Seth Stohs

Kyle Gibson gave up a few hits but was able to get through six shutout innings against the Rangers. Unfortunately, the Twins were unable to do much with their bats and the Twins lost by a score of 1-0. Quality pitching was a consistent theme throughout the Twins minor league system on Wednesday night as all four of the affiliate’s starters also put together quality starts. Danny Ortiz remains the hottest hitter in the Twins farm system, and there were some close games. So, continue reading to find out what’s going on down on the farm. Photo by Linwood Ferguson, Ft. Myers Miracle INJURY UPDATES Twins Daily learned that a couple of minor leaguers had successful surgery on Wednesday. Cedar Rapids left-handed pitcher Randy Rosario had elbow surgery. Outfielder Jake Proctor, who was at Extended Spring Training, had shoulder surgery. TRANSACTIONS It was learned that Mark Hamburger’s suspension is over and he will be reporting to New Britain. Dallas Gallant came off the reserve list and was sent to Extended Spring Training. Eddie Rosario is due to come off of the DL and will play some games for the Miracle as early as today. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 4, Syracuse 3 Box Score Alex Meyer’s first two starts of May were a struggle. However, he gave up just one run in 10.1 innings over his two previous starts. On Wednesday, it was more of the same for Meyer. He was perfect through three innings and ended up with a quality start. The right-hander went six innings and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits and three walks. He struck out eight. Ryan Pressly came on and was charged with one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out one. Aaron Thompson came on and gave up a hit and a walk but survived the ninth inning for his second save of the year. Deibinson Romero led the offense by going 3-4 with his 13th double. Pedro Florimon was also 3-4 (and is now hitting .227). Eric Fryer went 2-4 with his sixth double and first triple. ROCK CATS REVIEW Game 1 – New Britain 9, Portland 8 Box Score With one out in the bottom of the second inning on Tuesday night, this game was suspended with the score already 5-5. The teams finished the game last night. Pat Dean was charged with six earned runs on six hits and a walk. Dan Turpen came on and gave up one run over the next 2.2 innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out one. Cole Johnson threw the next three innings. He gave up one run on three hits, a walk and he struck out four. Lester Oliveros recorded the win on his 26th birthday. He worked the final two innings and gave up only one hit. He struck out four. Danny Ortiz has been on fire! In this game, he was 3-5 with his second triple and two RBI. Nate Hanson went 2-4 with a walk and his 12th double. Tony Thomas was 2-4 with his 10th double. Reynaldo Rodriguez was 2-5 including his eighth home run. Kennys Vargas was 2-5. Game 2 – New Britain 4, Portland 2 Box Score Through six innings, Taylor Rogers had not allowed a run and given up just three hits and two walks. His team had a 4-0 lead. He began the 7th inning, looking for a seven-inning complete game. However, he gave up a double, single, single and double and left the game with a 4-2 lead and a runners on second and third. Matt Summers came in and got a pop-up in the infield followed by a strikeout. Ryan O’Rourke came on and got a big strikeout to end the game. It was his first save of the season. Rogers is now 5-3 with a 4.69 ERA. It was his seventh straight quality start. His final line was two earned runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out five. Corey Wimberly was the instigator at the top of the lineup. He went 3-4 with his 11th and 12th stolen bases. Danny Ortiz continued his stretch of dominance. He went 2-3 with his 14th double and all four RBI. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 4, Clearwater 5 (11 innings) Box Score The Miracle got a second straight great start, but the bullpen was unable to hold the lead and the Miracle fell in extra frames. After Matt Tomshaw threw eight shutout innings the night before, unsung southpaw David Hurlbut gave up only an unearned run over his eight innings in this game. He gave up just four hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out a season-high 10 batters. Brian Gilbert took over in the 9th. Unfortunately, he recorded just two outs and gave up a big, three-run homer to tie the game. Steven Gruver came on to get the final out of the inning. He also pitched a scoreless tenth frame. However, he gave up a run in the 11th and took the loss. Jorge Polanco went 2-4 with a first-inning triple, his second three-bagger of the year. Aderlin Mejia went 2-5. Adam Walker connected for his tenth home run of the season. It was a solo blast off rehabbing big leaguer Shawn Camp. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 2 Box Score Aaron Slegers had given up 21 runs over his previous three starts. On this night, he turned that around with a very strong outing. He gave up one run on three hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out four. Alex Muren then gave up three hits over two shutout innings. He walked none and struck out four. Todd Van Steensel gave up a solo homer in the 9th but that was the only hit as the Kernels picked up the win. Jason Kanzler continues to hit very well. He went 2-4 with his fifth double and fourth triple. He drove in two runs as well. Bryan Haar went 2-4 with his ninth double. Michael Quesada was 2-3 with his sixth double and two RBI. Ryan Walker was 2-4 and drove in a run. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – David Hurlbut, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Danny Ortiz, New Britain Rock Cats THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ Rochester (10:05 am CST) – Logan Darnell (Listen) New Britain @ Portland (10:00 CST) – Tyler Duffey (vs Henry Owens) (Listen) Ft. Myers @ Clearwater (6:00 CST) – Jason Wheeler (Listen) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – Ryan Eades (Listen) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the Wednesday games.

At 12:10 today, the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers will play the fourth and final game of their series. Samuel Deduno will take the mound for the Twins which means that Josmil Pinto’s catching tutorial will continue. More important, Josmil Pinto’s bat will be in the Twins starting lineup. Inexplicably that has been the case only one time since May 17th. Pinto is easily one of the top hitters on a Twins roster that right now is finding it very difficult to score runs. It seems like it would be an easy decision to get him into the lineup most days of the week (certainly five out of seven games), but for some reason, Pinto has not been playing. Photo by Betsy Bissen Here are the Twins OPS leaders through Tuesday’s game: Eduardo Escobar – .893 Josmil Pinto – .806 Brian Dozier – .802 Kurt Suzuki - .769 Trevor Plouffe - .740 There are several reasons why this bothers me that I will touch on, but I’ll also share a very easy way to remedy the situation. Twins Offensive Struggles The Twins bats have really been struggling the last week or so. In their last seven games, they have scored just 12 total runs. They have scored two runs or less in six of those seven games. The team needs as many good hitters in the lineup as they can find. Josmil Pinto is hitting .241/.351/.455 (.806) with seven home runs. He has shown an ability to take quality at bats while showing power, uses the whole field and drives in runs. Prospects Should Play It’s a commonly held belief. Prospects need to play. They need game situations to learn how to react and respond to various events throughout a game. Sitting on the bench for more than a game or two makes no sense to their development. Right now, the Twins have two players that were generally considered Top 10 or Top 15 prospects in the Twins organization coming into the season on their roster. They are currently spending a lot of time getting slivers while riding the pine on the big league bench. Danny Santana could be the shortstop of the future, yet he finds himself either sitting or playing centerfield. Pinto, as we already mentioned, has made one start in the last dozen days. How is this positive for the players, or for the team? No DH in the NL Last week, the Twins played five games in San Diego and San Francisco, and Pinto played in just one of those games. Personally, I think he should have played one game in each series, but this is at least understandable since there is no DH in the National League parks. Suzuki Factor When Kurt Suzuki signed with the Twins in the offseason, the assumption was that he would split time at catcher with Pinto, mentoring him along the way. However, Suzuki has been one of the better hitters in the Twins lineup all season. Though he has slumped of late, he is hitting nearly .300 and getting on base 36% of the time. Suzuki certainly deserves to play and should be in the lineup four or five days a week. That said, if they’re committed to Pinto at all as a catcher of the future, he needs to get more reps. He needs to catch twice a week. Two or Three Catchers Ron Gardenhire has said several times that he has no problem having both Suzuki and Pinto in the lineup. However, simply put, it has not been happening. That’s the reality. A Simple Answer #1 – Name Kurt Suzuki the starting catcher. This has already done and we have seen it in action. #2 – Name Josmil Pinto the primary designated hitter. This means he is no longer the backup catcher… in games that Suzuki starts at catcher. #3 – Call up Chris Herrmann to be the backup catcher. I know. He’s been up twice already this year, and he has completely struggled with the bat. However, he can play three outfield positions (and could play first base, too) and be the backup catcher. #4 – Pinto can still catch Samuel Deduno. On those days, Suzuki can be the backup catcher, and Herrmann can be the fifth outfielder. I know. We don’t want three catchers on the roster, but more important, I would like to see Josmil Pinto in the Twins starting lineup at least five times a week. When the offense is struggling, get as many quality bats in the lineup as possible.