Seth Stohs

The big news in the Minnesota Twins organization on Saturday was the 1,000th career win of manager Ron Gardenhire. He is the 60th manager in MLB history to reach that milestone. Of those 60, only ten have done it with just one team. Kyle Gibson got the victory, and Jason Kubel had three hits. Following the game, the Twins wore shirts (made last year) that said, “1,000 Wins… 67 Ejections” on the front and “And Counting” on the back. Congratulations! The Red Wings are still looking to play their second game. The Kernels played two games to make up for a postponed game on Friday night. Their bats stayed pretty cold on Saturday too. However, the Miracle bats were out in full force on Saturday night. Continue on to see who starred in the Twins farm system on Saturday. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] RED WINGS REPORT Rochester, Buffalo Bison (Postponed) Just a warning… this may sound vaguely familiar… This game was lost due to cold and wet conditions in Rochester. The two teams will be in Rochester where Alex Meyer will start on Sunday in the Red Wings home opener. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 3, Richmond 13 Box Score Welcome to AA, Taylor Rogers. The lefty who was my choice for Twins minor league starting pitcher of the year in 2013, struggled in his Rock Cats debut. He was charged with nine runs (7 earned) on eight hits. He walked none and struck out three. He also hit a batter. Two of the hits were home runs. BJ Hermsen came on and gave up three runs (just one earned) on four hits and a walk in two innings. Jim Fuller made his Twins organization debut. The minor league Rule 5 pick gave up one run on two hits and two walks in 2.1 innings. He struck out two. Cole Johnson got the final two outs. Not much offense for the Rock Cats either in the game. They managed just six hits. Corey Wimberly went 2-4. Nate Hanson hit his second double. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 13, Jupiter 4 Box Score The Miracle bats showed up early in this game and didn’t let up. Two big innings were all that they needed to take this game. All nine Miracle batters had at least one hit as the team improved to 3-0 on the season. In the bottom of the first, the team scored eight runs. Levi Michael led off with a single. Jorge Polanco and Dalton Hicks walked to load the bases. Adam Walker walked to score the first run. Max Kepler singled to drive in the second. After Stuart Turner lined out, Mike Gonzales singled in a run. Travis Harrison followed with a run-scoring single. It was station-to-station until Niko Goodrum cleared the bases with a double. Goodrum stole third and scored the eighth run of the inning on a Michael ground out. Fast-forward to the fifth inning. Jorge Polanco led off with a walk. Dalton Hicks singled. After Walker struck out, Kepler reached on an error to load the bases. Stuart Turner drove in a run by being hit by a pitch. Mike Gonzales followed with a long grand slam home run. Gonzales led the way, going 2-5 with five RBI. Dalton Hicks, Levi Michael, Max Kepler and Levi Michael each had two hits as well. Jorge Polanco went 1-3 with two walks. Lost in the offensive barrage was a pretty solid pitching performance as well. Brett Lee made the start. He went the first 5.2 innings and gave up three runs (2 earned) on six hits in 5.2 innings. He walked one and struck out three. Matt Tomshaw recorded the final out of the sixth inning and worked two more frames. He gave up one run on two hits. Brian Gilbert gave up a hit in a scoreless ninth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Game 1 - Cedar Rapids 1, Clinton 4 Box Score The 2014 Kernels team will not be like it was in 2013. This year’s team will have some serious pitching talent. However, that talent will be making their first appearances in a new league and in a full-season league. There will be a big learning curve. Randy Rosario is a hard-throwing left hander. He started and went 3.2 innings. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits and two walks. Two of the hits were home runs. Brandon Bixler replaced him and gave up a single and a walk over the next 2.1 innings. He struck out two. Felix Jorge worked a perfect inning and struck out one. The bats did very little. Thursday night’s hero, Bryan Haar, went 1-2 with a walk. Michael Quesada went 1-2 with a walk, and a double that drove in the team’s lone run in this. Game 2 - Cedar Rapids 0, Clinton 6 Box Score The Kernels’ bats had a rough day. You wouldn’t know it from reading the final score, but this was actually a very good game, a pitcher’s duel through four innings. Ryan Eades started and he threw four shutout innings. However, in the fifth, he was charged with three runs. In all, he gave up those three runs on five hits. He walked three and struck three out. Brandon Peterson came on with the bases loaded and two outs. He gave up a line drive hit to right field which scored the inherited run, but Zach Larson threw out the runner trying to score from second to stop the damage. Peterson worked a scoreless sixth inning. Alex Muren came on for the seventh. He was charged with three runs on four hits. The Kernels managed just four hits in this game including doubles from Mitch Garver and Tanner Vavra. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Brett Lee, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Mike Gonzales, Ft. Myers Miracle SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Buffalo @ Rochester (1:05 CST) – Alex Meyer (vs Ricky Romero) Richmond @ New Britain (12:35 CST) – Matt Summers Jupiter @ Ft. Myers (5:05 CST) – JO Berrios Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (2:05 CST) – Kohl Stewart Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games of Saturday night. A quick reminder: Thanks to the Twins win over Cleveland on Saturday, it means that on Sunday you can get 50% off a Large of Extra Large pizza when you use the “TWINSWIN” promotion code at PapaJohns.com. Finally, check out the Pioneer Press's Mike Berardino's Tout video of Brian Dozier. Mike asked if he was aware that in Gardy's first managerial win, Jacque Jones led off with a home run. Dozier's response is terrific. http://www.tout.com/m/dwmobv?ref=tw5170gw[/media]

On Friday, weather wreaked havoc and led to half the minor league games being postponed. New Britain played a morning game, but Rochester and Cedar Rapids were unable to play. Of course, the weather is always lovely in Florida. On Opening Night, we got a walk-off from Bryan Haar of the Kernels. On Friday, there were a couple of late-inning homers that helped propel their teams to victory. On Saturday, the Twins play their second game in Cleveland and all four affiliates are scheduled to play. As always, your comments and questions are welcomed in the forum, so ask away. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] RED WINGS REPORT Rochester, Buffalo Bison (Postponed) This game was lost due to cold and wet conditions in Buffalo. The two teams will shift over to Rochester where Alex Meyer will start on Saturday in the Red Wings home opener. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 4, Richmond 3 Box Score The Eastern League knows Brandon Waring, and Brandon Waring knows the Eastern League. He has played in the AA league each season since 2009, each year for Bowie, the Orioles affiliate. After an 0-fer on opening night, Waring had a strong game Friday morning. In this game, he went 2-3 with a walk, a double and his first home run of the season. It was his 79th home run in the Eastern League. More important to the day, it was a home run in the bottom of the 8th inning of a tie game, giving the Rock Cats a 4-3 win. Another Eastern League veteran, Reynaldo Rodriguez, in his fourth year in the league, went 2-4 with a double. Nate Hanson went 1-3 with a walk. Brad Boyer walked twice. DJ Baxendale started and gave up two runs on six hits in 4.2 innings. He walked one and struck out two batters. He left the game with two on and two out in the fifth inning, but Adrian Salcedo ended the inning with a strikeout. Salcedo gave up a run in the sixth before he was replaced by Ryan O’Rourke in the seventh. O’Rourke recorded five outs and gave up one hit while striking out one. After Waring’s home run, he was credited with the win. Lester Oliveros pitched a perfect ninth to get the save. MIRACLE MATTERS Ft. Myers 11, Jupiter 6 Box Score On Friday night, the Miracle got a second straight road win thanks to a couple big innings. The team had a five run second inning. The big hit was a two-run double by Levi Michael. In the seventh inning, it was an Adam Walker three-run home run, his first of the season. Niko Goodrum led the offense going 3-4 with a double and two RBI. Jorge Polanco was 2-5 with a double. Stuart Turner was also 2-5. Tyler Duffey made the start and gave up three runs in six innings for a quality start and the win. He gave up eight hits, walked none and struck out two. David Hurlbut gave up a run on three hits over his two innings of work. Mason Melotakis got some work in, pitching one inning. He gave up two runs on two hits and two walks. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids, Clinton (Postponed) Weather was the winner on Friday in Cedar Rapids as well. The two teams are scheduled to play on Saturday. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Duffey, Ft. Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brandon Waring, New Britain Rock Cats SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Buffalo @ Rochester (1:05 CST) – Alex Meyer (vs Ricky Romero) - POSTPONED Richmond @ New Britain (12:35 CST) – Taylor Rogers Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (5:05 CST) – Brett Lee Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (DH at 2:05 CST) – Randy Rosario, Ryan Eades