Cody Christie

Minnesota added some top-notch talent to the organization at the end of last week. For the third year in a row, the Twins had a top five pick in the MLB Draft. Minnesota's farm system was already considered one of the best in the game and adding top tier talent can only help the organization. My last prospect rankings were released in conjuncture with the "2014 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook." There have been some changes since that time as minor league teams are almost halfway through their season. Some players have shined and others have struggled. Injuries have been the story for the Twins top two prospects this year but some pitching prospects have really started to shine, as they get closer to the big leagues. For more from Cody Christie, check out NoDakTwinsFan.com 1. Byron Buxton- OF (Previously #1) 2014 Team(s): Fort Myers Miracle 2014 Stats: .150/.150/.350, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R (5 Games) Even though Buxton has missed most of this season with a wrist injury, he is still considered by many to be the best prospect in the game. The lost playing time is going to hurt some of his development but he was young for the levels he has played at so far. Hopefully, he can get into some games in the second-half of the year and show some positive signs. 2. Miguel Sano- 3B (Previously #2) 2014 Team(s): N/A Tommy John surgery Tommy John surgery took away most of this season from Sano. He won't likely be able to get on the field this season unless it is in a DH capacity at the very end of the year. It seems likely for the Twins to send Sano to the Arizona Fall League to get some extra at-bats before he plays in the Dominican winter league. 3. Alex Meyer- RHP (Previously #3) 2014 Team(s): Rochester Red Wings 2014 Stats: 3.30 ERA, 62.2 IP, 75 SO, 28 BB, 51 H (12 Games) Meyer will likely be making his big league debut this season and he has made some adjustments at the Triple-A level. He learned a new change-up grip and this has helped to improve his strikeout totals. Opponents are hitting .223 against him for the season. Because of some injury issues last year, he's already closing in on the amount of innings he pitched last year. 4. Nick Gordon- SS (Previously N/A) 2014 Team(s): N/A 2014 Draft The Twins haven't been able to develop a shortstop in the minor leagues for quite some time. Nick Gordon is hoping to be the man to end that trend. He add 15 pound of muscle in the last year and this should help to improve his power numbers. He'll start in the rookie leagues once he signs a contract. 5. Jose Berrios- RHP (Previously #6) 2014 Team(s): Fort Myers Miracle 2014 Stats: 2.24 ERA, 64.1 IP, 74 SO, 17 BB, 57 H (11 Games) Berrios might be having the best season of any of the top prospects on this list. There have been questions in the past about whether his long-term role was going to be as a starter or as a relief pitcher. He is putting some of those questions to rest with his performance in the Florida State League. I would have moved him higher but I need to see more from him throughout the season. 6. Kohl Stewart- RHP (Previously #4) 2014 Team(s): Cedar Rapids Kernels 2014 Stats: 2.67 ERA, 49.0 IP, 36 SO, 15 BB, 37 H (10 Games) Stewart's ERA looks great but I was expecting him to strike out more batters. This is one of the reasons he dropped a little. It's still very early into his first full season in professional baseball so he has a lot of time left to develop before reaching the big leagues. 7. Eddie Rosario- 2B/OF (Previously #5) 2014 Team(s): Fort Myers Miracle, New Britain Rock Cats 2014 Stats: .350/.409/.450, 1 HR, 1 2B, 6 RBI, 9 R (10 Games) Rosario missed 50 games to start the season because of a drug related suspension. He's done fairly well since his return and the team already moved him up from High-A to Double-A. It sounds like Rosario will be playing some in the infield and some in the outfield after transitioning to second base last year. He's still a very gifted hitter and he could make it to Rochester by season's end. 8. Jorge Polanco- 2B (Previously #7) 2014 Team(s): Fort Myers Miracle 2014 Stats: .289/.362/.395, 3 HR, 11 2B, 26 RBI, 40 R (57 Games) Polanco has consistently moved through the Twins system and he seems to improve at every level. He's hit over .300 each of the last two seasons and continues to add power. The switch-hitter has close to the same batting average from both sides of the plate so he should continue to switch hit as he moves up the ladder. 9. Trevor May- RHP (Previously #13) 2014 Team(s): Rochester Red Wings 2014 Stats: 2.80 ERA, 61.0 IP, 63 SO, 24 BB, 45 H (11 Games) One of the biggest concerns for May has always been his control. He's made some positive strides this season, as he has been able to limit the amount of walks he's allowing. His numbers are the best of his career and he's another player who is knocking on the door to the big leagues. If he continues to show consistency, the Twins will reward him with a call-up. 10. Lewis Thorpe- LHP (Previously #11) 2014 Team(s): Cedar Rapids Kernels 2014 Stats: 9.64 ERA, 4.2 IP, 1 SO, 3 BB, 6 H (1 Game) Thorpe exploded onto the scene last year and shot up prospect lists with his performance in the GCL. The Twins had him skip Elizabethton and he got roughed up in his first Low-A start. He's only 18-years old so he's much younger than the competition. The Twins had confidence in him skipping a level so they must believe he is ready.

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With the number five pick in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins selected Nick Gordon, a high school shortstop from Florida. This is the pick most people expected the Twins to make especially with word coming out that the team's top brass had seen him in person more than any other draft prospect. To read more about Gordon, check out his Twins Daily pre-draft profile. Leading up to the Twins fifth pick, the Houston Astros had the first overall pick for the third straight season. Houston took high school left-handed pitcher Brady Aiken. He had emerged as the favorite for the first overall pick and he was the third high school left-hander to be selected first overall. For more from Cody Christie, check out NoDakTwinsFan.com They were followed by the Marlins who were happy to have flame-throwing Tyler Kolek still on the board. The next two picks were centered on the Windy City. The White Sox decided they needed to add more pitching and they took Carlos Rodon. No one was quite sure what the Cubs were going to do. They were a wild card and they went off the board to pick Kyle Schwarber. This left the Twins to get the guy they wanted all along for the third season in a row. On last week's episode of the Talk to Contact podcast, we interviewed MLBpipleline.com's Jim Callis about many of the top prospects in this year's draft including Nick Gordon. Check out the podcast and feel free to discuss the Twins selection in the comments below.

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It's hard to believe the middle of the minor league season is fast approaching. This will mean the announcement of the mid-season All-Star Team rosters over the next few weeks. On Tuesday the Florida State League announced their teams and the Miracle have four players on the roster. Pitchers Jose Berrios, David Hurlbut and Brett Lee will be joined by outfielder Adam Brett Walker on the FSL South Division Team. Berrios, Hurlbut, and Lee have all been fantastic pitchers with each posting an ERA of under 2.40. Walker is the only position player in the group but he leads the FSL in home runs. In transaction news, Daniel Ortiz has been called up to Rochester from New Britain. You will have to read on to see how he did in his Triple-A debut. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Charlotte 2 Box Score Rochester wanted to get their nine-game road trip started off on the right foot and it took a come from behind victory. The Wings found themselves trailing 2-1 in the top of the sixth before Deibinson Romero cracked a game-tying home run. He would also knock in the go-ahead RBI in the 8th inning as part of a three-run frame for Rochester. Eric Farris and James Beresford each had a couple hits including a double apiece. Daniel Ortiz went 0-for-4 after being called-up. AJ Achter earned his second victory after the team received a strong start from Logan Darnell. He allowed two runs on five hits over 6.1 innings. Over his last 16 starts with Rochester, he has allowed three runs or fewer. Achter entered the game with a runner at second and one out but he got out of the jam to keep the game tied. He has stranded all 12 runners he has inherited this season. Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect ninth for his third save. The Wings have been hot lately winning 16 of their last 21 including four of their last five on the road. Rochester hasn't lost two straight contests since all the way back on May 12. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 3, Akron 5 Box Score New Britain found themselves in an early hole and it took too long for their offense to get up and running in this one. Taylor Rogers pitched seven innings but he surrendered five runs on eight hits to suffer his fourth loss of the season. It was the first time he has been charged with a loss since his second start of the season on April 18th. Cole Johnson and Matthew Summers didn't allow a baserunner over the final two frames but it wasn't enough. Tony Thomas had a double and a run scored as part of a two-hit night. Reynaldo Rodriguez also had a double, his 16th of the season. The offense didn't record a hit until the fourth inning and the team was 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Overall, the team left five men on base. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Rochester. Coming into the night, the club had won five of their last six games. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Tampa 0 Box Score Miracle pitcher Jason Wheeler improved his record to 5-4 by throwing seven shutout innings. His ERA is down to 2.59 as he struck out five and walked two. It was his the third consecutive victory and he hasn't allowed a run over his last 16.2 innings of work. Mason Melotakis completed the shutout by pitching the last two frames without allowing a hit. The top of the order did all of the damage on the offensive side of the ball. The first four batters in the Miracle line-up all had multiple hit nights including three hit performances from Stephen Wickens and Adam Brett Walker. Eddie Rosario scored two runs and Jorge Polanco reached base in all five plate appearances. He finished 2-for-2 with a double, three runs scored, and three walks. With a St. Lucie loss to Dayton, the Miracle now have a 1.5 game lead in the Florida State League South Division with 12 games remaining in the first half. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids (Scheduled Off Day) TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jason Wheeler, Fort Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Deibinson Romero, Rochester Red Wings SUNDAY'S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Charlotte (5:05 CST)- Kris Johnson (Listen) Rochester @ Charlotte (Game 2)- Scott Diamond Akron @ New Britain (5:35 CST)- Tyler Duffey (Listen) Lakeland @ Fort Myers (6:05 CST)- DJ Baxendale (Listen) Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (7:05 CST)- Aaron Slegers (Listen)

With the Houston Astros having the number one overall pick for the third year in a row, there can be some question about who will be selected first overall. Two years ago it looked like Mark Appel would be a lock for the first pick. The Astros saved a little money by taking Carlos Correa and this looks like a great decision. Correa is blossoming into one of the best position players in the minors and Appel ended up in an Astros uniform in last year's draft. Will Houston go with an expected player at the top of the draft or will they surprise the baseball world for the second time in three years? Who is this guy? Rodon attended high school in North Carolina and was drafted in the 16th round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. The appeal of playing of staying in his home state to pitch for North Carolina State was too much and he made the decision not to sign with the Brewers. Entering the 2014 spring season, Rodon was considered by many to be the clear-cut number one pick in the draft. He burst onto the scene as a freshman at NC State. In 2012, he posted a 9-0 record with a 1.57 ERA over 16 starts. He struck out 135 and walked 41 in 114.2 innings. His sophomore campaign was also very good as he compiled a 2.99 ERA and struck out 184 in 132.1 innings. There have been some concerns about how he's been used during his junior season and this could cause him to fall in the draft. He's only thrown 98.2 innings and he has a 2.01 ERA but there have been some long outings. During one three game stretch, he was averaging 126 pitches per start. With Tommy John surgery seeming like a big league epidemic, teams will be cautious when it comes to his workload. Jeff Hoffman and Erick Fedde, two possible top 10 draft picks, have already had Tommy John surgery. Rodon's stock might not be as high as it was coming into the spring season but he should still be one of the first couple names called by Bud Selig on draft night. Why the Twins will pick him? Starting pitching is one of the weaknesses for the Twins and many of their top pitching prospects are multiple years away from the big leagues. Rondon's college experience could make him a fast mover in the organization and this could allow him to be an impact player in the next couple of years. A possible rotation with Alex Meyer, Kohl Stewart, and Carlos Rodon is the stuff dreams are made of for Twins fans. While some of the prep arms would take awhile to develop, Rodon is already a proven pitcher who could likely make an impact at the big league level sooner rather than later. If Rodon were to make it to the Twins with the fifth pick and he is healthy, there is no reason to think the team wouldn't take him. Why the Twins won't pick him? Realistically, there doesn't seem like a scenario where Rodon would drop to the Twins especially with the injuries to other potential top pitching prospects. He's not going to be on the board at number five. Scott Boras is an advisor to Rodon and that could scare away some teams if he drops in the draft. Last year's top pick Mark Appel, another Boras client, was supposed to be the top pick in the 2012 draft but he fell to ninth and he didn't sign with the Pirates. That sounds like a headache the Twins would like to avoid even though they have shown a tendency to pay the full slotted amount for their top picks. Also, the Twins haven't used their first overall pick on a college pitcher since 2009-2010 when they selected Kyle Gibson and Alex Wimmers in back-to-back drafts. Gibson has found some big league success but both players underwent Tommy John surgery in the minors. Rodon's high workload in college might scare away the front office.

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"I've got a fever and the only prescription is less Kubel" Those words don't taste good coming out of my mouth because I consider myself a Jason Kubel fan. I've liked Kubel since he was a budding prospect in the Twins minor league system. He was supposed to be one of the left-handed power bats to join Joe Mauer in the middle of the batting order. A devastating knee injury kept those dreams from becoming a reality and it's looking more like his time is over in Minnesota. Things haven't been very good for Kubel this season. He is batting.238/.329/.313 on the year with eight extra-base hits. Those numbers might not seem horrendous but most of his good hitting came at the beginning of the season. According to FanGraphs version of WAR, Kubel has been the second worst left fielder in the American League this season. Since the calendar turned to May, Kubel has looked like a shell of his former self. He has no extra-base hits this month and his slash line has dropped to .179/.295/.179 with 27 strikeouts. That's right his batting average and slugging percentage match and that's not a good thing. It's tough to stomach Kubel being in the line-up as a corner outfielder with little defensive value. The value Kubel provided in the past was from his offensive power. With his power gone, what value does he provide? Corner Outfield Crunch When Oswaldo Arcia and Josh Willingham were recovering from injuries, it made sense to have someone like Kubel around for some outfield depth. Arcia is swinging a hot bat and he looks to be penciled into a corner outfield spot for the rest of the season. Willingham could be a trade candidate at the deadline so the Twins need him on the field as much as possible. There also might be more left in Willingham's tank compared to Kubel. Hopefully both Arcia and Willingham will be healthy for the rest of the year. Pinto Needs to Play Fitting Kubel into the line-up means that Josmil Pinto has been pushed to the bench. Pinto needs to be in the line-up on a more regular basis for a variety of reasons. First of all, he is one of the best offensive players on the roster and the Twins are struggling to score runs.Just because Ron Gardenhire is scared about having both catchers in the line-upon a given night doesn't mean he should shy away from using Pinto. Secondly,the team should be committed to him as the catcher of the future and that isn't going to happen with him on the bench while the team isn't scoring runs. Other Outfield Options While Chris Parmelee and Chris Colabello have gone through some struggles in the last two seasons, it would be nice for the Twins to continue to give each of them opportunities. Parmelee is barely 26-years old and he has shown the ability to produce at Triple-A. Colabello was the International League MVP a season ago and he produced some monster numbers in the first month of this year. There might be ups and downs with these two but they seem like more viable options than a depleted Kubel. Kubel was part of many special moments in Minnesota but my fever is hot and it's time for the Kubel to stop ringing.

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On Tuesday it was announced that New Britain Rock Cats outfield Daniel Ortiz was selected as the Eastern League Player of the Week for the period of May 19th-May 25th. Over six games, he hit .480 with four doubles, a triple, and two home runs. He had at least one hit in all six games and he post back-to-back three hit nights earlier in the week. During the last week, Ortiz lead the league in slugging percentage (.960), OPS (1.460) and tied for the league lead in extra-base hits (7) Would Ortiz's hot hitting continue this week? Read on to find out. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 2, Syracuse 10 Box Score Syracuse must have been sick of losing to Rochester. Coming into the game the Red Wings had beat the Chiefs in three straight games and outscored them 24-10. Scott Diamond is not making it easy for Rochester to win the games he starts. After giving up seven runs in 3.1 innings, his ERA is up to 7.51 and his WHIP is the highest in the International League. He hasn't won a start since May 2 and he's given up five runs or more in four of his nine starts. Yohon Pino, Deolis Guerra, and Edgar Ibarra did their best to clean up the mess as they combined to give up three earned runs over the last 5.2 frames. There wasn't much to speak of on the offensive side of the ball. Chris Herrmann and Chris Colabello made their return to the Rochester line-up after being sent down on Monday. Herrmann went 2-for-4 with a run scored while Colabello went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Chris Rahl had the lone extra-base hit, a double that scored two runs. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 5, Portland 5 (2 Innings-Suspended) Box Score The Rock Cats didn't get very far into their game with the Sea Dogs but there was plenty of action. New Britain got on the board early with a big five-run first inning. Daniel Oritz continued his hot hitting ways with two hits including a triple. Reynaldo Rodriguez cracked a two-run home run, his eighth of the season. Pat Dean got beat up in the rainy weather as he allowed five runs on six hits in 1.1 innings. He walked one and struck out one. The game is scheduled to be completed on Wednesday as part of a double-header. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 11, Clearwater 3 Box Score Matt Tomshaw twirled eight shutout innings and he faced just one batter over the minimum. He was able to get around his two walks and three hits because of four double plays turned behind him. It was his fourth straight win in May and he has only allowed two earned runs so far this month. Brandon Peterson had a strikeout as he closed out the ninth inning to preserve the shutout. Stuart Turner put together a very impressive night at the plate. He went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI. It was his second consecutive multi-hit game and he's hit safely in eight of his last ten games. Five other hitters in the Miracle line-up had two hits or more. Max Kepler scored three runs and Niko Goodrum added a double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 16, Beloit 5 Box Score The Kernels exploded for seven runs in the fifth inning and 16 runs, a season high, over four innings to pound the Beloit Snappers. Every Kernels starter had a hit besides JD Williams and he still scored three runs and had an RBI without recording a hit. Surprisingly, there was only one extra-base hit out of the 16 total hits for Cedar Rapids. Mitch Garver went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI and Ivory Thomas hit a pinch-hit three run homer to cushion the lead. Jake Mauer was able to use a variety of pitchers in the late innings since his club scored so many runs. Derrick Penilla started things for Cedar Rapids and he went four shutout frames while walking three and striking out two. It was only his second start of the season and it was the most inning he has pitched this year. Brandon Bixler picked up the win but he was charged with five runs in less than three innings. Jared Wilson and Hudson Boyd combined to shutout the Kernels in the last 2.1 innings. The Kernels improved to 4-2 against the Snappers this season. After the series win, the Kernels won't face the Snappers again in the first half. The two teams meet-up again in August TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Matt Tomshaw, Fort Myers Miracle Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Stuart Turner, Fort Myers Miracle SUNDAY'S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ Rochester (6:05 CST)- Alex Meyer (Listen) New Britain @ Portland- Taylor Rogers (Listen) New Britain @ Portland (5:00 CST)- Competition of 5/28 Game Fort Myers @ Clearwater (12:00 CST)- David Hulbut (Listen) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST)- Aaron Slegers (Listen)

Phil Hughes signed during the off-season to help remedy some of Minnesota's starting pitching woes over the last two seasons. Hughes was coming off a rough final season in New York where he posted an ERA over 5.00 and his WHIP topped out at 1.46. Hughes was charged with a career high 14 losses and he probably couldn't get out of town fast enough. "Walks Will Haunt" was the message played to taunt opposing pitchers inside the Metrodome. Apparently, Hughes has taken that message to heart as he has been living out that mantra over the last month. When Hughes takes the mound on Tuesday evening, he is in the midst of quite the impressive streak. He hasn't walked a batter in 147 consecutive batters, a career-best stretch. It has been more than a month since he last walked a batter on April 20 at Kansas City. It is the longest such streak for the Twins since Carlos Silva went 155 batters between walks in 2005. Since Hughes isn't walking batters, it's easy to assume that he is throwing more strikes. Last season he averaged 67% of his pitches being strikes and that was close to his career mark of 66%. Since joining the Twins, he has been much more efficient with his pitches. In 2014 over nine starts, he is averaging almost 73% of his pitches being strikes. While Hughes has been in the strike zone more frequently, he has been able to coax more swinging strikes than in previous seasons. In 2013, Hughes got opponents swung at pitches outside of the zone 29.7% of the time. That was very close to his career mark of 30.3%. So far this season, opponents have show more of a willingness to chase pitches out of the zone as opponents have swung at 37.8% of pitches outside of the zone. Besides swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, opponents have also shown a tendency to swing at more pitches overall. For his career Hughes gets opponents to swing 48.7% of the time and he posted a 48.9% swing percentage a year ago. Because of his ability to get more swings outside of the zone, Hughes is up to a 56.2% swing percentage in 2014. Hughes has always been known as a fly ball pitcher and that's easy to see from his heat maps from 2013. He gave up 24 home runs last season, 13 to left-handed hitters and 11 to right-handed batters. His heat maps show a change for 2014. He is doing a better job of keeping the ball out of the middle of the zone versus righties. Hughes approach versus lefties seems to be similar but he is tending to stay up in the zone. Some questioned whether the Twins should give Hughes a three-year deal especially after his recent track record in New York. At this early stage of the contract, things seem to be working out in the Twins favor. Hughes will eventually walk a batter because that's how baseball works. Let's hope that walk doesn't haunt him...

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As spring training began in Twins Territory, there were questions about who should be starting at third base when the team headed north. Trevor Plouffe was coming off an underwhelming season where he dealt with some injuries and he struggled defensively at third base. Miguel Sano was ranked as one of the best prospects in the game and his powerful swing looked primed to make his debut. Flash-forward a couple months and Sano is recovering from Tommy John surgery while Plouffe has continued to look more comfortable at the plate and in the field. Plouffe is never going to be a high batting average player but he's changed some of his offensive approach. Last season, he set a career high in doubles with 22 and this season he's already notched 18 two-baggers. His OPS+ of 113 breaks his career high from back in 2012 when he went HR crazy for a few weeks. There have been two big changes for Plouffe this season. The first has been his plate discipline and more importantly his ability to coax walks. He has 19 walks to his credit this year but he has increased is BB% from 6.5% in 2013 to close to 10% in 2014. Plouffe has also seen more pitches per game this season than last year. In 2013, he average 4.04 pitches seen per at-bat and that number has jumped to 4.60 in 2014. Another area of improvement for Plouffe has been his ability to drive the ball to the opposite field. Last season, he had a total of six doubles to opposite field and only two of those balls were to the gap. Already this season he has ten doubles to opposite field and seven of those doubles are in the gap. His line drive percentage has also increased from 24.7% to 28.5%. Plouffe is in his first year of being arbitration eligible since he qualified as a Super 2 player. His salary bumped up to $2.35 million this season and that number will continue to increase in the years to come. Here's a fun little player comparison between two former Twins first round picks. Player A: 1544 PA, .260/.336/.444, 86 2B, 48 HR, .184 ISO, .304 BABIP Player B: 1544 PA, .242/.305/.413, 78 2B, 51 HR, .171 ISO, .281 BABIP Player A is Michael Cuddyer, another late bloomer with the Twins. Player B is Trevor Plouffe through Wednesday night's game in San Diego. It took Cuddyer over 1500 at-bats to consistently compile an OPS+ of over 100. Plouffe is around that mark and he just crossed the 1500 career at-bats. If Plouffe can continue to make small improvements, the Twins are going to have to continue to find room for him on their line-up card.

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Minnesota starts into a West Coast swing of baseball action on Tuesday. The club will play two games in San Diego before heading up the coast for a weekend series in San Francisco. This means some late night baseball action for Twins Territory, as most of the team's games won't be starting until 8:00 pm or later. The Twins have won each of their last three series including two out of three from Boston and Detroit. If the Twins want to continue to be relevant in the AL Central, they will need to continue to win series. The Tigers are out to an early lead in the division and they are playing at a very high level. Down in the minor leagues, there were three very strong starts by pitchers in New Britain, Fort Myers, and Cedar Rapids. Were their teams able to pick up the victory? You'll have to read on to find out! RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 0, Toledo 3 Box Score The loss by Rochester ended a seven-game winning streak and a 10-game home winning streak. It was the third time the Red Wings have been shutout this season and Toledo has done it twice to them. Scott Diamond started and lasted seven innings while giving up three runs on six hits. He tied his season high in strikeouts with six and he hasn't allowed a walk in the last 13.1 innings. James Beresford went 1-for-4 in the game and extended his hitting streak to seven games. He also has a 13-game home hitting streak in front of the Frontier Field faithful. Doug Bernier started at first base and he has now started at six different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, and RF) for the Wings this season. Pedro Florimon had two hits and his sixth error in the field. ROCK CATS REVIEW New Britain 7, Richmond 2 Box Score Daniel Ortiz powered the Rock Cats past the Flying Squirrels on Tuesday night. Ortiz went 3-for-4 with two doubles and it was his second consecutive multi-hit game. The first four hitters in New Britain's line-up all had multi-hit games and they combined to go 9-for-15 with three doubles and five runs scored. Overall, the team almost .500 with runners in scoring position and this certainly helped the pitching staff on this night. Sean Gilmartin had plenty of run support and he didn't necessarily need it all. Over 8.0 innings, he allowed two runs on four hits and he struck out a season high nine batters. It was his first win since May 2nd and it was the first time he had pitched more than 6.2 innings this season. Lester Oliveros pitched a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Dunedin 2 Box Score A four-run fourth inning helped the Miracle to break open a tie game. Travis Harrison started the frame with a double and Dalton Hicks followed that up with a walk. A few pitches later Niko Goodrum drove in both base runners with triple. Adam Brett Walker knocked in Goodrum with a single and a few batters later he scored on a Jonathan Murphy single. The Miracle were up 5-1 and they didn't look back. To cap off a solid day of starting pitching by Twins minor leaguers (Cedar Rapids played an afternoon game), Matt Tomshaw went seven frames by allowing two runs on five hits. Both of the runs scored against him were home runs but they were solo-shots to keep his team in the game. He struck out four and walked one. Madison Boer pitched two shutout innings to end the game. He allowed one hit and stuck out two. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 2 Box Score JD Williams played the hero in this game as his pinch-hit, two run single in the bottom of the eighth turned out to be the difference in the game. Bryan Santy had a good day at the plate as he went 2-for-3 with his third double of the season. He also scored two of the team's four runs. Ivory Thomas and Carlos Avila each went 2-for-2 at the dish. Kohl Stewart didn't figure into the decision but he was outstanding on the mound. He tossed six frames and allowed one run on four hits. He struck out three and walked one. It was the first time he has pitched at least six innings since April 25th and it was only the second time all year he made it that far into a game. His ERA is down to 2.21 for the season over 40.2 innings. Alex Muren picked up his first win of the season by allowing one run in two innings of relief work. He struck out three and didn't walk any. Todd Van Steensel earned his second save by pitching a scoreless ninth frame. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Sean Gilmartin, New Britain Rock Cats Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Daniel Ortiz, New Britain Rock Cats SUNDAY'S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester- Scheduled off day Richmond @ New Britain (5:35 CST)- Pat Dean (Listen) Fort Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 CST)- David Hulbut (Listen) Beloit @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST)- Felix Jorge (Listen)