Seth Stohs

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Khadim Diaw) Happy Opening Day in the Florida Complex League!! TRANSACTIONS Fort Myers announced before their Friday night game that Eduardo Beltre has been shifted from the 7-Day IL to the Full-Season Injured List with his knee injury. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Iowa 6 Box Score The Saints went with an opener again on Friday night. John Brebbia gave up two runs on two hits and three walks over 1 1/3 innings. Kendry Rojas gave up an inherited run and two runs of his own on four hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Trent Baker gave up two runs on four hits over 2 1/3 innings. Grant Hartwig and Christian Roa each tossed a scoreless inning in relief. Down 1-0, the Saints tied it up in the bottom of the first frame. Walker Jenkins led off with a double. He advanced to third on a Kaelen Culpepper fly out to right and scored on an Emmanuel Rodriguez sacrifice fly. Down 2-1 going to the bottom of the third inning, Noah Cardenas led off with a walk. Jenkins hit a ground-rule double. Culpepper followed with another ground rule double to score both runners and give the Saints the 3-2 lead. After an Emmanuel Rodriguez walk and a fly out, Culpepper scored on a Kyler Fedko force out. In the fourth inning, Cardenas started with a double, and Walker Jenkins doubled for the third time in the game to give the Saints a 5-2 lead. Jenkins went 3-for-5 and doubled his doubles total from three to six. Culpepper went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth double. Emmanuel Rodriguez left the game in the fifth inning. He had grounded out to first base. Jonathon Long flipped to the pitcher for the out. Unfortunately, Rodriguez dove headfirst into first base and hurt his thumb. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, Arkansas 5 Box Score The Wind Surge had the, umm, opportunity to face lefty Kade Anderson again on Friday night. The last time they faced the Mariners top pitching prospect, the #3 overall choice in last summer’s MLB Draft out of LSU, was on April 10th. In that game, Anderson tossed five scoreless innings and had 11 strikeouts. On this night, the southpaw threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and notched eight strikeouts. But the Wind Surge managed four hits. Overall, Anderson has made five starts. He’s 2-0 with a 0.37 ERA and a 0.70 WHIP. In 24 1/3 innings, he’s given up one run on 13 hits and four walks. Ty Langenberg started for Wichita. He gave up three runs on four hits and two walks. He had six strikeouts. Ricky Castro came on next and gave up one run on two hits over the next two innings. Jaylen Nowlin worked two innings and gave up one run on no hits but two walks. He had three strikeouts. Jake Rucker went 2-for-3 with two doubles, both against Anderson. Billy Amick went 1-for-3 with a walk. The Wind Surge didn’t get on the board until the bottom of the ninth inning when Ricardo Olivar hit his sixth home run of the season. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 8, West Michigan 4 Box Score The Two’s were wild for Khadim Diaw and the Kernels on Friday night. Cedar Rapids scored two runs in the home half of the first, second, third, and sixth innings. The bottom of the first began with walks by Marek Houston and Khadim Diaw. Brandon Winokur singled to center to drive in Houston and tie the game at one. Diaw scored the second run on a ground out off the bat of Danny De Andrade. With two outs in the second inning, Jaime Ferrer and Marek Houston hit back-to-back singles. Diaw followed with his third double of the season to drive in both runners and make it 4-1. In the bottom of the third, Jay Thomason knocked his third home run of the season, a two-run blast to make it 6-2. West Michigan cut the lead in half at 6-3. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Rayne Doncon led off with a walk. Ferrer followed with his fourth homer to make it 8-3. Michael Ross started and gave up one run on two hits in four innings. He walked two and had three strikeouts. Sam Rochard gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. Christian Becerra struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. Jacob Wosinski struck out three batters over the final two innings. How good has Khadim Diaw been of late? Wednesday: 4-for-4, 2B, R, RBI. Thursday: 2-for-2, 2 BB, R Friday: 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2B, R, 2 RBI When they were taking batting practice before Wednesday’s game, Diaw was hitting .192/.352/.247 (.599). Three games later, he is now hitting .272/.427/.346 (773). MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Daytona Beach 5 Box Score The Mussels had 20 less runs on Friday than they did on Thursday. Just a short sentence to remind us all how crazy the Mussels 24-run game on Thursday really was. The Torgugas took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. The Mussels got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Yasser Mercedes singled. After a pitching change, Ramiro Dominguez singled Mercedes to second. Ryan Sprock drove in the run with a single to right. Down 4-3 going into the seventh inning, Dameury Pena and Bruin Agbayani started the inning with singles. With two outs, the runners had advanced to second and third base. Ryan Sprock came to the plate and drilled his first home run of the season. The three-run blast tied the game at 4-4. Merit Jones started and gave up three runs (2 earned) on seven hits. In four innings, he walked one and struck out one. Michael Hilker gave up an unearned run over two innings. He had three strikeouts. Matthew DesMarets gave up two hits but no runs in the seventh inning. Mike McKenna pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He began the ninth, but before getting an out, the bases were loaded. Brian Zeldin came on and gave up a single to end the game. Sprock led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBI. Mercedes and Dominguez each had two hits. Dominguez added his sixth double. Bruin Agbayani went 1-for-3 with two walks. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Walker Jenkins (St. Paul): 3-for-5, 3-2B(6), 2 R, RBI, 2 K Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2B(3), R, 2 RBI. Ryan Sprock (Ft. Myers): 2-for-4, HR(1), R, 4 RBI. Pitcher of the Day Christian Becerra (Cedar Rapids): 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 28 pitches, 21 strikes (75.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 3-for-5, 3-2B(6), 2 R, RBI, 2 K. (batted first, played CF) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(5), R, 2 RBI (batted second, played 3B) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, BB, SF RBI (Batted third, played RF). #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-5, 2 K (batted fourth, played DH) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches, 44 strikes (67.7%) #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, 2 R (batted leadoff, played SS) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, RBI (batted third, played CF) #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Play. #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Did Not Play. #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 3 K (batted fifth, played SS) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch. #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2B(3), R, 2 RBI, SB(2) (batted second, played C) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain) UPCOMING PROBABLES Saturday: Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (1-2, 5.91 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Jose Olivares (0-0, 0.00 ERA) West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk (2-3, 10.57 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Daytona (5:35 pm CT) - TBD FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (9:00 am CT) - TBD CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 14-19 St. Paul Saints: 13-17 Wichita Wind Surge: 13-12 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 12-13 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 16-9 FCL Twins: 0-0 (Opening Day!) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (Mussels hitters) Sorry this is posted so late. I spent nearly 90 minutes online with MLB dot TV customer service as I have not been able to watch a Twins game on Twins dot TV for four days in a row. And after 90 minutes, we still have no resolution. Frustrating. TRANSACTIONS RHP Travis Adams saw his rehab stint come to an end as he was optioned to the Saints where he’ll continue to work to return to 100% and return to the Twins. The Saints also activated RHP Raul Brito from the development list. Fort Myers activated RHP Justin Mitrovich, their ninth-round pick from the 2025 MLB Draft. Get to know more about the Elon alum in his Twins Spotlight. Finally, RHP Angel Castillo was released from the DSL roster. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Iowa 1 Box Score The Saints had just two hits in this game but four a way to earn a win at home against Iowa. One big reason, of course, is pitching. Let’s start there. Matt Bowman played the role of the opener in this game. He tossed two scoreless innings despite giving up three hits. Mike Paredes played the role of the bulk pitcher. He tossed five scoreless innings and struck out four batters. He gave up two hits and a walk. He earned his first Triple-A win. Raul Brito was charged with an unearned run in the eighth inning, and Drew Smith earned the save with a scoreless ninth inning. With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Noah Cardenas knocked his first home run of the season to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. The Saints used a bit more creativity to score their next runs. With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Orlando Arcia reached on an infield single. Aaron Sabato followed with a walk, and Tanner Schobel was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cardenas walked to make it 2-0 Saints. Kaelen Culpepper was next. He flew out to right, deep enough for Sabato to score the third run. On the relay, Schobel was thrown out at third base to end the inning. Infielder James Triantos went 2-for-4 and is now hitting .317. He’s a Top 10 Cubs prospect. Former Gophers star Brett Bateman led off and played center field for the Cubs. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double. Jonathan Long is also a Top 10 Cubs prospect, and he was 2-for-4. The Saints had six walks, and Emmanuel Rodriguez accounted for half of them. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Arkansas 11 Box Score The Wind Surge had a rough game on Thursday night, right from the start. Sam Armstrong gave up two runs in the first inning. The Surge evened it up in the bottom of the inning, but Arkansas scored five in the top of the second inning. Armstrong was charged with seven runs on five hits, two walks, and two hit batters. He gave up four home runs. Jarrett Whorff came in for the third inning. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk over two innings. Darren Bowen wired two innings. He gave up one run on a solo home run. Kyle Bischoff tossed two scoreless innings, and Luis Quinones added a zero in the ninth inning. In the bottom of the first inning, Kyle DeBarge reached on a throwing error by the pitcher and got all the way to third base. Kala’i Rosario walked. Hendry Mendez reached on an infield single to shortstop which loaded the bases. With one out, Ricardo Olivar lined a single that drove in two runs. The other Wichita run came in the third inning. Billy Amick and Olivar walked to start the inning. Jose Salas got in by an infield single to load the bases. Andrew Cossetti came up and flew out to center field. Amick scored. All three base runners tried to advance, but Salas was thrown out at second. Wichita managed their three runs on just three hits, but they also had seven walks. Rosario had three of those walks. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 7, West Michigan 5 Box Score West Michigan jumped out to a fast start. They scored five runs over the first two innings. From that point, it was all Kernels. They scored at least once in the next five innings and the final seven runs of the game. Eli Jones started and gave up five runs on eight hits over the first three innings. It’s nice to see that he ended his day with a scoreless innings (little things). He had six strikeouts and no walks. He struck out the last two batters he faced. After that, however, Cole Peschl threw two scoreless innings. Ivran Romero had two strikeouts in a scoreless inning. Eston Stull struck out six batters over the final three innings to record his first save of the season. Rayne Doncon and Andy Lugo led off the bottom of the third inning with a walk and a single, respectively. Jaime Ferrer drove in Doncon with a double. With one out, Eduardo Tait drove in Lugo with a single. Rayne Doncon knocked his third homer of the season with one out in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 5-3 game. Brandon Winokur led off the fifth inning with his fifth double. Khadim Diaw walked. After Danny De Andrade reached on a force out, Jay Thomason singled in Winokur with the Kernels fourth run. De Andrade scored on a Doncon sacrifice fly to tie the game a 5-5. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Marek Houston hit his third home run of the season to give the Kernels’ their first lead of the game. Doncon continued his productive game with an RBI single to drive in Khadim Diaw with the seventh run. Doncon went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs, and three RBI. He had a sacrifice fly and a homer. Diaw went 2-for- with two walks. Houston was 2-for-4 with a walk and a homer. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 24, Daytona 8 Box Score This is one of those games that you can never expect. Seemingly every season, every team will have one of those games where the offense scores a huge number of runs. Good teams and bad teams. But 20 is something different. The franchise’s previous high in runs scored was 22 runs in August of 2012. Since 2020, the Mussels have reached 19 runs once. It is the third time that the Mussels have scored 15 or more runs. In addition, they had 21 hits which is also a Mussels record. Of the nine starters, only Yasser Mercedes went hitless, but he walked three times. All nine batters reached base at least two times. Bruin Agbayani reached base five times. He was 4-for-6 with a walk. He scored five runs and drove in three. Byron Chourio went 4-for-6 in this game. Irvin Nunez went 3-for-6 with his first triple and first home run of the season. He had six RBI and three runs scored. Jayson Bass went 3-for-6 with a walk, his third homer, three runs and five RBI. Ramiro Dominguez had two doubles and two walks in the game. Quentin Young had two hits. JP Smith had one hit and two walks. He scored four times. Harry Genth went 2-for-4 with two walks and a double. He scored three runs. Oh, and he needed just three pitches to get the final two outs. Matt Dalquist started for the Mussels. He gave up three runs (1 earned) on five hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. He had eight strikeouts. Brent Francisco gave up three runs on eight hits over 2 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Jake Murray gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. Harry Genth came on and got the final two outs of the game. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Bruin Agbayani (Fort Myers): 4-for-6, BB, 5 R, 3 RBI Irvin Nunez (Fort Myers): 3-for-5, BB, 3B(1), HR(1), 2 R, 6 RBI, K Jayson Bass (Fort Myers): 3-for-6, BB, HR(3), 3 R, 5 RBI, K Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-2, BB, HR(3), 2 R, 3 RBI Pitcher of the Day Mike Paredes (St. Paul): 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 68 pitches, 43 strikes (63.2%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - Did Not Play. #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, SF RBI, K (batted first, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, 3 BB, CS(2) (Batted second, played RF). #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, RBI, K, E(3) (batted second, played C) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted third, played 1B) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, HR(3), R, RBI, K, E(3), CS(1) (batted leadoff, played DH) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 19 pitches, 13 strikes (68.4%) #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2B(5), R, 3 K (batted third, played CF) #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-7, R, 3 K (batted fifth, played 3B) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, K (batted third, played DH) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-5, R, 2 K (batted first, played 2B) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch. #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-2, 2 BB, R (batted fourth, played DH) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain) UPCOMING PROBABLES Friday: Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - RHP John Brebbia (0-0, 3.95 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - Ty Langenberg (0-1, 3.80 ERA) West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Michael Ross (1-1, 5.73 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Daytona (5:35 pm CT) - RHP Merit Jones (0-1, 1.93 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 14-18 St. Paul Saints: 13-16 Wichita Wind Surge: 13-11 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 11-13 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 16-8 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

anyone else having issues with twins.tv? it's telling me there is a blackout tonight. I logged out, logged back in. It makes no sense.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter Congratulations to pitchers Merit Jones, Matthew Becker, Eric Hammond, and Jake Murray, and catchers Ryan Sprock and Irvin Nunez, and the entire Fort Myers Mighty Mussels team. On Sunday, the team posted its sixth no-hitter in franchise history. I looked back at the five previous no-hitters which was fun to remember, and yes, I am old enough, and have been blogging long enough, to remember all of them. Some fun names to remember. In addition, I chatted with Mussel's play-by-play voice Andrew Pawling about today’s game, the pitchers and catchers, and several of the players on the roster. You can find that at the bottom of the Mussels section below or on Twins Daily’s YouTube page. May 12, 2007 Yohan Pino tossed a complete game no-hitter for the Miracle. It was the first no-hitter for the Twins affiliate since moving to Fort Myers in 1991. He walked two and had six strikeouts in seven innings (part of a doubleheader). Miracle won the game 2-0 over Lakeland. August 14, 2011 Alex Wimmers had been struggling with his control. The former top pick had been fighting a case of the yips all season. But with the season coming toward its end, Wimmers struck out nine and walked three in this seven-inning no-hitter. Miracle won 1-0 over Bradenton. September 18, 2021 Four pitches combined to toss a seven-inning no-hitter, the first under the Mighty Mussels name. Regi Grace, Landon Leach and Bradley Hanner each threw two hitless innings. Matthew Swain pitched the seventh inning to complete the no-hitter. They combined for one walk and eight strikeouts. The Mussels won 7-0 over Tampa. May 10, 2022 Here was the first nine-inning no-hitter in franchise history as the Mussels topped Palm Beach 3-0. David Festa started and went the first six innings. He had two walks but also struck out 11 batters. He reached 99.1 mph in that game. Jaylen Nowlin struck out three batters over two no-hit innings. Hunter McMahon got the final three outs to complete the no-no. July 23, 2024 It’s not officially a no-hitter by the rules, but in July 2024, the Mussels combined for a rain-shortened no-hitter (also against the Blue Jays). Lefty Ross Dunn, a rehabbing Justin Topa, and WIlker Reyes combined for six, no-hit innings. The Jays starter, Ryan Watson, was perfect through 17 hitters. Angel Del Rosario singled. Walker Jenkins doubled him to third, and then Chourio’s double. TRANSACTIONS SS Yilber Herrera was assigned to the FCL Twins from the Mussels. Moving in the other direction was LHP Matthew Becker. The southpaw was the team’s 19th round pick in 2025 out of South Carolina. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 1 Box Score This was just a well-played ballgame, and it starts with the pitching. Zebby Matthews was the Zebby Matthews we enjoyed watching when he was at his finest. The right-hander tossed five shutout innings. He gave up one hit and one walk. He had six strikeouts. 46 of his 67 pitches were strikes (68.7%). He also had seven ground outs to zero fly outs. Kendry Rojas made his first appearance since returning to St. Paul. The hard-throwing lefty gave up just two hits over three scoreless innings. He hit one batter, walked none, and struck out five batters. 35 of his 44 pitches were strikes, a remarkable 79.5% strike rate! Luis Garcia gave up a run on two hits in the ninth inning. The Saints took the lead right away in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Ryan Kreidler hit his second Saints homer, his first since rejoining the team early this week. They carried the 2-0 lead until the top of the sixth. Gabriel Gonzalez led off the inning with a single. With two outs, Orlando Arcia drove him in with a single. Kyler Fedko went 2-for-4 with his second double. WIND SURGE WISDOM Game 1: Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 6 Box Score The Surge scored early. The Naturals scored late and had the last at-bat. Billy Amick led off the top of the second inning with a walk. Ricardo Olivar followed with his fifth home run. Two innings later, the Surge had a 2-1 lead. Kala’i Rosario led off with a walk. Amick followed with his fifth home run of the season. Kyle DeBarge scored on a wild pitch to give Wichita a 5-1 lead. Sam Armstrong made the start and gave up one run on three hits and a walk in four innings. He had one strikeout. Jarret Whorff worked the fifth inning. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a passed ball. Alejandro Hidalgo started the sixth. He gave up two runs on one hit and two walks in just 2/3 of an inning. Luis Quinones came on and kept the game tied through six innings. He came back out for the bottom of the seventh inning. He struck out the first two batters, but Rudy Martin walked it off with a home run. Game 2: Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 2 Box Score Garrett Spain, who hit his fifth double of the season in the first game, led off Game 2 with his fifth home run of the season. Ty Langenberg gave up two runs on four hits and two walks over the first four innings. He struck out four batters. Kyle Bischoff worked the next two innings. He gave up only a walk and had two strikeouts over his two innings. Down 2-1 going into the seventh inning, Hendry Mendez led off with a walk. With one out, Kala’i Rosario drilled his fifth home run of the season to give Wichita a 3-2 lead. Darren Bowen came in for the bottom of the second. He gave up a run and a single but kept the Naturals from scoring to record his first save of the season. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 16 Box Score It was a rough week for the Kernels in Peoria. Eduardo Tait had a couple of home runs and big hits, and Marek Houston started the week with five straight multi-hit games. On Sunday, he was 0-for-1 with a walk and drove in the team’s first run with a sacrifice fly. The Kernels were outscored 51-33 over the six games and won just one game. This was a tough one. Through four innings, the Kernels were down 10-1. However, in the top of the seventh, Cedar Rapids started a comeback. Miguel Briceno led off with a single. Jay Thomason followed with another single. After a line out and a pitching change, Jaime Ferrer drove in Briceno to make it 10-2. Andy Lugo pinch hit for Houston and walked to load the bases. Thomason scored on a groundout by Tait. Brandon Winokur then hit his second home run of the season, a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 10-6. That’s as close as it got as Peoria scored six runs over their final two innings. Michael Ross made the start. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on one hit and three walks over two innings. He had two strikeouts. Nick McAuliffe made his pro debut and gave up four runs (3 earned) on three hits and two walks. Christian Becerra gave up two runs on three hits in the fourth inning. Eston Stull gave up a hit and two walks over two scoreless innings. Yehizon Sanchez gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit and three walks in an inning. Sam Rochard gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in the eighth inning. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 3, Dunedin 0 Box Score You might have heard this already. The Mighty Mussels used four pitchers to complete a nine-inning no-hitter. It was far from a perfect game, to be sure, but the pitchers kept the Blue Jays off the scoreboard and without a hit. Merit Jones started and went 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and hit a batter. He needed just 34 pitches to record 10 outs. Matt Becker came on for his professional debut. He went 3 2/3 innings and had three strikeouts. Two of the Mussels four errors came while Becker was pitching. Eric Hammond recorded five outs. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, manager Jordan Smith made one more pitching change. He turned to lefty Jake Murray who walked a batter before getting a strikeout to end the game and complete the no hitter. The team did need to score runs to win the game. In the bottom of the third inning, a Yasser Mercedes single drove in Bryan Acuna to make it 1-0. In the bottom of thmake it 1-0e sixth, Ryan Sprock drove in Mercedes with a single to make it 2-0. Quentin Young drove in Byron Chourio with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eight to close out scoring. In every no-hitter, it seems like there is at least one great defensive play that helps save the day. In this game, that play may have come in the fifth inning when Eduardo Beltre covered some ground to make a sliding catch. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Garrett Spain (Wichita): 2-for-7, 2B(5), HR(5), R, RBI, K Pitcher of the Day Merit Jones, Matt Becker, Eric Hammonds, Jake Murray (Fort Myers): 9 IP, 0H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 104 pitches, 66 strikes (63.5%) Zebby Matthews, Kendry Rojas (St. Paul): 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, 111 pitches, 81 strikes (73.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - Did Not Play. #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, R, 2 K (batted first, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, K (Batted second, played CF). #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, RBI, K (batted second, played DH) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, R, 2 K (batted fourth, played RF) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 44 pitches, 35 strikes (79.5%) #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-1, BB, SF RBI, K (batted leadoff, played DH) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch. #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HR(2), R, 3 RBI, 2 K, E(6) (batted third, played SS) #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-1, 2 BB, SF RBI, E (batted fifth, played SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Game 1: 0-for-3, BB (batted third, played LF), Game 2: 0-for-2, BB, R (batted second, played LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - Game 1: 0-for-3, BB, R, K (batted second, played SS), Game 2: 1-for-3, K (batted third, played SS) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch. #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, E(2) (batted fourth, played CF) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain) UPCOMING PROBABLES Tuesday: Iowa @ St. Paul (11:07 am CT) - RHP John Klein (1-1, 7.64 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (6:05 pm CT) - TBD West Michigan @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - TBD Ft. Myers @ Daytona (5:35 pm CT) - TBD CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 12-16 St. Paul Saints: 11-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 12-9 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 8-13 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-7 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

And even then, why would they call up E-Rod to sit on the bench and pinch run, and probably play some defense at the end of games for Larnach and Wallner?

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Ramiro Domingez) TRANSACTIONS RHP Ricky Castro was returned to Wichita from St. Paul. RHP Nick McAuliffe was promoted from the FCL to Cedar Rapids. McAuliffe spent a long time in college. He pitched at four different colleges. In 2023 and 2024, he pitched at East Stroudsburg University. He went undrafted. Last summer, he pitched independent ball for Evansville in the Frontier League (39 games) and for Sioux City in the American Association (2 games). The Twins signed him on Wednesday, and he joined the Kernels on Saturday. Infielder Bryan Acuna was activated from the Injured List. RHP Ramiro Villanueva was assigned to the Mighty Mussels. He was previously on the DSL Twins roster. Catcher Ricardo Pena was sent from the Mussels to the FCL. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 4, Indianapolis 0 Box Score The Saints put three runs on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. They added one more in the sixth. But when there is a shutout, we should start with the pitching. It was an impressive showing for a bullpen game. Mike Paredes made the start and gave up two hits over three scoreless innings. He had one strikeout. The rehabbing Travis Adams struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits. Lefty Aaron Rozek came on and gave up three hits and a walk over two scoreless innings. Dan Altavilla and Drew Smith each threw perfect innings. Ben Ross started out the top of the third inning with his first Triple-A hit, a double down the left-field line. He advanced to third base on a line-drive singled by Walker Jenkins. Kaelen Culpepper grounded out but drove in scores. Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice. He went to third on a Ryan Kreidler single. Kreidler stole second. Kyler Fedko drove in two runs with a single to make it 3-0. Fedko led off the sixth with a walk. A few batters later, he scored the fourth run on a Tanner Schobel single. Orlando Arcia went 2-for 4. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita, NW Arkansas Box Score This game sat in a delay for a while, but ultimately Mother Nature took the Win. These two teams will try to play two games on Sunday afternoon. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 5, Peoria 7 Box Score For the fifth straight game, Marek Houston had a multi-hit game against Peoria. In those games, the Wake Forest alum is 12-for-24 with three doubles. In this game, Houston went 3-for-5 with his fourth double and two stolen bases. Caden Kendle went 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Jay Thomason was 2-for-5 with his first home run of the season. Brandon Winokur had a double and two stolen bases in the game. Eli Jones started and gave up three runs (2 earned) on six hits. In four innings, he walked one and struck out five batters. Nick Trabacchi came on and gave up two runs on one hit and one walk in 2 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Brent Francisco gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 9, Dunedin 2 Box Score Ryan Sprock singled in Jayson Bass to give the Mussels a 1-0 lead in the second inning. A seven-run fifth inning put the Mussels ahead 8-0. Speck started that inning with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. Bryan Acuna walked. Sprock scored on a Dameury Pena ground out. Ramiro Dominguez drove in Acuna with a double. JP Smith singled in Dominguez to make it 4-0. Quentin Young’s third double stove in Smith. Jayson Bass singled Young to third. Young scored on a sac fly by Irvin Nunez. After a pitching change, Chourio walked. Sprock reached on an error which allowed Bass to score. Acuna singled in Chourio and the Mussels were ahead 8-0. Ramiro Villanueva was brought in to make his first Mussels start on Saturday. He tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked three and had five strikeouts. Aaron Falinski gave up two runs on two hits and three walks in three innings. Xavier Kolhosser had five strikeouts over two scoreless innings. Ramiro Dominguez, JP Smith, Ryan Sprock and Bryan Acuna each had two hits. Dominguez had two doubles. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2 K. Pitcher of the Day Ramiro Villanueva (Fort Myers): 4 IP, H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 62 pitches, 36 strikes (58.1%%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, SB(4) (batted first, played RF) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, BB, RBI, K, SB(5) (batted second, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - Did Not Play. #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, R, K (batted fourth, played DH) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2 SB(6), 2 K (batted leadoff, played DH) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch. #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, 2B(4), R, 2 SB(7), K (batted third, played SS) #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B(3), R, RBI, 2 K (batted fourth, played SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Did Not Play. #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - Did Not Play. #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch. #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, K. (batted second, played catcher) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain) UPCOMING PROBABLES Sunday: St. Paul @ Indianapolis (12:35 pm CT) - RHP Zebby Matthews (0-2, 7.71 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (12:30 pm CT) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-1, 3.66 ERA), TBD Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (2:05 pm CT) - RHP Michael Ross (1-0, 4.50 ERA) Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (11:05 am CT) - RHP Merit Jones (0-1, 3.00 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 12-15 St. Paul Saints: 10-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 11-8 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 8-12 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 13-7 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Paulshawn Pasqualotto) TRANSACTIONS Following the Twins loss in New York on Thursday night, the Twins announced that Kendry Rojas had been optioned to St. Paul. On Friday, the corresponding move was announced, and as expected, Kody Funderburk was activated from the paternity list. OF Alan Roden was officially placed on the Injured List with a right shoulder contusion. Ben Ross earned a promotion from Wichita to St. Paul. The 24-year-old infielder is off to a great start in 2026. In 16 games, he is hitting .424/.528/.797 (1.324) with seven doubles, five homers and 16 RBI. He is a tremendous defensive player at shortstop, and he has spent time at third base, second base, and a little in the outfield. RHP Paulshawn Pasqualotto was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Double-A Wichita. The 24-year-old was the Twins 12th round pick in 2023 out of Cal-Berkeley. He pitched in just four games for the Kernels this season and has converted all three save opportunities he’s had and given up only an unearned run over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He had no walks and eight strikeouts. The Twins signed right-hander Jesse Bergin and assigned him to the FCL Twins. He had been the 11th round pick in 2021 out of UCLA by the Reds. then didn’t pitch in 2022 or 2023. He returned and threw 34 1/3 total innings. He spent most of the 2025 season at Double-A Pensacola. In 35 games and 43 innings out of the bullpen, he was 2-4 with five saves, a 2.51 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP, and opponents hit just .168 off of him. The Marlins released him in late March, and the Twins signed him today. He will likely head to Wichita once his arm gets ready. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 4 Box Score It was a bullpen game for the Saints on Friday night. John Brebbia started and gave up one run on two hits over the first two innings. In the top of the fifth inning, Alex Jackson tied the game at 1-1 with a leadoff homer. He already has three long balls this season. In the bottom of the sixth, Gabriel Gonzalez led off with his sixth home run. Emmanuel Rodriguez followed with a walk and stole second base. After Ryan Kreidler reached on an error, Kyler Fedko drove in Rodriguez with a single to make it 3-1 Saints. Ricky Castro came in and threw three zeroes on the board. However, after a walk started the bottom of the sixth, he gave up a home run to Tyler Callihan which tied the game at 3-3. Matt Bowman got the next five outs, two of them on strikeout. He also gave up a solo homer. Luis Garcia came in and tossed a 1-2-3 ninth. The Saints ended with just six hits and three walks in the game. Gonzalez had two hits, and Orlando Arcia went 2-for-4. Rodriguez had two walks. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 1 Box Score Jose Olivares is one of the better starting pitcher prospects in the Twins organization. On Friday night, he made his Double-A debut for the Surge. The right-hander worked through some issues to put three zeros on the board. He tossed three scoreless innings despite two hits and four walks. He had one strikeout. Of his 52 pitches, just 23 of them were strikes (44.2%). Paulshawn Pasqualotto came on and duplicated the results with three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and walked three batters, but he helped himself with three strikeouts. Through four innings, there was no score in the. The Wind Surge put a crooked number on the board in the top of the fifth inning. Maddux Houghton started things out with his third double of the season. After one out and a pitching change, Houghton stole third and scored when the throw was errant. Kala’i Rosario walked and went to second on a Kyle DeBarge single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Rosario scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Billy Amick. DeBarge scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. Wichita added some insurance in the top of the eighth inning. Billy Amick led off the inning with a solo homer, his fourth of the season. Spencer Bengard came in for the seventh inning. He was charged with an unearned run on two hits and a walk over his two innings. Luis Quinones came on for the ninth inning and struck out the side. Jake Rucker was hit by a pitch and later scored on a passed ball for the fifth and final run. Wichita had eight hits and two walks in the game. Ricardo Olivar went 2-for-4 with his fifth double. He has reached base in six straight games. He also has five extra base hits in his past four games. Houghton hit his third and fourth doubles, and walked, in three at-bats. He also stole his sixth base. The Surge had extra base hits and took advantage of some poor defense, which is good, because they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Just one home run for the Wind Surge, but they still have hit 23 homers over the past nine games. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 8, Peoria 4 Box Score A baseball team wants to score early and often. That is exactly what the Kernels did on Friday night in Peoria. They scored one run in the first inning and scored one run in each of the following six innings. The only inning in the first seven innings that they didn’t score one run was the fifth inning, when they scored two runs. It was deja vu all over again for the Kernels in the top of the first inning. Like Thursday night, Eduardo Tait homers in the first to give his team a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth homer of the month. Nolan Santos was the starting pitcher for Cedar Rapids. Unfortunately, he needed 35 pitches and only got two outs. He was charged with one run on one hit and three walks. The outs he got were both on strikeouts. That’s a lot of pitches. Sam Rochard came in and left the bases loaded and a 1-1 game. He went 2 1/3 innings and gave up one run on one hit, a solo home run. In the second inning, Caden Kendle and Jay Thomason walked. After a groundout, Kendle scored on a balk. Marek Houston led off the third inning with his third double. He went to third base on a Tait fly out and then scored on a Brandon Winokur single to center. 3-2 after three innings. Jacob Wosinski worked the middle innings. In three innings, he gave up just one run on two hits (including one homer). He had three strikeouts. Cole Peschl struck out two batters over two scoreless, hitless innings. Christian Becerra gave up one run on two hits in the ninth inning. He struck out two batters. Let’s catch up on that offense. In the fourth inning, Rayne Doncon doubled and scored on a Luis Hernandez single. In the fifth inning, Danny De Andrade led off with a single. Kendle walked again and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. De Andrade scored on a Doncon ground out. Then Kendle scored on a Miguel Briceno single. In the sixth inning, De Andrade struck out but got on base on a wild pitch. Kendle walked yet again. De Andrade scored on a Jay Thomasson double. With one out in the seventh, Briceno singled. Andy Lugo pinch ran for him and stole second base and went to third base on a throwing error. After a Hernandez walk, Houston grounded to shortstop for a force out but beat the throw to first base to get an RBI. What happened in the eighth and ninth innings? Why didn’t they score? I kid, of course, it isn’t that easy. That said, the Kernels did have a runner on base in those final two innings too. Marek Houston went 2-for-5 with his third double. It was his fourth straight multi-hit week this week against Peoria. He is now hitting .303 with an OPS of .808. Tait went 2-for-5 with his fourth homer. Winokur was 2-for-5. Briceno was 2-for-4. Hernandez, Thomason and Doncon each had one hit and one walk while Kendle had three walks in the game. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 5, Dunedin 4 Box Score A four-run fifth innings gave the Mussels a 5-3 lead, and they were able to hang on to give them a dozen wins. Matt Dalquist started and was charged with three runs on six hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Michael Hilker kept an inherited runner from scoring a third run in the top of the fifth frame. The team’s 20th round pick last July gave up two hits and a walk over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out two batters. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Blue Jays made a pitching change. Their starter was already at 58 pitches after 3 2/3 innings. That was a positive for the Mussels. Jayson Bass got to second on an error and scored on a single by Ian Daugherty. Byron Chourio led off the inning with his first home run of the season. Ricardo Pena followed with a walk. Yilber Herrera doubled Pena to third base. With two outs, Yasser Mercedes did it again. He knocked his fourth home run, a three-run, opposite-field homer to give the team a 5-3 lead. Mitch Mueller worked a perfect eighth inning. Brian Zeldin came on and got the first two outs easily, with a groundout and a strikeout. But then Blaine Bullard hit his fourth home run which cut the Mussel lead to 5-4. Zeldin then hit a batter. However, he got a ground out to end the game and pick up his second save of the year. Chourio went 2-for-3 with the homer. Mercedes homered in back-to-back games and four the fourth time in his last seven games. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HR(5), R, RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day Paulshawn Pasqualotto (Wichita): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 B, 44 pitches, 27 strikes (61.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, K (batted second, played CF) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-4 (batted first, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, K (batted fourth, played RF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, HR(4), R, RBI, 2 K, E(2) (batted second, catcher) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, HR(5), R, RBI, K (batted third, played 1B) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch, Optioned #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 2B(3) R, RBI, K (batted leadoff, played SS) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch. #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, RBI, K, CS(1) (batted third, played CF) #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch. #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - Did Not Play. #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-for-5, R, K, E(5) (batted third, played SS) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch. #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain) UPCOMING PROBABLES Saturday: St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:35 pm CT) - RHP Mike Paredes (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 pm CT) - RHP Sam Armstrong (1-2, 3.68 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Eli Jones (1-0, 1.35 ERA) Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - RHP Jonathan Stevens (2-0, 4.82 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 12-14 St. Paul Saints: 9-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 11-8 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 8-11 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 12-7 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Kason Huckabay, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Jose Salas) TRANSACTIONS Following the Twins loss in New York, Kendry Rojas was optioned to St. Paul. Presumably, the corresponding move would be to activate Kody Funderburk from the paternity list. Infielder Ryan Kreidler reported to the Saints in Indianapolis on Thursday morning after being optioned by the Twins on Wednesday. The Twins claimed Christian Roa, a 27-year-old right-hander who was DFAd by the Houston Astros earlier this week. Roa was the Reds second-round pick in 2020 out of Texas A&M. He has fought a ton of injuries in his career, but clearly has something teams like. He pitched in two games for the Marlins in September of 2025. He pitched in seven games for the Astros this season. In 8 2/3 innings, he gave up five runs on 10 hits, seven walks and three hit batters, and just six strikeouts. The Twins have been very active in making claims on relief pitcher options for the back of the 40-man roster and potentially for the back of the 26-man roster. It’s a solid strategy for a team in the Twins current position. The nice part is that he could be optioned meaning the Twins can invest some time with him if they want. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins have DFAd infielder Eric Wagaman. He was one of the last cuts for the Twins this spring after playing in 140 games for the Marlins last year. In 18 games with the Saints this year, he is hitting .159/.284/.254 (.538). Those numbers aren’t great, or good, or even adequate, but it’s also important to realize the small sample size. On Sunday, he went 3-for-4 and hit his lone double, triple, and home run of the season. That one game increased his OPS by about .130 points. Wagaman just never made much sense for the Twins, and it’s hard to believe they had to give up a Double-A lefty reliever Kade Bragg for him. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll clear waivers and stay in the organization. Catcher David Banuelos transferred back to the Development List for St. Paul. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 1, Indianapolis 6 Box Score Gabriel Gonzalez hit a long home run, his fifth homer of the young season. The solo shot in the fourth inning cut the Saints’ deficit to 3-1. The only other Saints player with a hit in this game was Ryan Kreidler who doubled. Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper both walked. Culpepper returned to the Saints lineup after being out of the lineup the first two games of this week. John Klein made the start for the Saints. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk over three innings. Marco Raya came on and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks over two innings. Zak Kent gave up two hits and two walks over two innings, but no runs. Drew Smith struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth inning. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 12, NW Arkansas 13 (10 innings) Box Score 25 runs, 29 hits, 12 walks. Occasionally some big pitching and defense. Actually, defense played a certain role in the results of this game. Wichita committed three errors to NW Arkansas’s zero errors. Three unearned runs certainly looms large in a one-run, extra inning game. We had several Surge highlights, but no tally in the win column for Wichita. The Wind Surge took the early first-inning lead with a four-spot. The Naturals put six on the board in the fourth inning. C.J. Culpepper started. He was charged with five runs (3 earned) on seven hits over three innings. He walked none and had seven strikeouts. He started the fourth inning but was replaced by Darren Bowen with a runner on base. The inherited runner scored, but Bowen was charged with three runs on one hit and two walks in his two innings. He struck out four. Sam Ryan went 2 2/3 innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk. Jaylen Nowlin threw two innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits. In the top of the first, Hendry Mendez led off with a walk. With one out, he scored on Billy Amick’s third home run of the season. Jorel Ortega and Jake Rucker had RBI singles in the four-run first. Jose Salas led off the top of the third inning with his third home run of the season. With one out in the top of the fourth, Mendez knocked his fourth homer of the season. In the top of the fifth inning, Jake Rucker doubled to drive in Ricardo Olivar. Poncho Ruiz tied the game at 8-8 with a single to score Rucker. Jose Salas led off the top of the seventh inning with his fourth home run of the season to give the Surge a 9-8. With one out in the top of the ninth, Olivar hit his fourth home run of the season to tie the game at 10-10. Jorel Ortega was the Manfred Man on second base to start the top of the 10th. With one out, Poncho Ruiz hit his first home run of the season to make it 12-10. With two outs, Mendez and Kala’i Rosario walked. Billy Amick lined a single to left field. Mendez attempted to score but was thrown out at home. Maybe that’s what gave the momentum for the Naturals to put three runs on the board in the bottom of the inning. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 10, Peoria 12 Box Score Try as they might, the Kernels fell behind early and kept working their way back into the game. They were behind 6-2 after three innings. The Kernels scored two runs in the top of the sixth which cut their deficit to 7-6. However, Peoria scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth which made it 12-6. But there was no Quit in the Kernels. In the eighth inning, they scored four runs but fell short in the end. The Kernels actually had the first lead of the game. In the top of the first, Eduardo Tait drilled his third home run of the season to make it 1-0. Tait also drove in the team’s second run with a groundout in the third inning. Jason Doktorczyk made the start. He was charged with five runs on five hits and three walks in the first two innings. Ivran Romero was next. He gave up two runs on five hits over 2 2/3 innings. He had five strikeouts and no walks. Eston Stull came on with a runner on and got the final out of the fifth inning without further damage. Then in the sixth, he gave up five runs on five hits and a walk. Kwite the Kwestion Yehizon Sanchez came on and had four strikeouts over two perfect innings. In his first inning, the seventh inning, he threw an immaculate inning. It is something that Kernels pitchers have not done since 2015. For those who don't know, an immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches. However, in this case, Sanchez needed just eight actually thrown pitches because there was a time clock violation on one of the hitters. What is more than impressive than "immaculate?" By definition and by rule, an Immaculate inning is 1.) three strikeouts, 2.) exactly nine pitches, and 3.) all recorded as strikes. And inning with eight pitches thrown plus a pitch-clock violation does not qualify because the strike was not delivered as a pitch. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Jaime Ferrer was hit by a pitch. He moved to third on a Marek Houston single. Tait came through again. His fifth double of the season drove in both runs and cut the Peoria lead to 6-4. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Caden Kendle hit a two-run homer, his second of the season, to make it 7-6. But as noted above, that was as close as it got. Down 12-6 going to the eighth, Kendle drove in two with a single to left. Miguel Briceno knocked his second home run in limited April play, a two-run homer that ended the scoring with the Kernels down 12-10. Tait went 3-for-5 with his fifth double, third homer and four RBI. Kendle was 2-for-4 with his second home run. Houston went 2-for-5. It is his third straight multi-hit game. Heading into the week, he was hitting .246/.328/.404 (.732). Three games later, he is hitting .296/.359/.437 (.796). MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 12, Dunedin 7 Box Score Like the Kernels, the Mussels fell behind early. After four innings, the Blue Jays led 5-2. When the Mussels came to bat for the bottom of the fifth inning, they were behind 7-2. But like the Kernels (and like the big-league clue), the bats didn’t quit early. Fort Myers responded with four straight crooked numbers while their pitchers ended with four straight zeroes. Nice win at Hammond Stadium. With two outs in the top of the third, Yasser Mercedes knocked his first triple and scored on an error to make it 2-1 after three innings. Kolten Smith started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on a walk and a home run. He had four strikeouts. Down 5-1, Quentin Young started the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk. Consecutive ground outs advanced Young to third base, but with two outs. Ramiro Dominguez doubled to drive him in. Eric Hammond came in and gave up four runs on three hits (including a homer) and two walks over two innings. Xavier Kolhosser gave up one run on one hit and two walks. Down 7-2, Dameury Pena singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth frame. Yasser Mercedes followed with his third home run since joining the Mussels last week. Down 7-4, Ramiro Dominguez hit a two-out solo home run, his second of the season. It was followed by a single by Irvin Nunez, and a triple by Dameury Pena. Down 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Jayson Bass knocked a two-out, two-run homer to give the Mussels their first lead of the game. Now to the really strong late-inning pitching. Mike McKenna pitched a scoreless sixth inning and struck three batters. Matthew DesMarets came in and tossed the final three innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He walked three and had three strikeouts to earn his first professional win. Now leading 8-7, Dominguez led off the bottom of the eighth with a single. Nunez was hit by a pitch. With two outs, there was a double steal. Eduardo Beltre came through with a two-run single to center for some insurance. Beltre then stole second and third, but JP Smith told him that was unnecessary, that he was already in scoring position. Smith drilled his first home run of the season to make it 12-7 Mussels. Ramiro Dominguez went 3-for-4 with his first double and his second home run. Dameury Pena went 3-for-5 with his first triple. He’s still hitting .418. Yasser Mercedes hit his first triple and third home run. JP Smith went 2-for-4 with a walk and his first homer. The Jayson Bass homer, his second of the season, was the one that turned a deficit to a lead. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Jose Salas (Wichita): 2-for-5, 2 HR(4), 2 R, 2 RBI, K. Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, 2B(5), HR(3), R, 4 RBI, K Ramiro Dominguez (Fort Myers): 3-for-4, 2B(1), HR(2), 2 R, 2 RBI, K. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, 3B(1), HR(3), 2 R, 2 RBI, K Pitcher of the Day Matthew DesMarets (Fort Myers): 3 IP, H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 58 pitches, 31 strikes (53.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, K (batted first, played DH) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (batted second, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted third, played CF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, 2B(5), HR(3), R, 4 RBI, K (batted second, DHd) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(5), R, RBI, K (batted fourth, played RF) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, K (batted leadoff, played SS) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 37 pitches, 27 strikes (73.0%) #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, R, 3 K (batted fifth, played SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, K, 27 pitches, 14 strikes (51.9%) #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2 BB, HR(4), 2 R, RBI, K (batted first, played LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - Did Not Play. #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 67 pitches, 46 strikes (68.7%) #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-K (batted third, catcher) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - 60 IL (right elbow sprain) UPCOMING PROBABLES Friday: St. Paul @ Indianapolis (5:35 pm CT) - RHP John Brebbia (0-0, 3.86 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 pm CT) - RHP Jose Olivares (1st AA Start) Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 pm CT) - RHP Nolan Santos (0-1, 5.40 ERA) Dunedin @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - RHP Matthew Dalquist (0-1, 7.71 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 12-13 St. Paul Saints: 9-14 Wichita Wind Surge: 10-8 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 7-11 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 11-7 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

His defense is legit, and because of it, he'll likely be a big leaguer. He's got a long way to go offensively, and that's OK. But he'll definitely need to make improvements. Does that type of player do well in prospect ranking systems? No. He might make my Top 10 Twins prospects with the next vote.

I'd have to ask someone in the Vikings organization, I think.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of CJ Culpepper) TRANSACTIONS Utility man Jorel Ortega was activated from the Injured List. RHPs Matt Dalquist and Matt DesMarets joined the Fort Myers roster from the FCL Twins roster. The 23-year-old Dalquist went to UC-San Diego. He signed shortly following the 2025 draft (July 24, 2025) but didn’t make an appearance. DesMarets went to Concordia in California for two years. Then he went to UC-La Verne for the last two years. He went to pitch for Mankato in the Northwoods League last summer. On July 23, 2025, he signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Lehigh Valley 10 Box Score The Saints hit five home runs on Saturday afternoon at CHS Field. The IronPigs had just one. The Saints had just two hits that weren’t home runs. The IronPigs had 15 non-homer hits. So of course, the Saints lost a game in which they homered five times for the first time in their history. Andrew Bash started and gave up two runs on six hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Raul Brito came on and gave up three runs on four hits and two walks in his 2 1/3 innings. Marco Raya came on to get the final out of the fifth inning and then pitched the sixth inning as well. He gave up one run on two hits and struck out three batters. Altavilla struck out four batters over two innings of work. He gave up one run on one hit and a walk. This performance dropped his season ERA to 9.31. Drew Smith gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits and a walk in the ninth inning. Down 2-0 after just a half-inning, Royce Lewis got the Saints scoring started. He followed a Walker Jenkins walk with a home run into the bullpen. In the fourth inning, Tanner Schobel hit his first home run of the season. He crushed it over the batter's eye beyond center field. It gave the Saints a 3-2 lead. In the fifth inning, Emmanuel Rodriguez hit his fourth home run, a long blast hit 117.1 mph. That is the highest exit velocity by a Saints hitter in franchise history. In the sixth inning, Orlando Arcia lined his third home run of the season. Jump ahead to the ninth inning, and Aaron Sabato hit his first home run of the season. He posted an exit velocity of 111.6 mph. Schobel went 2-for-3 with a walk and the team’s lone single of the day. David Banuelos replaced Lewis at the DH position. He hit a double, the team’s lone double of the day. Lewis was 1-for-4 in the game. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 6, Springfield 3 Box Score On Saturday night, it was the Wind Surge that took the early lead. They were also able to hang on. In the bottom of the second inning, Hendry Mendez hit his third home run of the season to make it 1-0. With one out in the bottom of the third, Kyle DeBarge walked and stole second. Ben Ross was hit by a pitch. Kala’i Rosario singled to drive in DeBarge. Rosario stole second, and Mendez followed with a two-run single. Billy Amick doubled to drive in Mendez and give the Surge a 5-0 lead. C.J. Culpepper was very good again. He had seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up three hits and a walk. He reached 75 pitches and dropped his season ERA to 1.62 ERA. Aaron Rozek came on to get the final out of the fifth inning. He also threw a scoreless sixth inning. He gave up two runs in the top of the seventh inning but was able to limit any further damage with a double play. Rozek was credited with the Win, his 16th career win with the Wind Surge tying him with Pierson Ohl for the all-time Wind Surge lead. In the bottom of the inning, Ben Ross reached on an error. With two outs, Amick drove in Ross to make it a 6-2 game. Spencer Bengard gave up a solo homer in the eighth inning, and Sam Ryan struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first save. Mendez went 2-for-4 with his third homer and three RBI. Amick was 2-for-4 with his third double and two RBI. They say that all good things must end someday and add something about Autumn leaves needing to fall. Ben Ross’s hitting strike came to an end on Saturday. However, his on-base streak is now 14 games. Ross was hit by a pitch in the third inning. He walked in the sixth inning, and then he stole his eighth base of the season. He also reached on an error in the eighth inning. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 8, Quad Cities 14 Box Score This game was quite the pitcher’s duel through, well, two innings. Quad Cities scored five runs in the third and four runs in the fourth. When the Kernels came to the plate for the bottom of the sixth, they were already down 10-0. The Kernels bats showed some life that inning. Well, actually, they did a good job at not swinging. Jaime Ferrer and Marek Houston walked. Then Eduardo Tait was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Khadim Diaw walked to put the Kernels on the scoreboard. Brandon Winokur drilled a double to right field to drive in two more runs. Jacob McCombs was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases. A fourth run scored when Andy Lugo grounded into a force out. When the Kernels came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, they were down 13-4. Ferrer walked, and Luis Hernandez walked. With two outs, Diaw drove in Ferrer with a single. Miguel Briceno pinch hit and walked to load the bases. McCombs doubled to clear the bases and cut the deficit to 13-8. They re-loaded the bases but didn’t have that one more big hit left. Jason Doktorczyk started and gave up five runs on four hits and three walks in three innings. Nick Trabacchi came on and was charged with four runs on six hits (including two home runs) in 1 2/3 innings. Jacob Wosinski had four strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. He gave up one run on one hit and a walk. Brent Francisco worked the final three innings. He gave up four runs on five hits (including two home runs) and a walk. The Kernels scored their eight runs on four hits and nine walks. Diaw was 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBI. Jaime Ferrer walked three times. McCombs was 2-for-4 with his fourth double and three RBI. The outfielder was the Twins seventh round pick in 2025 out of UC-Irvine. He is currently hitting .324/.425/.618 (1.043) with four doubles, three triples, and 10 RBI. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Lakeland 9 Box Score Matthew Dalquist started for the Mussels on Saturday. He gave up four runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts and walked none. He threw an impressive 72.4% of his pitches were strikes. Adam Falinski came on and got the final out of the fifth inning. He gave up two unearned runs on three hits and a walk over the next two innings. Travis Adams had a strikeout in his 1-2-3 rehab inning. Mike McKenna pitched the ninth inning and was charged with three unearned runs on one hit and two walks. He struck out three batters. Down 6-0 going to the bottom of the sixth, Dameury Pena led off with a single to center. Yasser Mercedes followed with his second home run since returning earlier in the week. That’s as close as the Mussels got. Pena was 2-for-4 and is hitting .421. Jayson Bass went 2-for-3 with a walk and his third double. He also stole his second base. Ryan Sprock went 2-for-3. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 2-for-4, HR(3), 2 R, 3 RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day C.J. Culpepper (Wichita): 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, BB, 7 K, 75 pitches, 46 strikes (61.3%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, BB, R, K (batted first, played CF) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - Did Not Play #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, HR(4), R, RBI, 3K (batted third, played RF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, HBP, 2 K (batted second, catcher) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - Did No Play #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, R, 2 K (batted leadoff, played SS) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2B(3), 2 RBI, K (batted 4th, played CF). #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, 3 K, E(8) (batted fourth, SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 2-for-4, HR(3), 2 R, 3 RBI, K (batted fourth, played LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB, R, 2 K, SB(6) (batted first, played SS) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 75 pitches, 46 strikes (61.3%) #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, K (batted third, DHd). #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch UPCOMING PROBABLES Sunday: Lehigh Valley @ St. Paul (2:07 pm CT) - RHP John Klein (0-1, 7.88 ERA) Springfield @ Wichita (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Sam Armstrong (0-2, 7.11 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Nolan Santos (0-0, 8.6 ERA) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CT) - RHP Kolten Smith (1-0, 0.00 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 11-10 St. Paul Saints: 8-11 Wichita Wind Surge:8-6 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 7-7 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 8-6 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Ben Ross) TRANSACTIONS Right-handed pitchers Cory Lewis and Kyle Bischoff started their rehab assignments with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels on Friday. The Twins also announced that Royce Lewis will begin a rehab assignment with the Saints on Saturday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Lehigh Valley 4 Box Score Zebby Matthews has had a rough start to his 2026 season. He’d be the first to tell you that. He was back on the mound for the Saints on Friday night. He bent, but he really didn’t break in this outing. He went the first four innings. He gave up two runs on six hits and a walk and a hit batter. With all of those runners on base, the two runs he allowed came on solo home runs by IronPigs DH Felix Reyes. He got out of some situations with five strikeouts. Grant Hartwig came on and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk over two innings. Matt Bowman started the seventh inning. He gave up two hits, but no runs, in 1 2/3 innings. Three of the five outs he recorded came via the strikeout. Zak Kent got the final four outs without giving up a run to record his first Saints Save. The Saints did a very nice job of answering the Reyes homers. Reyes homered in the top of the first inning. The Saints responded with three runs in the bottom of the first. Kaelen Culpepper led off with a walk. He scored ahead of Alan Roden who hit his third homer of the season. With two outs, Kyler Fedko drilled his fourth homer of the season to make it 3-1. Reyes hit another solo homer in the top of the third inning. The Saints came back with three in the bottom of that frame. As he had in the first, Culpepper led off the third with a walk. He stole second. Roden walked. With one out, Emmanuel Rodriguez lined a single to right to drive in Run #4. Fedko drove in Roden on a fielder’s choice. Rodriguez scored on an Eric Wagaman ground out. The Twins added a single run in the bottom of the fourth frame. Guess who got things started? With two outs, Culpepper singled. Then in what may or may not be an interesting move*, Orlando Arcia pinch hit for Alan Roden. Arcia came through with a double to drive in Culpepper with the seventh run. *No, not an interesting move after all. Earlier in the game, Roden had an awkward slide into home and jarred his shoulder a bit. Sounds pretty minor but will likely miss a game or two as a precaution. Culpepper went 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base. He scored three runs. Roden was 1-for-1 with a walk and his third homer. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Springfield 4 Box Score It was a pretty quiet night at the plate the Wind Surge. Then right after the 7th Inning Stretch, the Surge put a four on the board to take a lead and held on for the one-run win. Garrett Spain gave Wichita a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his third home run of the season. However, Springfield scored the next four runs. Ty Langenberg started and gave up two runs on six hits and two walks over five innings. Alejandro Hidalgo worked the next two innings. He gave up two runs in the top of the seventh. Ricardo Olivar led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk. Jose Salas followed with an infield single. A back moved runners to second and third, and then a passed ball allowed Olivar to score the team’s second run. Andrew Cossetti walked, and then Salas scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kyle DeBarge. Down 4-3, guess who came to the plate? That’s right. Ben Ross. He had increased his hitting streak to 13 games earlier in the game. This time, he came through in the best way possible. Ross lined an opposite field homer to give Wichita the 5-4 lead, a lead they held on to for the final two innings. Ross is now hitting .480/.552/.900 (1.452) with six doubles, five homers and 14 RBI. He is also 7-for-8 on stolen base attempts. He also has more walks than strikeouts (8-to-7). He was the Twins 5th round pick in 2022 out of Notre Dame in Ohio, a strong Division II program. He is known for his great infield defense, so it’s nice to see more in his offensive game too. William Fleming tossed two scoreless innings to record the save. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 11, Quad Cities 8 Box Score Nine total runners crossed home plate in the first inning. Quad Cities scored first in the first inning and then three more in the third inning. The Kernels scored four runs in the first inning and one more in the second frame. However, the Kernels pitchers put six straight 0s on the board. Down 8-5, the Kernels scored a run in the bottom of the sixth when Rayne Doncon scored on a passed ball. 8-6. In the bottom of the seventh, Eduardo Tait doubled to drive in Marek Houston who reached on an infield single. 8-7. With two outs, Brandon Winokur hit his first triple of the season. 8-8. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Jay Thomason singled. With two outs, he moved up to second. Jaime Ferrer walked. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and then Houston walked to load the bases. Tait came up big again, dropping a two-run single to center. Khadim Diaw drove in Houston with a single. 11-8. Marek Houston was 2-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored. Eduardo Tait was 2-for-4 with a walk, his third double, and three RBI. Khadim Diam was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Jay Thomason also had two hits. Rayne Doncon hit his second home run of the season in the four-run first inning. In the second inning, Jaime Ferrer hit his second homer of the season. Adrian Bohorquez had a rough start, but three errors behind him did not help. He gave up eight runs (4 earned) on four hits and four walks in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out four. Ivran Romero came into the game with one out in the top of the third inning and runners on second and third base. He gave up a sacrifice fly before getting out of that inning. However, he went 3 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. He had six strikeouts and two walks. Sam Rochard went 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Eston Stull got the final four outs, three of them on strikeouts. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 2, Lakeland 5 Box Score Cory Lewis made the start, rehabbing from a shoulder issue that showed up right at the beginning of spring training. Lewis got one out, but he gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. He left the game with a trainer, so that certainly isn’t ideal. Kyle Bischoff, making his first rehab appearance, gave up a walk and struck out two batters over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Merit Jones was the regularly scheduled starter for the day. He came in and worked 4 1/3 innings. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. He struck out one batter. Xavier Kolhosser gave up two runs on two hits and a walk over the final three innings. He struck out four batters. The Mussels scored single runs in the third and fourth innings. In the third inning, Eduardo Beltre put Fort Myers on the board. He hit it 104.1 mph at 32 degrees, and it traveled 406 feet for his third home of the season. In the fourth frame, Ramiro Dominguez, who was just added to the Mussels roster two days ago, hit a ball 100.3 mph at 27 degrees, and it traveled 369 feet, well beyond the wall in left field. Dominguez, you may recall, was the Twins Daily FCL Hitter of the Year for 2025. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and his first homer. He also made a great defensive play at second base. The Mussels had eight hits in the game. Ryan Sprock had three of them, and one of the team’s seven walks. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Ben Ross (Wichita): 2-for-3, BB, 2B(6), HR(5), R, 2 RBI. Pitcher of the Day Ivran Romero (Cedar Rapids): 3 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 52 pitches, 34 strikes (65.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - Did Not Play #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-2, 2 BB, 3 R, K, SB(3) (batted first, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, R, RBI, K (batted fourth, played RF, then CF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(3), 2 R, 3 RBI (batted second, DHd) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, K (Batted third, played 1B, then RF) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, 3 R, SB(3), 2 K (batted leadoff, played SS) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, 3B(1), RBI (batted 4th, played CF). #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-5, 4 K (batted second, DHd) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (batted fourth, played LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-3, SF RBI (batted first, played SS) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Starts Saturday. #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, K (batted third, played CF). #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch UPCOMING PROBABLES Saturday: Lehigh Valley @ St. Paul (2:07 pm CT) - Andrew Bash (0-1, 1.64 ERA) Springfield @ Wichita (4:05 pm CT) - C.J. Culpepper (0-1, 3.38 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 pm CT) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk (2-0, 3.60 ERA) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CT) - RHP Reed Moring (1-0, 0.00 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 11-9 St. Paul Saints: 8-10 Wichita Wind Surge: 7-6 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 7-6 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 8-5 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Malamut Photography (photo of Eli Jones) TRANSACTIONS Utilityman Harry Genth was promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. In addition, Fort Myers placed RHP Joel Garcia on the 7-Day IL with right biceps tendonitis. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Lehigh Valley 1 Box Score Connor Prielipp made the start for the Saints against the Phillies Triple-A squad. The southpaw went the first five innings and gave up just one run on four hits and a walk. He also struck out eight batters. The lone run he allowed came on a Steward Berroa solo home run. Berroa played his fifth game with the IronPigs after being traded from the Brewers to the Phillies organization. Kendry Rojas came in and worked 3 1/3 innings. He gave up no runs on three hits. He walked one and had two strikeouts. He threw 50 pitches, likely his limit in just his second appearance with the Saints. Jon Brebbia got the final two outs, one on a strikeout. The Saints left three on base in the second without scoring. In the bottom of the third, Aaron Sabato led off with a double. He moved up to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Alan Roden singled to right to drive him in. Back-to-back walks left the bases loaded again. This time, Orlando Arcia stepped up with an RBI single to make it 2-0. The Saints took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning. With one out, Tanner Schobel and Aaron Sabato hit back-to-back singles. With two outs, Kaelen Culpepper doubled to drive in Schobel. Roden followed with an infield single that drove in Sabato with the fourth run. Sabato drove in the fifth and final run in the bottom of the seventh when he lined a single to left to drive in Alex Jackson. Sabato finished the game going 3-for-4 with his first double of the season. Alan Roden was 3-for-5 with his fourth double. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 7, Springfield 10 Box Score The Wind Surge offense scored seven runs on 14 hits and three walks. Of course, Ben Ross had another two-hit game including his fourth double and fifth home run. Hendry Mendez went 3-for-5 and made his first start at first base. (He had one error on a missed catch.) Kala’i Rosario went 2-for-5. Ricardo Olivar went 2-for-5 with his fourth double. Jose Salas was 2-for-4 with a walk and his second home run. Kyle DeBarge hit his second home of the season. Billy Amick and Maddux Houghton each hit their second double of the season. Things didn’t go as well for the Surge’s pitchers. Mike Paredes made the start. In 2 1/3 innings, he gave up eight runs (7 earned) on eight hits and a walk and a hit batter. In 2025 in Wichita, Paredes was the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year. He went 11-0 with a 2.43 ERA over 103 2/3 innings. He also had seven saves. In other words, this was his first really rough outing since 2024. In other words, as Garrett Crochet said of his start against the Twins on Monday, he’s just got to flush this one and forget it. Jarret Whorff came on and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. However, down 10-0, Darren Bowen, Luis Quinones, and Jaylen Nowlin combined to strike out five batters over five scoreless, no-hit innings. KERNELS CHRONICLE Game 1: Cedar Rapids 2, Quad Cities 1 Box Score Strong Start + Strong Bullpen + Early Lead + Add On = Good win for the Kernels. The Kernels got a really nice start in Game 1 from Eli Jones. He gave up just one run on three hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out three batters. In four appearances and 20 innings in 2026, Jones is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA. He’s issued just two walks and opponents have hit just .119 against him. After such a tough pro debut in Fort Myers in 2025, it was certainly important for Jones and his confidence to get off to a fast start in 2026. Recently, Jones told Twins Daily, “I worked hard throughout the offseason and spring training to build a little more velo. I’m throwing a tick harder now, making my arsenal a bit sharper. I’ve got my feet under me in pro ball now, so I’m feeling much more comfortable and confident on the mound.” The 22-year-old former sixth-round pick from South Carolina continued, “I’m competing my tail off and being very intentional on executing each and every pitch. My mindset on the mound, mixed with a slightly sharper arsenal has helped me out a ton so far this year.” The Kernels took advantage of the opposing pitcher Josh Hansell’s wildness and took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Khadim Diaw, Brandon Winokur and Danny De Andrade walked to load the bases. Rayne Doncon grounded to shortstop but beat the throw to first allowing Diaw to score the game’s first run. The River Bandits tied the game in the top of the third inning, but the Kernels were able to jump back ahead in the bottom of the inning. With one out, De Andrade crushed a long home run out of the ballpark and onto the street beyond the fence in left field. Nick Trabacchi pitched a perfect sixth inning, and Paulshawn Pasqualotto worked a scoreless seventh inning to record his third save of the young season. Eli Jones earned his first official Win of the season. De Andrade was 2-for-2 with a walk and the big home run. Jay Thomason went 0-for-0 with three of the team’s seven walks in the game. Luis Hernandez recorded his first hit of the season. The catcher doubled down the left field line. Doncon added a double to his RBI fielder’s choice. Game 2: Cedar Rapids 0, Quad Cities 6 Box Score It’s been a rough start to the season for lefty Dasan Hill. With all the excitement of the 20-year-old’s potential and reaching 100 mph, it’s a good reminder that these kids are people, that development isn’t linear, that there will be ups and downs throughout the process. Big picture, what does three rough starts mean? Nothing. Very little. What it does, one would hope, is provide learning opportunities. What it reminds us/fans, patience is not only a virtue, it’s absolutely necessary. Hill started Game 2 for the Kernels. He gave up five runs on three hits over just 1 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts but also walked five batters. In his three starts, he has given up 11 runs on nine hits in eight innings. He had 10 walks and 10 strikeouts. That amounts to a 12.38 ERA and a 2.38 WHIP. In his three starts at the end of the 2025 season for the Kernels, he was 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA. In 10 innings, he gave up nine hits, walked seven and had 15 strikeouts. Even rolling back to his 16 starts at Fort Myers last year, he had 33 walks and 68 strikeouts in 52 innings. Of note, he didn’t have good control last year, but obviously right now it’s even worse. As long as he is healthy and willing to listen, there is little to worry about. It’s a blip on the radar. But the control issue will need to be worked on. It will have to be. As players move up levels, the strike zones get smaller, somewhat literally and mostly just in the fact that most of the hitters have much better eyes and knowledge of the strike zone. Christian Becerra came on and gave up one run on four hits in 1 1/3 innings. Michael Ross struck out two over two scoreless innings. Yehizon Sanchez and Brent Francisco each threw a scoreless inning as well. The Kernels hitters combined for three hits and six hits in this game. They were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. Brandon Winokur had a double and a walk. Eduardo Tait hit his second double. Danny De Andrade and Jaime Ferrer each walked twice. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 7, Lakeland 4 Box Score Riley Quick made his second pro appearance on Thursday night. While he wasn’t as efficient as his first start, it certainly was effective. The 2025 draft pick struck out five batters over three scoreless, hitless innings. The only blemish was three walks, and just 58.3% of his 48 pitches were strikes. Solid start, and the Mussels offense started out quite well too. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Dameury Pena singled. With two outs, JP Smith walked. Yasser Mercedes followed with his first homer of the season. It gave the Mussels a 3-0 lead. After a pitching change, Eduardo Beltre walked, Ryan Sprock singles, and Byron Chourio walked to load the bases. Beltre scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0. Jonathan Stevens came into the game to replace Quick. He gave up a home run to the first batter he faced. He gave up three runs in the fourth. The righty drafted out of Alabama who never pitched for Alabama went three innings and gave up four runs (2 earned) on five hits and two walks. He struck out three batters. The sixth inning run tied the game at 4-4. The Mussels answered that run right away in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan Spock reached on an error which allowed Mercedes to score the fifth run. Jake Murray came in to start the seventh inning. He gave up a leadoff double but immediately left the game with injury. We’ll update as we have more information. Michael Hilker came on and got the final nine outs of the game for the Mussels. Like Quick he gave up no runs and no hits over three innings. He had a walk and four strikeouts. Catcher Ian Daugherty hit a long home run in the bottom of the seventh, his first as a professional, to give the team the 6-4 lead. Dameury Pena extended his hitting streak to eight games. He went hitless in the season’s first two games. Through 10 games, the 20-year-old Dominican is hitting .412/.524/.441 (.965) with a double. He also has seven walks to just four strikeouts. And he’s got four stolen bases. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Ben Ross (Wichita): 2-for-5, 2B(5), HR(4), 2 R, RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day Connor Prielipp (St. Paul): 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 76 pitches, 50 strikes (65.8%) Eli Jones (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 67 pitches, 44 strikes (65.7%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, K, CS(1) (batted first, DHd) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2B(4), RBI, 2 K (batted second, played SS) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(2), K (batted fifth, played CF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - Game 2: 1-for-4, 2B(2), 2 K (batted second, catcher) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 76 pitches, 50 strikes (65.8%) #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Game 2: 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 70 pitches, 38 strikes (54.3%) #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, K (Batted fourth, played LF) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 50 pitches, 29 strikes (58.0%) #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1: 0-for-3, BB, K, Game 2: 1-for-4, 2 K (both games, batted leadoff, played SS) #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 48 pitches, 28 strikes (58.3%) #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - No Game Scheduled. #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - Game1: 0-for-2, BB, K, Game 2: 1-for-2, BB, 2B(2), (batted 3rd/4th, played 3B). #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K, E(7) (batted third, played SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 3-for-5, 2B(2), R, 2 RBI, E(1) (batted third, played 1B, then LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 1-for-5, HR(2), R, RBI, K (batted first, played 2B) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1: 1-for-2, BB, R (batted second, played CF), Game 2: 0-for-2, BB (batted third, played CF). #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch UPCOMING PROBABLES Friday: Lehigh Valley @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - Zebby Matthews (0-2, 8.76 ERA) Springfield @ Wichita (6:35 pm CT) - Ty Langenberg (0-1, 1.54 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez (0-0, 9.53 ERA) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - RHP Merit Jones (0-0, 3.52 ERA) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 11-8 St. Paul Saints: 7-10 Wichita Wind Surge: 6-6 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 6-6 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 8-4 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

I never understood it when he was playing, and I certainly don't get it for a first-ballot Hall of Famer... and no disrespect, jkcarew, you're not the only one... where does the extra R on Mauer come from? Where did "Maurer" come from? As for Jenkins, since even before they drafted him, video showed us his swing was so similar to Mauer's. Jenkins has a good approach at the plate, but he's 21. He hasn't hit for a lot of power, but it's in there and we've seen it a few times. That'll come. Is Konnor Griffin a needle mover yet? Not really, although he'll have his moments, but they're calling him up so later this year or next year, when Skenes, Chandler, Keller, Jones, etc., are at full-go, he'll be ready to participate.

I've tweeted this general tweet a bunch of times over the last 2-3 seasons.

Image courtesy of Braeden Botts (photo of Ty Langenberg), Rob Thompson (photo of Kyler Fedko) The minor-league season is filled with a series of ups and downs. That's normal in development, and then it's not unusual in the big leagues because the development continues. Look only at Sunday's Saints game to see an extreme high and an extreme low. It's going to happen. TRANSACTIONS Not transactions on Sunday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Toledo 11 Box Score Kyler Fedko had an amazing day, powering the Saints to an early lead and helped build upon it. The Saints held an 8-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Marco Raya came on to protect the lead. In 5 2/3 innings before Sunday, he had given up three runs (2 earned) on six hits and two walks. On Sunday, he just didn’t have control or command of any of his pitches. He recorded just one out and gave up six runs on three hits and three walks. It started with a home run by Ben Malgeri. Then a walk, a double, a single, a walk. Raya made one of the more athletic plays by a pitcher, fielding a bunch, turning and throwing a strike to third base for the first out. It was followed by a walk to load the bases. That’s when Dan Altavilla came into the game. On a 2-1 pitch, Cal Stevenson crushed a 96 mph fastball for a walkoff grand slam. That’s a tough way to end a week on the road. Let’s go back in the game. Lefty Kendry Rojas made his first Saints start. He tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and had three strikeouts. Altavilla was the seventh reliever used in the game. Yeah, let’s just jump to the offense. In the top of the third, Eric Wagaman singled to lead off the inning. Kyler Fedko followed with his first home run of the season (429 feet). David Banuelos followed with a walk. With one out, Walker Jenkins singled to drive in Banuelos. Gabriel Gonzalez doubled Jenkins to third. Alan Roden drove in both of them with a double to make it 5-0. With one out in the top of the fourth, Kyler Fedko hit his second home run of the game (437 feet) and of the season. That made it 6-0 Saints. In the top of the sixth inning, the first two batters got out. Kyler Fedko hit his third home run of the game (397 feet), his third home run of the season. It was big because it gave the Saints a 7-4 lead. As noted in the below tweet, Fedko is the fifth player in Saints franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. The others are Jose Miranda, Brent Rooker, Spencer Steer, and Chris Williams. With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Eric Wagaman walked. Kyler Fedko came up and tripled to center field (411 feet) to drive in the Saints eighth run. Fedko went 4-for-4 with a triple and three home runs. He scored three runs and drove in five runs. Walker Jenkins went 3-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Alan Roden went 1-for-3 with two walks and his third double. Gabriel Gonzalez, who made his first start at first base, added this third double of the season. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Arkansas 3 (11 innings) Box Score This game was really a well-pitched game. In fact, there was no score through the first six innings. Ty Langenberg started and struck out eight batters over five shutout innings. He gave up four hits and walked none. 48 of his 65 pitches were strikes (73.8%) It was impressive as he was pitching on three days' rest. William Fleming made his first appearance since joining the Twins organization earlier in the week. The 6-6, 220 pound, 27-year-old, right-hander struck out one in a scoreless sixth inning. Jarret Whorff came on for the seventh inning and gave up two runs on two hits. He walked two and had two strikeouts. With one out in the top of the eighth, Billy Amick singled. With two outs, he moved to second on a single by Andrew Cossetti. Ricardo Olivar followed with a single to center to drive in Amick and make it 2-1. In the top of the ninth, Kyle DeBarge led off with a walk. Ben Ross singled to left. Hendry Mendez grounded to first. Ross was out at second, but Mendez beat the relay throw. With two outs, Amick singled to left to drive in DeBarge with the tying run and make it 2-2. Extra Innings! Garrett Spain started the inning as the Manfred Man at second base. With two outs, Spain was still on second. Jose Salas picked up his teammates. He lined a single to right to drive in Spain with the go-ahead run. Jaylen Nowlin struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. Ricky Castro came in for the 10th inning. The tying run scored quickly, and after an intentional walk to load the bases, he coaxed a ground ball back to the mound, starting a 1-2-3 double play and sending the game to the 11th inning. DeBarge started the inning at second base. Ben Ross singled to left and moved DeBarge to third base. Ross stole second. Hendry Mendez followed with a ground-rule double to make it 5-3. Castro went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th to finish off the Wind Surge win. Ben Ross went 2-for-5. He has at least one hit in all nine games. He’s hitting .444 with an OPS of 1.139. He also now has five stolen bases. Billy Amick went 2-for-4 with a walk. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 15 Box Score This was a rough one for the Kernels. They gave up three runs in the second, five runs in the fourth, and six more runs in the seventh inning. Three big innings for a team, and there’s a good chance that team will win. It might even surprise you to know that the Kernels had a 3-0 lead after one-and-a-half innings. Eduardo Tait scored on a balk in the top of the first inning. Then in the top of the second, with Andy Lugo on base, Miguel Briceno hit his first home run of the season to make it 3-0. Michael Ross made the start. In two innings, he gave up three runs on four hits. Brent Francisco came on and gave up six runs on four hits (including 2 homers) and two walks. Christian Becerra walked two but got the final two outs of the fourth inning. Cody Peschl and Nick Trabacchi. Ivran Romero came in for the top of the seventh. He got one out and was charged with six runs on five hits and a walk. Eston Stull got the final five outs. The Kernels added a run in the fifth inning. Miguel Briceno singled, went to third on a Jacob McCombs doubled him to third, and Tait drove him in with a sacrifice fly. In the top of the eighth, Briceno lined a single to left to drive in Danny De Andrade with the fifth run. Tait went 2-for-5. Miguel Briceno led the offense by going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three driven in. We haven’t written much about Miguel Briceno yet this season, so here is a quick background. He signed in July of 2019 with the Milwaukee Brewers and made his pro debut in 2021. The Twins selected him in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft. He played in 59 games for Fort Myers in 2025. Unfortunately, in early July his season ended when he was placed on the 60-Day Injured List. He hasn’t had much opportunity this season with the Kernels. Last Sunday, he got one pitch hit at-bat. On Friday, he pinch ran and scored a run. Sunday was his first start of the season. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 9, Jupiter 3 Box Score The Mighty Mussels took an early lead. They gave it back in the middle innings, but then the bats jumped back to life late in the game. Eric Hammond made the start for the Mussels. He was drafted by the Diamondbacks late in the 2021 draft but chose to pitch at Georgia. Four seasons later, he went undrafted, but the Twins signed him in early August as a non-drafted free agent. His first appearance was on Tuesday with two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. On Sunday, he started and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked on and had four strikeouts. The Mussels provided him with some run support in the second inning. Jayson Bass and Ryan Sprock started the inning with singles. Bryan Acuna followed with an RBI single to center. With one out, Jorel Ortega was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Dameury Pena’s hot start continued. He drove a single to right to drive in a second run. Quentin Young flew out to right field. On the play, Ortega was thrown out trying to advance to second. However, Acuna crossed the plate first to make it 3-0. Jake Murray, a non-drafted free agent in 2025 out of Campbell, came in to start the fourth inning. He faced three batters in the fourth. He walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the fifth inning, but he got an infield pop out followed by a pair of strikeouts. The lefty came out to start the sixth inning, but the leadoff man reached on an error. At that point, Jordan Smith brought Mitch Mueller into the game. Mueller signed as a non-drafted free agent from Utah Valley in March of 2025. He was greeted by a single and then issued a walk to load the bases. Mueller got a ground ball to first base for the out, but a throwing error allowed two runners to score on the play. After a walk, the tying run scored on a sacrifice fly. He got a strikeout to end that inning, but the score was now 3-3. How would the young Mussel hitters respond? Jorel Ortega led off the top of the seventh with a single. Pena was hit by a pitch. After a pitching change and a strikeout, JP Smith walked to load the bases. Ortega scored on a wild pitch to give the Mussels a lead. Eduardo Beltre walked to re-load the bases. The runners all moved up a base, and Dameury Pena scored on a balk. The chance for a grand slam was gone, but Jayson Bass hit a ball 100 mph and 400 feet, beyond the fence in right-center field and settled for a three-run homer. It was his first of the season and gave his team an 8-3 lead. Adam Falinski, who signed as a minor-league free agent in July of 2025, worked the final three innings for Fort Myers. He walked three and gave up three hits but gave up no runs and recorded his second save. Bryan Acuna went 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base. He is now hitting .389. Ortega went 1-for-3 and was hit by two pitches. Dameuery Pena went 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. His season average now sits at .476. Jayson Bass went 2-for-5 with the three-run homer. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Kyler Fedko (St. Paul): 4-for-4, 3B(1), 3-HR(3), 3 R, 5 RBI. Pitcher of the Day Ty Langenberg (Wichita): 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 65 pitches, 48 strikes (73.8%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, BB, R, RBI, 2 SB(3) (batted second, DHd) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-5, K (led off, played 2B) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted sixth, played CF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2 K (batted second, catcher) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2B(3), K (Batted fourth, played 1B) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 48 pitches, 30 strikes (62.5%) #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - MLB Debut. 3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 67 pitches, 50 strikes (74.6%) #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K, E(4) (batted fourth, played SS). #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, SF RBI, 2 K, E(6) (batted third, played SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 0.1 IP, 3 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 29 pitches, 15 strikes (51.7%) #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(2), 2 RBI (batted third, played LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 R, 3 K (batted first, played 2B) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 BB, K (batted third, LF, then CF) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch UPCOMING PROBABLES Tuesday: Lehigh Valley @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - TBD Springfield @ Wichita (6:05 pm CT) - TBD Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - TBD Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - TBD CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 9-7 St. Paul Saints: 5-9 Wichita Wind Surge: 4-5 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 5-4 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 6-3 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article