it's hard to think about it being a bad thing. And the best part of it, if you establish just throwing a ton of strikes, hitters will learn that and may - over time- start expanding the zone and then Prielipp gets quick, easy outs on pitches two inches off the plate. As for working more pitches and more innings, I honestly don't care a whole lot if they increase it much. I'm sure it may go from 50 pitch to 60 pitches, and that might give him a chance to have up-downs. There's no need for him to be pushed beyond that this year. If he were to get called up, either to start or in the bullpen, and if he provides 60 pitches, that'd be great. My pre-season hope for him was to to this pattern. A few starts at 40 pitches, a few starts at 50 pitches, a handful of starts at 60-65 pitches. Then I'd move him up to Triple-A and have him work one or two inning stints, but out of the bullpen, but also only twice per week... And if that's going well, and the Twins are in a spot where they need an arm in a playoff race, call him up in mid-August, big maintaining intelligent usage.