Seth Stohs

Patrick McGuff is being promoted from the GCL to Elizabethton.

Thursday was a busy day in minor league baseball as the Twins shuffled their affiliate rosters, moving more than a dozen players around. Transaction Report: Daniel Palka has been promoted to Rochester, David Martinez has been released, Edgar Corcino, Tyler Jay, and Felix Jorge have all been promoted to Chattanooga. Omar Bencomo has been placed on the disabled list. Sam Clay, Miles Nordgren, and Daniel Kihle have been promoted to Fort Myers. Max Cordy, Andrew Vasquez, Casey Scoggins, and Christian Cavaness have been promoted to Cedar Rapids. Christian Ibarra has been placed on the disabled list.Continue reading to find out more detail about Thursday in the Twins farm system: RED WINGS REPORT Rochester @ Lehigh Valley IronPigs Box Score In his first at bat in Triple-A, Daniel Palka hit a home run, and for good measure he hit another one later in the game, helping power Rochester to victory. Here is a video of Palka's first home run of the evening. @https://twitter.com/MorrieSilver8/status/751249706794180608 Palka also added a double as part of his 3-5 evening that included three runs scored, a pair of RBIs and a couple of strike outs. The Red Wings also benefited from a big night out of Adam Walker, who was also 3-5. Walker had a pair of doubles, a run scored, a pair of RBIs and a strikeout. There is a lot of power in the middle of that Rochester lineup with those two hitting fourth and fifth, respectively. Pat Dean struggled on Thursday, giving up 12 hits and seven runs (all earned) over just 4.0 innings. He walked one, struck out three, and gave up three home runs. He was lifted for D.J. Baxendale who pitched two scoreless innings and earned the victory, as Baxendale and the rest of the Rochester bullpen shut down Lehigh Valley the rest of the way. Ryan O'Rourke pitched a scoreless inning and earned his fourth hold of the season. Closer J.T. Chargois came in for a six out save, striking out three and giving up just one hit, earning his sixth save. Final: Red Wings 8, IronPigs 7 LOOKOUTS LOOK-IN Birmingham Barons @ Chattanooga Box Score Lookouts starter Aaron Slegers gave up a first inning run, but the Lookouts rallied, including six runs in the bottom of the fourth, carrying Slegers to his eighth victory of the year. Slegers final line was 6.0 innings, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, a walk, a strikeout, and he gave up a solo home run. Mason Melotakis pitched a perfect seventh, striking out the side on 12 pitches. Rual Fernandez finished the final two innings, giving up a pair of runs on a hit and two walks. He struck out three. Chattanooga had contributions up and down the lineup as all nine players recorded at least one hit, and six players had multi-hit games. Zach Granite was 3-5 with a run scored, a double, and two RBIs as the leadoff hitter. D.J. Hicks had a big game, too, 2-5 with a home run and three RBIs. Travis Harrison and Niko Goodrum added home runs as well, both solo home runs. Final: Barons 4, Lookouts 10 MIRACLE MATTERS Bradenton Marauders @ Fort Myers (continued from June 26th) Box Score With Bradenton back in Fort Myers, the two teams continued a rain-shortened June 26th game, picking up in the bottom of the fourth inning with one out and a 4-0 Miracle lead. In an interesting statistical note, Niko Goodrum hit a home run early in that game prior to the delay, meaning he had a home run in High-A and Double-A in games that ended on Thursday night. Using a total of 13 different hitters, the only Miracle with multiple hits was Joe Maloney, going 2-2, including a triple. The Miracle added one additional run in the seventh. Miracle starter Randy Rosario did not return to his start, replaced instead by Luke Bard, who earned the win with 2.0 scoreless innings. Brandon Peterson added 2.0 scoreless innings of his own, before being replaced by Todd Van Steensel who pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off the June 26th game in a shutout. Final: Marauders 0, Miracle 5 Bradenton Marauders @ Fort Myers (Game 2) Box Score Coincidentally, Randy Rosario was on the bump to start the second game of the evening, meaning he started both ends of this Miracle double-header. Rosario picked up his fifth win of the year to move to 5-5 with 6.1 innings of 3-run baseball. He gave up 7 hits, 3 earned runs, walked 3 and struck out two. He was lifted for John Curtis who shut down the Marauder threat, retiring both batters he faced to finish the 7-inning game. The Miracle tallied 12 hits in this seven inning game, including a pair of hits from each of T.J. White, Nick Gordon, and Daniel Kihle (making his High-A debut). Kihle was 2-3 with a double, run scored, 2 RBIs and a strikeout. LaMonte Wade also added an extra base hit (a double), plus an RBI and a walk. Final: Marauders 3, Miracle 8 KERNELS KORNER Wisconsin Timber Rattlers @ Cedar Rapids Box Score In a good old-fashioned pitchers' duel, the Kernels held on to a 1-0 lead to defeat the Timber Rattlers in front of 2,077 fans at Perfect Game Field. Kernels starter Cody Stashak was perfect through five innings before a broken-bat single broke things up in the top of the sixth, the only hit Stashak would give up over eight innings of stellar work. Stashak walked three and struck out eight. Tom Hackimer pitched a perfect ninth to earn his first save of the year for the Kernels. The Kernels managed to scatter seven hits against Timber Rattlers starter Jordan Yamamoto over seven innings, but managed to push just that single run across the plate, an RBI groundout from Rainis Silva in the bottom of the second inning, scoring Jaylin Davis. Davis was the only hitter, on either team, with more than one hit, 2-3 with a double and a run scored. Final: Timber Rattlers 0, Kernels 1 E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton @ Bristol Pirates (Game 1) Box Score With a doubleheader slated for the evening, a long night was made longer due to a 1-hour rain delay, pushing first pitch back to 7pm, and pushing the start of the second game back to nearly 10pm. In the first game, Elizabethton managed four runs on just four hits, despite striking out 10 times in seven innings. Lewin Diaz was 1-3, including a home run, and a pair of runs scored. First round draft pick Alex Kirilloff was the only player to record a multi-hit game, 2-3 with a double and an RBI. Kirilloff is hitting .414 through his first 8 games of the season with an OPS over a thousand. Elizabethton starter Domenick Carlini gave up 10 hits and seven runs (all earned) over 4.0 innings. He walked one, struck out two, and gave up a home run. He was lifted for Hecto Lujan who pitched a pair of scoreless innings, striking out three, and giving up just one hit. Final: E-Twins 4, Pirates 7 Elizabethton @ Bristol Pirates (Game 2) Box Score The E-Twins struggled with the bats again in the second game of the evening, with just five hits. Lewin Diaz was 1-3 with a double, and Shane Carrier was 1-3 with a double, as well. Kirilloff was 1-3 with the Twins' lone RBI. Tyler Wells didn't make it out of the fourth inning, giving the Twins 3.2 innings of two-run baseball before being lifted for Griffin Jax (phenomenal name, good luck to ya kid), who gave up a pair of runs as well. Wells struck out six without walking anyone. Jax added a strikeout of his own, and also did not give any free passes. Neither pitched particularly poorly, but without much run support, they needed to be better. Final: E-Twins 1, Pirates 4 GCL TWINS TALK GCL Twins @ GCL Rays Box Score The Twins just barley managed more hits (4) than errors (3) en route to losing handily to the Rays. Ben Rotvedt was 1-4 with a double, the lone extra-base hit for the Rays. The Twins managed just three at-bats with runners in scoring position all evening. Starter Bo Hellquist picked up the loss (0-1), spreading five runs (just two earned) over 4.0 innings, walking one and striking out three. Moises Gomez had a great outing in relief, pitching three scoreless innings, walking no one and he struck out five. Zach Strecker pitched the eighth, giving up two runs on four hits to end the night for the Twins. Final: GCL Twins 1, GCL Rays 7 DSL TWINS TAKES DSL Twins @ DSL Orioles2 (Game 1) Box Score Final: DSL Twins 5, DSL Orioles2 3 DSL Twins @ DSL Orioles2 (Game 2) Box Score Final: DSL Twins 1, DSL Orioles2 6 The DSL Twins split a double-header on Thursday morning. The Twins more or less threw two bullpen games, with Carlos Suniaga the biggest bright spot of the day, pitching 4.0 innings of relief. Suniaga gave up three hits, and a walk, but what really jumps off the page is his nine (NINE!) strike outs. The other six pitchers the Twins used on the evening managed just 7 more Ks. Over two games, the Twins had just two players record multi-hit games, one in each. Ruben Santana was 2-4 with a hit and an RBI in the first game, and Yestin Encarnacion was 3-4 with a run scored in the second game. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Daniel Palka, Rochester Pitcher of the Day - Cody Stashak, Cedar Rapids FRIDAY'S PROBABLES Rochester @ Scranton/WB - Jose Berrios (8-3, 2.43) Birmingham @ Chattanooga - Kohl Stewart (2-3, 3.58) Dunedin @ Fort Myers - Randy LeBlanc (2-2, 4.33, also has a great mustache) Kane County @ Cedar Rapids - Lachlan Wells (1-0, 1.74) E-Twins @ Bristol - Ryan Mason (0-1, 14.14) GCL Twins @ GCL Red Sox - TBD DSL Orioles2 @ DSL Twins - TBD Please ask questions and discuss the Thursday games. -ERolf Click here to view the article

The Rochester Red Wings are celebrating their 20th year in Frontier Field. The history of baseball and the Red Wings in Rochester, New York, is very long and storied. The Red Wings are asking fans to vote for their All Frontier Field team. Many current and former Twins are on the ballot. It's a fun exercise and a great walk down memory lane for Twins fans who have followed prospects over the last 10 to 15 years. Take five minutes or so to cast your vote and, even more fun, remember some of the players from the past.Professional baseball has been in Rochester for over 140 years. The Red Wings have been an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Baltimore Orioles (1961-2002), and the Minnesota Twins since 2003. Ironically, when the Twins moved their affiliation to Rochester, it was the first year of their tremendous radio voice, Josh Whetzel joined the. When I saw the ballot for the All Frontier Field team, I couldn’t help but spend some time voting. It is fun to think back to the dozen or more years that I have followed the Twins minor league system and seeing names of some great players and guys who became well-known for their time in New York. Some went on to have long big league careers. Some barely got a cup of coffee. Seeing the names is such a good reminder of how hard this game can be. So, take five minutes and cast your vote. You can spend more time, if you want, and research the stats of the players in Rochester. You can just vote for your favorite player in each category, or the player who went on to the best career? There is no right or wrong answer for this. So, let’s walk down memory lane and take a look at the ballot: First Basemen: Chris Colabello, Garrett Jones, Justin Morneau, Calvin Pickering, Chris Parmelee My votegoes to Garrett Jones. He spent quite a bit of time in Rochester because the Twins had Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young and Jason Kubel at the positions Jones could have played. So, he just kept putting up monster numbers for the Red Wings. From 2005 through 2008, he played over 105 games for the Red Wings each year and hit a lot of doubles and home runs. He played in just 31 games for the Twins, all in 2007. Since then, he has played in 880 games in the big leagues, mostly with the Pirates, but also some time with the Marlins and Yankees. He’s still playing in 2016, his first year in Japan. Second Basemen: James Beresford, PJ Forbes, Luis Rodriguez, Brian Roberts, Jerry Hairston My votegoes to James Beresford. I was a big fan of Rodriguez (when I wrote of him, I just wrote “Luis!!”), and the other three were from the Orioles era. Brian Roberts had a strong big league career. However, in his three-plus seasons with the Rochester, Beresford has continued to get better and add to his game. He came up and struggled some, but he was a .300 hitter and an All-Star in 2015. This year, he’s playing all over the infield. Third Basemen: Willis Otanez, Ryan Minor, Terry Tiffee, Danny Valencia, Chris Heintz My votegoes to Terry Tiffee. He spent parts of three seasons with the Red Wings and got a couple of cups of coffee with the Twins as well. He played 91 games for the Twins between 2004 and 2006, and then got into a handful of games with the Dodgers in 2008. Valencia has become the best big leaguer in this bunch. Ryan Minor was quite a prospect for the O’s in the late 90s. Chris Heintz spent quite a bit of time with the Red Wings as well. He was signed as a long-time veteran, and his cup of coffee with the Twins was exciting. He was 31-years-old when he debuted for the Twins and played a total of 34 big league games for the Twins, mostly as a catcher. Shortstop: Jason Bartlett, Doug Bernier, Jesse Garcia, Aaron Ledesma, Trevor Plouffe My votegoes to Trevor Plouffe. The Twins really pushed Plouffe up the minor league system despite never putting up big numbers at any level. He reached AAA at age 22 and didn’t debut with the Twins until he was 24, in 2010. He wasn’t always great with the Red Wings, but he grew and improved. He spent parts of four seasons with the Red Wings and has also rehabbed there a couple of times. Bartlett had a solid career in Rochester, where he spent parts of three seasons. I believe he still lives there. Bernier was a very solid producer for the Red Wings for most of three seasons. The Orioles guys didn’t spent a lot of time in Rochester. Catcher: BJ Waszgis, Tommy Davis, Jose Morales, Drew Butera, Eric Fryer My votegoes to Jose Morales. He was drafted as a middle infielder, but was immediately moved to catcher. He worked his way up. When the 2007 season was complete, he went back home. When a couple of catchers got hurt, Morales received a September call up. He made one start and went 3-3 with a double. However, he broke his leg sliding into second base in the game and didn’t get back to the big leagues until 2009. He spent parts of four seasons with the Red Wings and hit over .300. Butera had the defense and has had a solid, lucrative big league career. Fryer has had plenty of time and spent three years playing in Rochester. Outfielders: Danny Clyburn, Lew Ford, Jason Kubel, Dustin Martin, Darnell McDonald, Jason Pridie, Josh Rabe, Michael Restovich, Denard Span, Jim Wawruck. My three votesgo to Dustin Martin, Josh Rabe and Darnell McDonald. I know there are bigger names. Kubel was the IL Rookie of the Year the one partial season he spent there and put up great numbers. Lew Ford spent parts of four seasons there but limited time each year because he spent a lot of time with the big league club. Restovich had a couple of very good years in Rochester after spending a couple of seasons in AAA in the Pacific Coast League. Darnell McDonald was one player who played for Rochester while a member of the Orioles and the Twins. He was a top prospect with the O’s, but by the time he got to the Red Wings, he was move organizational filler. However, he played so well that he earned time with the Twins too. Rabe spent parts of five seasons with the Red Wings. He debuted with the Red Wings in 2003. It wasn’t until 2006 that he finally got a call up to the Twins. He played in 38 games for the Twins over two years and hit three homers. Dustin Martin is in the top 5 in many Rochester categories. He spent three years at the level and went to spring training with the big league club but never got a chance with the Twins. Still just 32, he has played for a couple other organizations, in independent leagues and still in Mexico. Starting Pitchers: There are 14 names to consider on this list, so I’m not going to get into them all. However, you will want to click that link to remember how much talent has come through Rochester on the way to Minnesota. We are to vote for five, so here are my picks. Dave Gassner didn’t have a long big league career, though he did win his big league debut, but he spent parts of four seasons with the Red Wings and put up some strong numbers. On the other side of the spectrum, Francisco Liriano dominated the league in 2005 and early in 2006 before coming up to the Twins where he was more impressive than multi-Cy Young winner Johan Santana during his prime. After his Tommy John surgery, he came back to the Red Wings in 2008 and was again very good. Similarly, Kevin Slowey dominated this International League in 2007, posting an ERA under two and captured the league’s Pitcher of the Year award. Boof Bonser racked up some big strikeout numbers during his (parts of) three seasons with the Red Wings. The fifth choice is Brian Duensing who won 20 games in his time with the Red Wings. That doesn’t include the Gold Medal that he won in the 2008 Olympics with Team USA. There are some impressive pitchers that weren’t in my top five. Andrew Albers is back and had a terrific year with the organization a couple of years ago before returning earlier this season. Liam Hendriks was a tremendous minor league pitcher. And who could forget The Real Deal? Scott Baker pitched well there. Matt Garza didn’t get much time in Rochester during his fast 2006 rise to the big leagues, but he was good and has had a long career. Kyle Gibson put up some solid numbers in Rochester as well, before Tommy John and then after his return. Relief Pitchers: We are supposed to vote for two relievers, and for me, the choices are easy. No one who followed the Twins minor leagues from about 2007 through 2011 will be able to not vote for Anthony Slama. No one will ever be able to explain adequately enough to me how a guy who put up the numbers that Slama put up in the minors, including AAA, could possibly not be given more of an opportunity in the big leagues. #Slama Time and #FreeSlama were frequent hashtags even before we knew what hashtags were. Similarly, few have pitched as well in Rochester as AJ Achter did for the Red Wings over the last three years. He didn’t give up many runs, picked up saves, and generally rarely allowed base runners. He got a couple of limited opportunities with the Twins and has been up and down with the Angels a few times already this season. Pat Neshek put up very similar numbers in Rochester, just in less time. He has gone on to a tremendous, long career. Michael Tonkin wasn’t as good as Achter in Rochester, but he still put up terrific numbers and big strikeouts too. I might not argue too much if you wanted one of them on the team. And I’d also understand your votes for Jesse Crain or Bobby Korecky. Designated Hitter: Karim Garcia, Justin Huber, Randy Ruiz, Julio Vinas, Kevin West Kevin West gets my vote. He spent a couple of seasons with the Red Wings and hit 34 homers. He was a big man with a lot of power, hitting both doubles and home runs. Unfortunately, he got hurt in his third season with the Red Wings and never got a chance. Garcia had a fairly long career but didn't spend a lot of time in Rochester. Ruiz had one monster season with the Red Wings and earned a 22-game call up to the Twins at age 30. He spent time the next two seasons with Toronto. Huber was similar in that he was older. The former prospect from Australia earned a September call up, but got hurt in his one game with the Twins. Utility Player: Alex Casilla, Howie Clark, Brian Dinkelman, Matt Tolbert, Tommy Watkins. My vote goes for Tommy Watkins. Sure Howie Clark spent four seasons with the Red Wings, three with the O's and one with the Twins. He has some impressive numbers. Brian Dinkelman ranks in the top five or six in Red Wings stats during the Twins era and was a Harmon Killebrew Award recipient. He had the cool nickname and chant when he received his call ups to the Twins. Casilla and Tolbert both spent a lot of time back and forth between Rochester and the Twins. But Tommy Watkins is The Mayor. I mean, it's Rochester and he owns it. And, it's my ballot! Manager: There are some quality options on the ballot, but I'm going with Gene Glynn. The Red Wings had just come off of losing 91 and 95 games when he took over. Obviously better players help but Gene Glynn less the team to three straight seasons at .500 or better before moving up to the big league club as the Twins 3B coach. So there you have it, a look at my personal ballot for the All Frontier Field team. This is the 20th season of baseball at the stadium. The Twins have had the Red Wings as their AAA affiliate for 14 years now. Please take 5-10 minutes of time to click here and make your choices for the 20th anniversary Frontier Field team. And share your vote and your memories of some of these players in the comments below. Click here to view the article

Correct... Signed in 2010, he can be a 6-year- minor league free agent. Fair point on Wheeler.

He works hard, and he's not slow, but as of now he's not a real great athlete and not real quick.

I don't know if they really have a closer designated. I think they have certain guys that are available on certain days, and maybe more save opportunities have come to him. Chargois still gets plenty of late inning time too.

Like Wheeler, I would call up Wimmers in August or September and just give him an opportunity to show something. If it looks like they can be big league help going forward, keep them on the 40 man. If not, take them back off. Yorman Landa isn't going anywhere (in terms of the 40 man roster)... He throws 100. He should be safe.

Based on some more conversations, tweets and more: Daniel Palka to Rochester. David Martinez released. Edgar Corcino, Tyler Jay and Felix Jorge promoted to Chattanooga. Omar Bencomo to the Disabled List. Sam Clay, Miles Nordgren and Daniel Kihle promoted to Ft. Myers. Max Cordy, Andrew Vasquez, Casey Scoggins and Christian Cavaness promoted to Cedar Rapids. Christian Ibarra to DL at CR.

Tyler Jay on his way to AA as well.

Hearing that a big prospect is moving from Ft. Myers to Chattanooga. There are just a ton of moves and we'll try to keep them updated here as they become known.

He did spend 2+ weeks in A ball. Was just promoted to AA.

Possible, but i don't know yet. He's pitched great in 4 games and 5.1 innings. Not bad for a 36th round pick.

They get one extra year, but you're right, probably should get one more if they sign at 16. I would be in favor of that. The current cut-off is at 19, but maybe there should be a second cutoff at 17 too.

hearing that the Felix Jorge move was one of many transactions following last night's games. may affect every affiliate. Jeff Johnson (The Gazette, Cedar Rapids) tweeted that Sam Clay and Daniel Kihle are heading to Ft. Myers. Christian Cavaness tweeted that he's headed back to Cedar Rapids. I'm sure we'll hear more throughout the day.

Fun chat, and obviously we'd have to look at who is traded and then comes off the 40-man roster to see how many roster spots might be available. Givens: Jorge, Palka, Romero, Garver. (I'll add Garver because catching is so hard to find). Probables: Stuart Turner (see above regarding catching), Engelb Vielma (he's hit fairly well in AA and the defense is great), Tough Decisions: Wheeler, Eades, Slegers, Granite, Thorpe. I think I'd call up Wheeler at some point in the next two months and give him some starts and just decide whether to keep him on the 40-man roster or to DFA him at the end of the season. Would be nice to see him get some big league innings before deciding what to do in the offseason.

The Kernels needed extra innings to pick up a big win on Wednesday night. It may not have been the most exciting way to win, but it works. The winning run was scored by a young man who reached base five times on the evening. A top prospect threw six shutout innings. Another starter put together a quality start. One pitcher, in his second professional start, threw five shutout innings. And there was much more throughout the system. And hey, within a period of 14 hours, the Twins earned two wins! With that, let’s get to the scores and highlights of the day in the Twins minor league system. But first, at around 11:00 p.m., Mike Berardino posted the following: Well earned, I think we can all agree.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Lehigh Valley 2 Box Score Jason Wheeler put together yet another quality start for the Red Wings. The left-hander went six innings and gave up two runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out six. Buddy Boshers came on and got the first two outs of the seventh inning. Marcus Walden got the final four outs without allowing a run. He gave up a hit and walked a batter. The Red Wings were just not able to muster any offense. They had just four hits. Adam Brett Walker went 1-3 with a walk and his 13th double. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Birmingham 0 Box Score The Lookouts had a morning game on Wednesday, and they came ready to play. Stephen Gonsalves was a little wild, but he was able to avoid allowing runs and recorded his second AA win. The left-hander went the first six innings. He gave up no runs on just three hits. He walked five and struck out five. Jake Reed came on and was perfect for two innings. He struck out two. Trevor Hildenberger worked an uneventful ninth to drop his AA ERA to just 0.92. The Lookouts were able get a couple of runs off White Sox 2015 top pick Carson Fulmer. The scored two runs off of him despite his ten strikeouts. Fulmer falls to 4-9 with a 4.76 ERA. Zack Burdi, the White Sox #1 pick this June and younger brother of Twins prospect Nick Burdi, made his AA debut in the 6th inning. It didn’t go well. He faced five batters. He gave up one hit and walked four before being removed. He was charged with four runs. He walked Leonardo Reginnato and Stuart Turner to start the inning. He then gave up a single to Engelb Vielma. Zach Granite and Ryan Walker both walked to each drive in a run. After a pitching change and a Daniel Palka strikeout, Mitch Garver singled in Vielma and Dalton Hicks scored Granite on a sacrifice fly. Zach Granite went 2-4 with a walk in the game to push his season average to .301. Mitch Garver went 2-5. Stuart Turner added his 12th double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, St. Lucie 4 Box Score Keaton Steele gave the Miracle six innings, but there was not enough offense. Steele fell to 4-7. He was charged with four runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out three. Yorman Landa threw two perfect inning of relief. The Miracle offense only managed five hits. Edgar Corcino hit his 13th double. AJ Murray drove one in with his fifth double. Joe Maloney hit a two-run homer, his first, with the Miracle. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Wisconsin 8 (12 innings) Box Score In the 12th inning, Luis Arraez led off with a walk. It was the fifth time he had reached base in the game. Zander Wiel moved him to second base on a bunt. It was followed by an intentional walk of Nelson Molina. JJ Fernandez grounded out which brought up Jaylin Davis with the opportunity to play hero in his first game with the Kernels. On the second pitch, the ball went to the backstop. Arraez scored and the Kernels won. Arraez led the way. He went 4-5 with a walk and four RBI. Sean Miller went 3-6 with his 14th double and third home run, a three-run blast that gave the Kernels a 7-5 lead in the 8th inning. Rainis Silva went 2-4 with a walk and three runs scored. Daniel Kihle and Jermaine Palacios were both 2-5. Eduardo Del Rosario went the first 5.2 innings. He gave up three runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out two. Anthony McIver came on and before getting the final out of the sixth, he gave up two more runs. He did strike out three in 1.1 innings. Michael Cederoth threw a scoreless inning. He walked one and gave up one hit. Kuo Hua Lo gave up a three-run homer that put the Kernels behind in the 9th inning. However, he worked three innings and gave up the three runs on two hits and four walks. Williams Ramirez pitched a scoreless 12th inning to pick up the win. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton, Bristol Box Score This game was postponed by rain. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 4, GCL Rays 2 Box Score This game was scoreless through the first five innings. Both starters tossed five shutout innings before the game was handed to the bullpens. For the Twins, it was right-hander Tyler Fox, an undrafted free agent from Nebraska-Omaha. He gave up just two hits and didn’t issue a walk in his five scoreless innings. He struck out four. The Twins manufactured a couple of runs in the sixth inning. Lean Marrero led off with a single and stole second base. He advanced to third base on a ground out. Dane Hutcheon walked and stole second. With runners now on second and third, Jorge Munoz singled to left to score both runners. The team added two more runs in the seventh inning. With one out, Tyree Davis hit his first home run of the season. After Juan Gamez and Lean Marrero walked, Jean Carlos Arias walked to load the bases. A Hutcheon ground out to the pitcher allowed Gamez to score the Twins fourth run of the game. Matz Schutte threw scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh. He gave up just an unearned run in the eighth inning. He struck out three. Callan Pearce recorded the save. He gave up an unearned run on two hits in the ninth. He struck out two. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Fox, GCL Twins Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Luis Arraez, Cedar Rapids Kernels THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (6:05 CST) - LHP Pat Dean Birmingham @ Chattanooga (6:15 CST) - RHP Aaron Slegers Bradenton @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CST) - LHP Randy Rosario (completion of a suspended game in the 4th inning from earlier this season first though) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – RHP Cody Stashak Elizabethton @ Bristol (DH @ 5:00 CST) - RHP Domenick Carlini, TBD GCL Rays @ GCL Twins (11:00am CST) - LHP Bo Hellquist Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Wednesday's games. Click here to view the article

After posting out Twins Daily Minor League Hitter and Starting Pitcher of the Month of June over the past few days, today we will look at the relief pitchers who got their jobs done during the month. There were a bunch and like the starters, you could make arguments for several of these guys to claim the title. But who won? In case you missed them here are the previous June winners: Hitter of the Month: Daniel Palka, Chattanooga Lookouts. Starting Pitcher of the Month: Felix Jorge, Ft. Myers Miracle. So, who will join them in the June Twins Minor League Awards? Continue reading to find out.First, a couple of relievers worthy of mention: RHP Todd Van Steensel (Ft. Myers Miracle) – 6 G, 1-1, 2 saves, 0.00 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 8.1 IP, 2 H, 7 BB, 11 KRHP Marcus Walden (Rochester) - 12 G, 0-0, 1 save, 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 13.0 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 12 KTHE TOP FIVE RELIEF PITCHERS Number 5 - Cedar Rapids/Ft. Myers – LHP Michael Theofanopoulos - 10 G, 0.84 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 10.2 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 11 K Theofanopoulos was the recipient of this award last month when he put together a really strong May. He was very good again in June despite the fact that he was promoted around the middle of the month. In fact, he went five outings in the FSL before allowing a run to score. The 23-year-old lefty was the Twins 30th round pick in the 2014 draft out of Cal-Berkeley. Overall this season, he is 3-1 with three saves, a 1.91 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He has struck out 11.5 per nine overall on the season. Number 4 – Cedar Rapids – RHP Kuo Hua Lo - 7 G, 0.82 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 11.0 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 8 K Lo has been a bit under the radar as a prospect signing signing with the Twins in 2011 from Taiwan. After a year in the GCL, he spent three seasons in Elizabethton. Last year, he finished with a 1.44 ERA and was the top relief pitcher in the league. Overall this year, he is 0-0 with a 1.10 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP for the Kernels in 32.2 innings. He has 30 strikeouts, but he also has 22 walks. He can be tough to hit. His fastball will touch 92-93 mph, but he throws a variety of pitches, some barely registering 70 on the radar gun. Number 3 – Chattanooga – RHP JT Chargois - 10 G, 1.38 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 13.0 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 12 K Yes, I admit, I took out his disastrous MLB debut in which he struggled to throw strikes and when he did, it got hit hard. I included only his Rochester numbers since this is a minor league award. Chargois continued to be very good. He hasn’t allowed runs. He hasn’t hurt himself with a lot of walks. The 25-year-old has generally been dominant all season. In 30 total minor league game this year, he has a 1.57 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, just 2.6 BB/9 and 11.5 K/9. The 2012 second round pick is finally healthy and really there is no reason that he shouldn’t spend the entire second half of the season in the Twins bullpen. Number 2 – Ft. Myers – RHP Yorman Landa - 7 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 9.0 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 12 K The Twins signed Landa from Venezuela in 2010. Following a successful return to action in Cedar Rapids last year, he was added to the Twins 40-man roster. Though he didn’t pitch much in June, he was tremendous when he was on the hill. In fact, he was a late add to the FSL All-Star Game roster and pitched in the game at Hammond Stadium. He pitched a scoreless inning, but as notable, he hit 100 mph on the radar gun on four pitches. The last time he gave up a run was May 26th, ten outings ago. He has given up just one hit over his past nine innings (six outings). Overall this season, Landa is 2-1 with seven saves. He has a 2.39 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, 4.8 BB/9 and 9.0 K/9. And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is: Chattanooga Lookouts – RHP Trevor Hildenberger - 9 G, 0.87 ERA, 0.58 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 14 K For the second straight month, a Cal-Berkeley alum is our choice for Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month. It’s an award that Trevor Hildenberger has won several times. Hildenberger was the Twins Daily Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2015. Some may have thought that he was just successful in the low minor leagues due to his age. However, he pitched well in the Arizona Fall League last year against (and with) guys his own age. This year, he quickly moved from Ft. Myers up to AA Chattanooga and his success has just continued. He made just six appearances and needed 9.1 innings of 0.96 ERA to convince the powers-that-be to move him up to Chattanooga. He has now pitched 28.1 innings over 23 games with the Lookouts. He has a 0.95 ERA and an incredible 0.67 WHIP in the Southern League. He has walked just four batters and struck out 31. He has to have the Twins brass thinking about him as a possible option for Rochester at this point. Who knows? We may see him at Target Field yet this year. As you can see from his June stats, he was tremendous. He worked a lot of innings and allowed very few base runners. He walked just one and struck out 14 in 12.2 innings. He also represented the Twins and the Lookouts at the Southern League All-Star Game and, as you’d expect, didn’t give up a run. The former 22nd round pick from Cal-Berkeley had a win or a save in all nine of his outings during the month. He may fit into that mold of Pat Neshek or Darren O’Day in that he throws from the side, and from multiple angles. He gets good movement on his breaking pitches, but also a lot of run on his fastball. He is the rare side arm pitcher who often can touch 93 on the radar gun. While he may not show up on Top 10 prospect lists, Trevor Hildenberger is a guy who has a chance to be a big-time contributor to the Minnesota Twins in the not-too-distant future. There were several very strong relief pitcher performances in June. Feel free to agree or disagree with the order, if you like, but congratulations to each of these individuals on an excellent month of may. Congratulations to the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month for June 2016, Trevor Hildenberger. Click here to view the article

Sure, bad luck is part of it, but as has been mentioned, my intent was just to say that things have gone bad. Some of it is bad luck maybe. Some of it is bad planning. Some of it is players just not developing. Some of it is poor front office decisions. I always try to be fair. So, I would say that for every move, there has been a reasonable and logical reasoning for it. Some might take more time to consider and come up with that logical reasoning, but there is some. For instance, I think the Hicks/Murphy trade was quite justifiable. It may still prove to be a just-fine deal. To this point, not so good. There could be that same reasoning for all of them. For pretty much none of them to work out, that does have some bad luck - (however, when I wrote this, it wasn't my intent to involve luck). And to continue being fair... The Front office looks pretty good in deciding to offer arbitration to Eduardo Nunez, when many fans thought that made little sense. Signing Fernando Abad for his deal proved (at least so far) to be just as good if not much better than had they made people happy by signing Tony Sipp or Antonio Bastardo to 3 or 4 years and more than the $6 million they got. It's just much more difficult and more thought needs to be put into finding the positives.

And in both cases, the Twins got very good performances from the player they received during the year of the trade. Ramos was the Twins #3 prospect at the time of the trade, a catcher who had already done well in some time in MLB. Hu was a solid pitching prospect, a potential mid-rotation guy who was behind the five MLB starters, plus the current group of top pitching prospects in FM and Chat (Stewart, Gonsalves, Jorge) and also Romero and Thorpe (And now Jay). That's what happens when you trade for a veteran piece in July. There is a chance that the prospect becomes a good MLB player. The Twins have reversed that many times over the years too. The problem was that the Twins do something they have done to a fault, and that's keep the guy they acquired for too long. They brought back Capps a couple of times.They brought back Jepsen for the second year too... Although it would have been crazy not to offer him arbitration after what he did last year.

Good one...

Agreed. His stuff, in my opinion, is still good enough to keep starting. Rough one last night, but I'd certainly keep him starting.