Seth Stohs

Rosario was hit in the forearm by a pitch. He stayed in awhile, the Miracle got a big lead and then he came out. I'm sure there was some swelling yesterday, or they just don't want to take a chance with him.

No inside information on any of that. Regarding Hicks, I still think AAA time will help him in the long run, and right now, Richardson would be the guy. Two weeks ago, it would have been Clete Thomas, and it may be again in another week. Regarding Colabello, it's just a matter of an opportunity, something he can't really control, but he's getting it done this far. As for Gibson, I mean, with Pedro Hernandez struggling again, a move could be made with the 5th starter job. Then again, as I've pointed out, Albers has been the best and most consistent in Rochester. Walters has been terrific as well. Deduno limits runs. De Vries just needs some innings. But Gibson certainly is the best of that bunch.

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The Twins and the Red Sox had a nice three hour rain delay, and fans were treated to The Sandlot during the delay. There was plenty of excitement in the Twins minor league system as well. One of the Twins top prospects almost made a little bit of history. One of the Twins minor league affiliates won on a walk off. A couple of non-roster players continued to make their cases for a big league roster spot. With that, check out what happened with the Twins minor league teams on Sunday: Rochester Red Wings 11, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 0 Box Score In an attempt not to be obvious about what to write about as it relates to this game, I’m going to write it up a little differently. Let’s try writing this like a hockey post-game and name three stars: Third Star – CF Antoan Richardson – The diminutive leadoff hitter did about as well at his leadoff duties as anyone could hope. The job of a leadoff hitter is to get on base. Richardson was 2-3 with three walks, his third double and his first triple with the Red Wings. He also stole his second base. The former big leaguer should be considered a possible Aaron Hicks replacement when the Twins decide to send him down. Second Star – 1B Chris Colabello – Normally a day like Colabello had on Sunday would be an easy choice for top performance on his team. Colabello went 4-5 with his 16th and 17th doubles of the year. He was also hit by a pitch. The 29-year-old is now hitting .361/.419/.657 (1.076) through 44 games. He has 17 doubles and 11 home runs. He should be coming to the Twins soon. First Star – RHP – Kyle Gibson – Through 7 2/3 innings, the former first-round pick did not allow a hit. With two outs in the 8th inning, he gave up a slicing double down the left field line that landed inches inside the foul line. He gave up a bloop single and a seeing-eye roller through the right side of the infield to lead off the 9th inning. He proceeded to get a strikeout and a ground-ball double play to end the game. Gibson threw his second nine-inning shutout in his past three starts. He ended with the three hits allowed, he walked two and struck out eight to reduce his ERA to 3.25 on the year. Maybe the most impressive thing about his performance was that he needed just 93 pitches to do it! And, like the first two stars, Gibson should be pitching in a Twins uniform very soon. Ray Olmedo went 3-5. Jeff Clement was 2-6 with his fourth double. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4112[/ATTACH] New Britain Rock Cats 4, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 7 Box Score The return of BJ Hermsen from his intercostal injury has been slow. In this start, he gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings. Two of the hits were home runs. Bobby Lanigan came on and was charged with two unearned runs in his two innings. Jose Gonzalez pitched the final two innings. He struck out two, but he did allow one run. A year ago in New Britain, Deibinson Romero hit 23 doubles and 19 home runs. Because of some visa investigations in the Dominican Republic this spring, Romero was unable to get to the States. He had been invited to big league came for the second time (he was on the 40 man roster several years ago), but he could not make it. He was likely scheduled to spend the season in Rochester, but instead, he was returned to New Britain six weeks into the season. On Sunday, he played in his sixth game with the Rock Cats and went 3-4 with his first home run. It raises his average on the season to .304. Danny Ortiz was 2-4. Ft. Myers Miracle 0, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2 Box Score Matt Summers gave up a single run in the first inning and another in the sixth inning, and that was more than enough offense for the Stone Crabs on this day. Summers went 5.1 innings and gave up the two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out two. Nelvin Fuentes came on and walked one and struck out one in 1.2 innings. Zack Jones struck out one in his perfect inning. Kyle Knudson led the offense. He went 2-3 with a walk. Levi Michael went 2-5. Kennys Vargas, Andy Leer and Angel Morales each hit a double. Cedar Rapids Kernels 8, Kane County Cougars 7 Box Score On Sunday, the Kernels recorded their third walk-off win in their past four games. Kane County tied the game at 7 in the top of the ninth, but the Kernels didn’t take too long in winning this one. In the bottom of the inning, JD Williams led off with a double. After a pitching change, Byron Buxton bunted him to third base. Though it was a sacrifice bunt, those in attendance, including manager Jake Mauer who argued the call, believed that Buxton beat the throw to first base. With one out and a runner at third base, the Kane County manager did the obvious, he called for intentional walks to Niko Goodrum and Jorge Polanco to load the bases for Dalton Hicks. Hicks is now stranger to dramatic walk-offs. Recall last year, he came to the plate in the 12th inning of the Appalachian League championship game and promptly hit a championship-winning grand slam. He didn’t need to be as dramatic this time. He flied out to left field, but it was deep enough to allow the speedy Williams to score from third base. Jorge Polanco went 2-3 with two walks, his sixth triple and his first stolen base. Hicks went 2-4 with three RBI. Candido Pimentel was 2-4 with his second double and his fifth and sixth stolen bases. JD Williams was 2-4 with his eighth double and fourth home run. Travis Harrison hit his sixth home run. Byron Buxton stole his 18th base and scored two runs. Matt Tomshaw started and gave up five runs on six hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out seven. Alex Muren came on and threw two shutout innings. However, in the ninth inning, he gave up a two-run homer that tied the game. He walked none and struck out three. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below.

Yeah, I tweeted last night and should have mentioned here, that in Salcedo's last 5 appearances, he has worked 8.2 innings. He's give up no runs on seven hits. He's walked none and struck out ten. I'd think eventually they'd like to get him back to starting, but he fought elbow and shoulder injuries last year, so they'l be overly cautious, and that's smart.

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The Minnesota Twins may not have received a very good start from Scott Diamond, but all four Twins minor league started pitched very well on Saturday night. Each of them pitched into the 7th inning and gave up two or less runs. Unfortunately, the hitters from just three of the four affiliates scored enough runs to help their team win. By the time the Twins game got to the 6th inning, all four minor league games were done. See what else happened on Saturday in the Twins minor league parks: Rochester Red Wings 2, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 3 Box Score Caleb Thielbar came in for the 8th inning of a 2-2 game. He was charged with an unearned run in the inning and took the loss. The Red Wings had two errors in the game. PJ Walters was terrific yet again for the Red Wings. He gave up two runs on seven hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Like Andrew Albers, Walters’ name is not being mentioned as a potential Twins call up as much as it probably should be. In other news, Michael O’Connor was released. Aaron Thompson was promoted from New Britain. Cole De Vries was activated by the Twins from the Disabled List and optioned to Rochester. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4108[/ATTACH] New Britain Rock Cats 0, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 5 Box Score Logan Darnell was terrific on the mound again, but the Rock Cats were not able to do anything against the Fisher Cats pitching. Darnell gave up just one run on three hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out six. He exited the game, and Bruce Pugh came on for the eighth inning. Pugh gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in the inning, though he struck out two. Blake Martin gave up a run on three hits in the ninth frame. The Rock Cats managed just five hits, all singles. Danny Ortiz was 2-4. AJ Pettersen went 1-2 and was hit by a pitch for the fifth time in his stint with the Rock Cats. Pettersen can also now cross of centerfield on his list of positions played. He started in left field and then moved over to center for the final inning. Ft. Myers Miracle 9, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2 Box Score Jason Wheeler again gave his team a chance to win, and the Miracle bats provided plenty of offense. Wheeler worked the first seven innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out three. Wheeler is now 5-0 despite an ERA of 4.25. Adrian Salcedo pitched the final two innings without allowing a run. He gave up two hits, and struck out two. Angel Morales gave the Miracle an early lead with a two run double. Miguel Sano went 2-5 with his tenth double and his second triple. Kennys Vargas and Matt Koch were each 2-4. Cedar Rapids Kernels 0, Kane County Cougars 4 Box Score This game was a pitcher’s duel through the first six innings. JO Berrios and Cougars’ starter Pierce Johnson both threw six shutout innings. Berrios went out for the seventh and gave up two runs (1 earned) and got just two of the three outs. His final line was still solid. He went 6.2 innings and gave up just those two runs on seven hits. He walked none and struck out five. Berrios was replaced by lefty Josue Montanez who got the next four outs. He gave up a solo home run. Josh Burris gave up a solo homer in the ninth inning to give the final 4-0 score. The Kernels had some base runners, but they were shutout for the first time all season. They were 1-13 with runners in scoring position. Travis Harrison went 2-4, the only player with more than one hit. Niko Goodrum and Jhonatan Arias each had a double. Byron Buxton is now hitting .257 in May after a 1-5 game on this night. He stole his 17th base. Please feel free to comment or ask questions below.

Cole De Vries has been reinstated from the DL and optioned to Rochester.

Very cool video from last night's game... a couple of very nice plays by Niko Goodrum. Big hits from Polanco and Williams, and the walk-off by Harrison.

Roberts had some swelling in his knee after playing in the one game, so he's back on the DL. Duffey was a 5th rounder just last year out or Rice where he was a reliever. He's got a strong arm though, throws strikes and has pitches. Bard will likely be another month due to the impingement in his shoulder, but he'll be fine.

It's be interest to go through the roster and determine, if Player X got hurt, who would come up. I think that if Hicks got hurt, Richardson would be brought up. If any of the other OF were hurt, could be Richardson, but Colabello is also an option. If Morneau/Parmelee were hurt, it would be Colabello. If it were Doumit or Mauer, would it be Herrmann? Pinto? Middle infielder or Plouffe? Well, maybe that would be Colabello too as I don't think there'd be an option and they have Escobar and Carroll.

I think if Hicks got hurt today, Richardson would come up and mastroianni would go on the 60 Day DL. No need to add someone now or put him on the 60 Day before the spot is needed. Thielbar is already on the 40 man, but Albers would have to be added if they brought him up.

Can't disagree... if he's good for the next month, he'll pitch in the FSL All-Star game and move up.

I really like Phil Miller's writing. I think Berardino is right there with Phil writing, but he does a great job on Twitter too. I like Mason and Bollinger a lot too. And, Mackey was definitely at the top of the list the last two seasons. I'm a big Reusse fan too.

Right, John. As I kind of alluded to in the Friday night minor league report, if it was purely based on results, Andrew Albers is the guy that people should be clamoring for, not Gibson, Deduno, De Vries, etc.

just that the velocity isn't coming back at all.

Yeah, they tell Perez's camp that they'll let him try to start, and let the media know that they've said that. They may even let him work in an attempt to start, but there was no way he was ever an option as a starter. It'd be like Rich Harden being a starter again.

The question I would have is Why would the Twins want to make that information available to the public? I mean, I think we can deduce that information, but the Twins have no reason to discuss it until it's needed. Guys not on the 40 man roster who could come up: Sam Deduno, Andrew Albers - If there is a need for a starter or long reliever. Clete Thomas was a possibility for CF until he got hurt. If something happened to Wilkin Ramirez, or if there were an injury to Morneau, Chris Colabello could come up.

Honestly, they would most likely bring up Gibson. Albers is not on the 40 man roster, though that isn't a big issue with Tim Wood and Darin Mastroianni being 60 Day DL options. There is a question of "Stuff" but I think it's important to note Albers. We keep hearing about Gibson, Deduno, De Vries and others and no one talks about Albers. We should.

No need/reason to add anyone to the 40 man roster until someone needs to be added to the 25 man roster.

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