Cody Christie

After an offensive explosion on Monday night, the Twins made things a little bit more interesting on Tuesday when they didn't take their first lead in the game until the seventh inning. This comeback was spurred on by four two out hits with Ben Revere and Joe Mauer knocking in the runs to make the difference in the 6-4 final score. It seemed like a showcase game for Joe Mauer as he went 3-for-4 in the game including an RBI and one walk. He also made a tremendous diving catch on a bunt attempt where he had to sprawl out in foul territory to snag the pop up. Mauer is making an attempt to catch Mike Trout for the league lead in batting average but Trout continues to have monster games as he went 4-for-6 on Tuesday. There is plenty of time left for Mauer to catch Trout so it will be interesting to see if the 20-year old rookie ever cools down. Mauer wasn't the only member of the Twins organization to impress on Tuesday night because there were plenty of good games in the farm system. Make sure to check out all the details below in this edition of "Tuesday's Trip through the Minors."[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ROCHESTER 6, NORFOLK 2 After a loss on Monday, the Red Wings got back to their recent winning ways by topping the Norfolk Tide on Tuesday night. During the month of July, the Red Wings have the most wins in the International League with 11 wins to their credit. Rochester is one victory away from the .500 mark and it would be the first time the team has seen that point since the end of April. The 2010 and 2011 seasons were a little rough for Rochester but the victory tonight has the Red Wings off to their best 97-game start since 2007. Jeff Manship pitched strong for the Red Wings by spreading out eight hits over six innings with both runs being charged to him. It was his first start since returning from the DL and he got his first victory since May 21 to improve to 5-1 on the season. Luis Perdomo got the untraditional three inning save, his sixth save for the year, by tossing three scoreless frames and striking out two. The one man to get to the Red Wings pitching staff was former Twins player Lew Ford who went 3-for-4 with a home run to raise his average to .340 with 10 long balls. Rene Rivera didn't start the game for the Red Wings but an early exit by JR Towles meant that Rivera would get some at-bats in the game. He went 2-for-3 with sixth home run of the year. Clete Thomas and Evan Bigley matched the two hits from Rivera with each hitter managing an extra-base hit in the game. Sean Burroughs lead the team with two runs batted in and he's up to 18 RBI for the season. The Red Wings have scored four or more runs in a season high six straight games and it's the first time they have done this since July of 2010 when they put together a seven game streak. NEW BRITAIN 5, NEW HAMPSHIRE 6 The Rock Cats took an early 2-1 lead in the first inning and proceeded to fall behind for the next few innings. A big rally in the 8th inning brought the team back into the game with Aaron Hicks scoring the game tying run on a wild pitch with two outs in the frame. The lead wouldn't last long as the Fisher Cats posted back-to-back hits in the top of the ninth to reclaim the lead. In the bottom of the ninth, the Rock Cats would do their best to tie the game with two men reaching base in the inning. Unfortunately, the tying run was left in scoring position when Estarlin De Los Santos popped out to shortstop. Joe Benson was the only member of the Rock Cats to have more than one hit in the game. The lone extra-base hit came off of the bat of Chris Colabello, his team leading 27th double of the season. In the last ten games, Colabello is hitting .389/.421/.500 with five extra-base hits and seven RBI. Aaron Thompson tossed eight innings for the Rock Cats and gave up five runs on 10 hits including two home runs. By giving up the run in the top of the ninth, Edgar Ibarra was tagged with his first loss since being promoted from Fort Myers at the end of June. FORT MYERS 2, DUNEDIN 1 (GAME 1, 7 innings) The Miracle scored two runs in the first inning of this game and that is all they would need to hold on for their 39th victory of the season. Cole Nelson started the game for the Miracle and didn't give up a single earned run during his time on the mound. Over the course of five innings, he surrendered four hits while striking out four and lowering his ERA to 4.03 on the season. It was his fifth victory of the season and his second win in the month of July. AJ Achter earned his third save of the year by throwing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Levi Michael and Rene Tosoni were the lone Miracle hitters with an extra-base hit as each man had a double to his name for the game. Daniel Santana and Josmil Pinto each had two hits with Pinto knocking in one of the two runs in the game for the Miracle. Pinto has 34 RBI on the season and this ranks third for Fort Myers behind Lance Ray and the aforementioned Daniel Santana. It was the second victory in a row for the Miracle and they would try and complete the sweep of Dunedin in the second game of the double header. FORT MYERS 0, DUNEDIN 6 (GAME 2, 7 innings) After winning the first half of the double header, the Miracle struggled to get runners across the plate in the night cap. Fort Myers piled up nine hits over the course of the game but the team went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Levi Michael and Daniel Santana had two hits apiece to lead the club. For the most part, Casey Lawrence, the starter for Dunedin, shut down the rest of the line-up for the Miracle as he tossed six scoreless innings for his sixth victory of the year. Koby Clemens, the son of Roger Clemens, hit a home run in the second inning to give the Blue Jays an early lead in the second inning. Madison Boer was roughed up for six earned runs off of eight hits in only 2.2 innings on the mound. With the rough outing, Boer saw his ERA rise to 7.47 over the course of his 13 starts with the Miracle. Miguel Munoz and Nelvin Fuentes cleaned up the rest of the game for the Miracle by throwing over four innings of shutout baseball but the hole was already dug for Fort Myers. Even with the rough loss, the Miracle can go for the series victory tomorrow in the finale of the four-game set. BELOIT (OFF DAY) After three straight losses, the Snappers enjoyed a much needed off day on Tuesday. The team will start a six game home stand on Wednesday as they try to sneak closer to the .500 mark in the second half standings. The Snappers have already clinched a playoff spot with their record in the first half but it would still be nice to see the team continue to succeed in the second half. Miguel Sano hit his 19th home run of the year on Monday and it was only his second home run of the month. In the last ten games, he is hitting .300 with eight RBI and four extra-base hits. ELIZABETHTON 7, JOHNSON CITY 4 One big inning at the plate was all that it took for the E-Twins to take command of their game against the Johnson City Cardinals. The first three batters of the inning got singles to load the bases before the first out was recorded on a force out at home. Kelvin Mention strode to the plate with the bases loaded and he connected for his first professional home run and it just happened to be a grand slam. A couple of batters later Max Kepler would hit a two-run home run, his second of the year, to cap off a seven run inning. Five members of the E-Twins had multiple hits as the team compiled 12 hits in the game. Hein Robb started the game for the E-Twins and threw 3.1 innings with Johnson City getting seven hits off of him and three earned runs. Kaleb Merck earned his first professional win by throwing 2.2 innings and giving up one earned run on a single hit with three strikeouts. DJ Baxendale and Christian Powell combined for three scoreless innings to close out the victory for the E-Twins. For Powell, it was his first save on the season and four of the six outs he recorded were on strikeouts. GCL TWINS -, GCL ORIOLES - Today's double header between the GCL Twins and GCL Orioles was postponed because of the wet weather in Florida. The GCL Twins are in first place in their division and sit two games ahead of the GCL Red Sox. The team has won their last five games and nine of their last 11 contests. First round pick Byron Buxton hasn't played in a game since July 9 when he suffered a hamstring injury. Hopefully he will be able to get back into action whenever the weather decides to cooperate in Florida. --- Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 17, 2012 Pitcher of the Day- Cole Nelson (5 IP, 0 ER) http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJRI6Sz7M6c/UAYjipgMbeI/AAAAAAAAC3k/DvEjOGUFSMs/s320/Miracle.jpg Hitter of the Day- Kelvin Mention (1st Professional HR, 4 RBI) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G7LUwl8jyZs/UAYZjAJ4TwI/AAAAAAAAC10/P_MYPzyRv1E/s200/ph_592551.jpg --- A Look Ahead- Wednesday, July 18th Schedule Rochester @ Norfolk: LHP Liam Hendriks New Britain vs. New Hampshire: RHP Shairon Martis Fort Myers vs. Dunedin: LHP Pat Dean Beloit vs. Lansing: LHP Jason Wheeler Elizabethton vs. Johnson City: TBD GCL Twins vs. GCL Rays: TBD --- If you have any question or comments on the Twins minor league system, leave them in the comments section and I will try to answer them.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hEnUEQv6SHU/UAOQotUCM9I/AAAAAAAACyU/nBWJzKxqgXU/s320/SwingSun.jpeg Since the Twins took Aaron Hicks with their first round pick in the 2008 MLB Draft, there has been plenty of talk about the athletic outfielder fitting into the future plans of the Twins organization. Hicks was one of the highest draft picks the Twins had prior to drafting Byron Buxton in this year's draft and he seemed to have all of the tools to make him a very valuable player. It hasn't been a fast rise to the top for Mr. Hicks during his five years in the farm system for the Twins but he looks like he might slowly be figuring things out at the Double-A level with the New Britain Rock Cats. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] There has been an up and down trend to the career of Hicks with there being more downs than ups. He can go through extreme hot stretches were he looks like a power threat from both sides of the plate and he follows that up with a rough couple of months that brings his statistics back down to earth. This roller coaster ride has been something that the Twins have tried to solve in recent years as they try and push the outfielder to find more consistency in his approach at the plate. The trend of ups and downs has continued in 2012 with some poor months mixed in with some very good offensive months. The month of July has been one of those very good months for Hicks. In his 14 games played in July, he is hitting .358/.452/.566 with five extra-base hits including two home runs and four RBI. This is also following the month of June where he hit .288/.377/.424 and all of those numbers were higher than his career averages. So it seems that the last couple of months have slowly been improving for Hicks as he starts to get more experience at the Double-A level. For the most part, his 2012 campaign would be excellent if not very a rough month of May at the plate. It could be a season of new personal records for Hicks on the offensive side of the ball. He has a career high nine home runs and he is closing in on some other personal bests. He is one triple away from tying his career high of six triples in a season and he has 19 stolen bases which is two short of his own record. There is over a third of the season left so this should give Hicks plenty of time to set some offensive highs for himself in the coming months. One of the biggest problems for the switch-hitting Hicks has been the change in his splits versus right-handed or left-handed pitchers. He is traditionally much better from the right side of the plate versus left-handed pitching. While this trend has continued in 2012, the gap is closing between his splits and he has shown the ability to hit for power from both sides of the plate. As a right handed hitter in 88 at-bats, he is hitting .295/.370/.466 with four home runs and three doubles. He has more than double the at-bats from the left side, 203 plate appearances, and he is hitting .266/.365/.424 with five home runs and five triples. It is great to see his numbers improve from both sides of the plate but it is also very good to see him become a more well-rounded hitter in the box. In the past, the Twins have seen some other high school outfielders take their time while developing in the system for the Twins. Denard Span didn't debut until he was 24 and his first full season in the big leagues didn't come until the next season as a 25-year old. Torii Hunter made his debut as a 21-year old but he only go into one game and he was used as a pinch runner. His first full season would come a couple seasons later when he was 23-years old. He hadn't been blowing the cover off of the ball in the minor leagues but he became an All-Star caliber player for the Twins. It is also important to remember that the Twins teams of the late 1990's were not very good so it allowed for younger players to get more playing time. Could this situation play out with Hicks in the next couple years? With Hicks playing all of this season so far at Double-A, there are plenty that are wondering when the young star will be making his debut with the Twins. The 22-year old might be a long shot to debut in 2012 because there are a few things working against him at this point. He is not on the 40-man roster and that means another move would need to be made to clear a spot for him even though that wouldn't be too difficult. There are a couple other young outfielders, Oswaldo Arcia and Joe Benson, that are already ahead of him because they have 40-man roster spots. Arcia is having a tremendous season but he spent the first part of the year at the High-A level so it might be pushing it to say he will get a chance this year. During last September, Benson got a taste of the big leagues but he has struggled in 2012. It will be a toss up to see if any of these players get the call this year. It seems the Twins front office would be satisfied with Hick showing that he can be a consistent offensive threat from both sides of the plate. His speed and defense have always been his best attributes and it seems that his hitting is slowly coming along. Twins fans can hope that he will follow some of the other high school outfielders that took some time to develop in the minor leagues before becoming solid regulars with the club. For now, Hicks will continue to refine his approach at the Double-A level in hopes that he can call himself a major league player at some point in the next two years.

Happy Friday! I hope you made it through the week and you are looking forward to the weekend. It's hard to believe that it is already the 13th of July. Where is the time going from this summer? Make sure you spend some time this weekend enjoying the warm weather and the wonderful outdoors. It won't be long and we will all be stuck inside for another frigid winter across Twins Territory. At least the Wild should be worth watching this season with their newest additions.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The Twins resume play tonight for the first time since the All-Star Break. For the first week, the Twins play all of their games at Target Field so that should be beneficial to the club. This weekend the A's come to town to match-up with the Twins for three games and that is followed by a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles. As I wrote about yesterday, there are still some headlines to follow in the second half that should make the Twins fun to watch. Before the Twins resume play and before you head out for the weekend, make sure to check out the links I have provided below. There were some great interviews and Twins stories this week so make sure to enjoy this edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks." For those with hope, what would it take for the Twins to come back in the second half? Terry Ryan did a very good interview with FanGraphs about his experiences as GM of the Twins. It's getting close to the time when the Twins might need to be concerned about the payroll situation for 2013. Many Twins fans might not have known that Glen Perkins is a stat-head. One of the best pieces of news for Twins fans this week was that Kyle Gibson pitched in his first game since undergoing Tommy John surgery. Twins minor league pitcher BJ Hermsen made the Double-A All-Star Game but he still has plenty to prove. There are plenty of trade candidates for the Twins including the Orioles, the Nationals, and the Pirates. Watching the lightning strike during the Twins game on Sunday was scary and funny at the same time. A decade ago the All-Star Game ended in a tie but it still featured one of the best Twins All-Star moments with Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a home run. Here are the top five performances from Twins in the All-Star Game. Last year's first round pick Levi Michael is now on Twitter. This is a great picture of former Twins player Michael Cuddyer. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g3esZFWdRJk/UAAc_pKc9sI/AAAAAAAACvw/MN60ra1elHs/s320/pow20(cuddyer).jpg Cuddyer has also meant a lot to his new teammates in Colorado. After making some controversial comments about Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven, Reggie Jackson apologized earlier this week. A $3 million collection of baseball cards was found in an attic in Ohio. Guess it's time for me to sort through my old baseball cards. Slow down a minute. The A's are a .500 baseball team at the break. How did that happen? This new rule for baseball would really confuse the casual fans that attend games. Did you know that Buffalo, NY was close to getting an MLB franchise in the late 80's and early 90's? I hate being at Target Field and not getting to see close plays shown on the big screen. Apparently the Red Sox got in trouble for doing this in a game versus the Yankees. Are the Twins going to rename their spring training stadium? They would like to and there are some other plans in the works. The Saint Paul Saints are having a night specifically for atheists and the team will be called the Saint Paul Aints for the night. The Twins grounds crew has been working hard to get the field back in shape after the first concert in the history of the venue. A report came out that Danny Valencia is not happy in Triple-A but he needs to hit better if he wants to make it back to the big leagues. My Weekly Rundown Monday: Handing out Twins Mid-Season Awards Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Thursday: Twins second-half headlines to watch Video of the Week: Season ticket holders for the Twins were asked to send in questions for Twins GM Terry Ryan. It was cool to listen to some of his answers and he even answered a question that I sent in. My question has about the lack of pitching depth in the entire organization but they took out some of the words that I used but it was still a cool concept.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the All-Star Break at hand, it marks the unofficial midpoint of the 2012 season for the Minnesota Twins. Coming off of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, it was hard to have optimism for the 2012 campaign. There were question marks surrounding players that missed large chunks of last season due to injury, the bullpen had some unproven arms, and the starting rotation needed to prove itself. All of these story lines have played out in different ways with some of them being much more positive than the others. The Twins have played a little stronger in recent games to give a semblance of hope to fans across Twins Territory. The scary part might be the fact that by the All-Star Game last year the club had put together 41 wins and sat 6.5 games out of first place in the Central. While the team was still seven games under .500, there was a chance for a strong second half run. Entering the break this season, the Twins are further back in the division and more games under .500 than last year. Overall, it looks like a tough hole to dig out of in the second half. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] At the beginning of the season, I predicted who I thought would win various awards for the 2012 version of the Twins. The All-Star Break allows for time to reflect back on the first half of the season and to see how close to being right (or being very wrong) that those predictions were. Each of the awards below has been named after someone that optimizes that award for the Twins organization. There are some legends from the past and even one current MLB player but all have had a significant place in Twins lore. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Nw5_5My7xw/T_rgXstjLRI/AAAAAAAACqg/XWMisSEYtV4/s320/ScottyD.jpgHarmon Killebrew MVP: Josh Willingham, LF-DH Preseason pick: Joe Mauer, C-1B-DH At this point in the season, it looks like a two man race for the top player on the Twins in 2012. Josh Willingham started off the season like an MVP and he carried the team through the early portion of their schedule. On the other hand, Joe Mauer has put together a very strong campaign after putting a dreadful 2011 season behind him. Either one of these players could be named MVP of the first half for the Twins so let's take a look at some of the numbers. To this part in the season, Willingham is batting .261/.376/.536 with 19 home runs and 60 RBI. His batting average is right around his career average but his OBP and SLG are both higher than his career marks. Joe Mauer is batting .326/.417/.452 with five home runs and 41 RBI. He sits in the top five for batting average in the entire American League and he has the highest OBP of any AL player. On FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, both players sit within .1 points of each other in WAR. It seems like the races is almost a tie so there must be some other way to figure out who should come out on top. The tie-breaker for me was looking at Win Probability Added and Willingham is the clear leader on the team. His clutch hits and RBI have helped to turn losses into victories on a team that needed him to provide a little spark. The race was tight but Willingham is the team's MVP through the first half of the year. Johan Santana Pitcher of the Year: Scott Diamond, LHP Preseason pick: Francisco Liriano, LHP This might be the easiest category to select through the first portion of the Twins schedule. Scott Diamond has emerged as the best pitcher on the staff for the Twins and his transformation has been fun to see so far this year.Since he started the season at Triple-A, he has only been able to log 79.0 innings with the big league squad. His seven wins are three more than any other starter this season and his ERA of 2.62 is very low. It is starting to look more and more like Francisco Liriano could win this award by the end of the season. His starts in recent weeks have been very good and his is able to strike out more batters than Diamond. Liriano's terrible start was tough to overcome at this point in the season so his numbers still look high at the All-Star Break. He does lead the team in games started and innings pitched but his ERA and WHIP need some time to recover from the early part of the season. With all of the trade rumors surrounding Liriano, it is hard to imagine him being with the club until the end of the season. That would seem to mean that this award is Diamond's to lose for the rest of the season. Diamond is the lone bright spot in a rotation full of holes and he looks like he might have to be the ace of the staff for the next handful of seasons. Rick Aguilera Relief Pitcher of the Year: Jared Burton, RHP Preseason pick: Brian Duensing, LHP When the season started, I picked Duensing for this award because he was shifting back to a successful role that he held with the club in the past. This was assuming that he would stay in the bullpen for the majority of the season but now he finds himself in the starting rotation. This leaves a couple of arms in the bullpen that have shown themselves to be very valuable in the first half of the year. Glen Perkins burst onto the scene last season as one of the most valuable set-up men in the American League. His transition from starter to relief pitcher allowed him to add some velocity to his pitches and he looked like a brand new man. It has been more of the same for Perkins in 2012 and he has even been given the opportunity to close some games with Matt Capps on the DL. His ERA and WHIP are a little higher than one would like for an arm out of the 'pen but his strikeouts per nine innings has increase over last year. Much like the race for team MVP, the competition for Relief Pitcher of the Year is a two-man race. Jared Burton has rediscovered himself as a 31-year old after two injury shortened seasons with the Reds. He has looked dominant at times with a WHIP under 1.000 and a 2.55 ERA for the year. His strikeout total will never match Perkins but Burton has been an unsung hero of the first half for the Twins. Rod Carew Rookie of the Year: Scott Diamond, LHP Preseason pick: Chris Parmelee, 1B-RF-DH Coming out of spring training, it looked like there would be a couple of different rookies in line for the Carew ROY Award. Chris Parmelee had made the squad after a strong spring training and a very good month of September at the end of last season. The Twins were unsure of what to expect from Justin Morneau and it made sense to have another strong first baseman on the roster. Liam Hendriks was another rookie that made the squad when the team headed north for the start of the year. Some injuries to the starting staff allowed Hendriks the opportunity to start the year in the rotation. The story line for each of these players has been a little frustrating to watch in 2012. Both players have found a lot of success at the Triple-A level but the results have been mixed with the big league squad. Parmelee has been sent back-and-forth to Rochester on multiple occasions and his last trip had to be tough for him. He sat on the bench for multiple weeks and he was given a handful of at-bats. Hendriks has really struggled at the big league level and it will be interesting to see if he gets another shot in the second half. For the reasons mentioned in the Santana Pitcher of the Year category, Diamond is the clear-cut winner of this award. Brain Dozier has gotten plenty of playing time at shortstop but there are still multiple things that he needs to work on. Diamond, Dozier, Hendriks, and Parmelee are all in line to have a big impact on this team in the future so it will be interesting to see what they can do. So who do you think should win each award? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

The Fourth of July holiday means that the All-Star Break is quickly approaching and the Twins are near a break that might be good for a team that is struggling to find pitchers for their starting staff. There has been a well-worn road from Rochester to Minneapolis as the Twins try to find players to record outs for the big league club. Casey Fien and Sam Deduno will be the latest Red Wings to get called up to play with the Twins. After putting together five consecutive wins, the Twins lost back to back contests in Detroit. The loss on Thursday afternoon might have been the most disappointing as the Twins looked to be in control after a strong start from Scott Diamond. In the end, the big bats for Detroit prevailed against the Twins bullpen and now the team will head to Texas to end the first half against one of the toughest teams in the AL.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] The Rangers are the two-time defending AL Champions and they will trot out eight All-Stars. At the same time, the Twins have one current All-Star and 14 more losses than the Rangers. It could be a rough weekend in Arlington but it will be fun to see what Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe can do in the heat of Texas. Could it be time for the Twins to think about a contract extension with Francisco Liriano? Some possible trade targets for the Twins include the Reds, the Yankees, the Braves, and the Dodgers. Denard Span could be one of the players traveling to a new team by the end of the month. One of the most controversial articles of the week had Reggie Jackson state that he thinks former Twins Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven don't belong with him in the Hall of Fame. The end of June meant it was time to name the minor league hitter of the month, the starting pitcher of the month, and the relief pitcher of the month for the Twins. Trevor Plouffe has been something to enjoy in Minnesota. Detroit's defense is fun to watch. AJ Pierzynski spoke out about his poor reputation across the baseball world. This squibber by Brian Dozier was amazing to see and hard to explain to someone that wasn't able to witness it happen. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GNjDUCmQTiI/T_Y77q0m_9I/AAAAAAAACow/mGqgf6XxakI/s1600/Brian+Dozier+Squibber.gif With Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Matt Moore graduating to the big leagues, who is left as the top prospect in the minor leagues? There were two big hockey signings in Minnesota this week and Joe Mauer and Ron Gardenhire did their best to recruit Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. One of the biggest talking points of the 4th might have been explaining to friends and family about the Twins sending 30-year old Nick Blackburn to Triple-A. Ozzie Guillen blew up at reporters after Heath Bell blew another loss for the Marlins. A coach in the A's organization got banned from the bench after he ordered intentional balks to end an extra-inning affair. It's interesting to think of the Twins team as pairs of twins. The window for signing 16-year old international players opened earlier this week and the Twins scooped up the 12th best prospect according to Baseball America. There was some who questioned the Twins All-Star selection over the weekend but what about the All-Stars of the future. What should the Orioles expect from Jim Thome? My Weekly Rundown Monday: Mauer elected and "fans" revolt Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Tuesday's Trip through the Minors Video of the Week: It is still an honor for any player to be selected to the All-Star Game even if it is Mauer's fifth trip to the Mid-Summer Classic. The Twins had a cool video that they threw together to see how the team announced that Mauer would be representing the Twins in Kansas City.

A rain delay in Detroit held up the start of the Twins game for an hour and a half. When the game got underway, it turned into a back and forth contest between the Tigers and the Twins. The Twins bash brothers of Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe each added another home run to their totals for the season as they continue to try and match each other for the team lead. Even Joe Mauer was able to hit his second home run in the past week with an opposite field home run in the later innings of the game. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Nick Blackburn left a few too many sinkers up in the zone and the Tigers offense was able to hit some balls out of the park. The bullpen for the Twins was able to keep some of the damage to a minimum by not allowing a run in their five innings of work. Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July but make sure to check out what happened across the minor leagues on Tuesday night. ROCHESTER 5, PAWTUCKET 3 In the midst of a tough stretch of baseball where the Red Wings had lost five of their last seven games, Rochester was able to put together a huge seventh inning to come out victorious. One of the most miraculous things might have been the fact that all of the runs were scored after two outs had already been recorded in the inning. Clete Thomas and Rene Rivera hit back-to-back home runs to start the scoring in the frame. The other big hit in the frame was a double by Pedro Florimon to plate two runs and put the team up by two. The bullpen for the Red Wings has been outstanding in recent weeks and they have pitched 12.1 scoreless innings in a row. A starting pitcher hasn't picked up a victory for the Red Wings since June 25 and that trend continued on Tuesday with Bobby Lanigan picking up his first victory of the season for Rochester. Casey Fien pitched two perfect innings for his third hold of the year and he struck out four of the six men that he faced. NEW BRITAIN 14, BOWIE 7 The Rock Cats wasted little time jumping on the Baysox by starting a hit parade in the bottom of the first inning and exploding for ten runs. With this many runs on the board, there were plenty of offensive stars for New Britain. Estarlin De Los Santos was 2-for-5 with a double, a home run, and four RBI. Evan Bigley matched De Los Santos with four runs batted in and he also had a double. Chris Herrmann and Chris Colabello each piled up three hits over the course of the game. Danny Lehman was the only hitter to remain hitless in the game for New Britain. With all of the runs on the board, the pitching staff for New Britain didn't need to be perfect on this night. Blake Martin started the game but didn't make it through five innings before giving up six earned runs. Edgar Ibarra picked up his second win since being promoted from Fort Myers at the end of June. The last 3.1 innings were pitched by Daniel Sattler for his first save and he only surrendered one hit. FORT MYERS 11, ST. LUCIE 2 There were fireworks scheduled for after the game but the Miracle made sure the fans saw some during the game as Fort Myers piled up 13 hits against St. Lucie. Lance Ray was 2-for3 in the contest with his ninth home run of the year and three RBI. Daniel Ortiz also knocked in three runs with his two doubles in the game. It was a very balanced attack for the Miracle as five of the nine batters had multiple hits and six batters had at least one run batted in. After being saddled with the loss in each of his last three starts, Cole Nelson picked up his first victory since June 12. He threw five innings and was charged with two earned runs but he did give up five walks. In three innings of work, Marty Popham was almost perfect by allowing a couple of hits and striking out three. It was the third straight scoreless outing thrown by Popham. The Miracle sit one game behind Bradenton for first place. BELOIT 1, CEDAR RAPIDS 10 Unfortunately for the Snappers, they were on the wrong end of a blowout loss in this game. Beloit only managed four hits in the game and Adam Pettersen had half of those knocks. The only run of the game for Beloit was driven in by Adam Bryant with a single in the bottom of the fourth inning. After getting pulled from the game on Monday with three defensive errors, Miguel Sano was absent from the line-up on Tuesday night. For the second straight start, Tim Shibuya struggled and he was pulled after two innings and a couple of home runs allowed. Bart Carter allowed five earned runs in less than two innings on the mound but he did manage five strike outs. The only Snappers pitcher to survive without allowing a run was Clint Dempster and he struck out four of the six batters that he faced. ELIZABETHTON 7, PRINCETON 2 The month of July has been off to a fantastic start for Romy Jimenez as he has hit two double in every game so far this month. For the season, he is batting .444 and his OPS is an eye popping 1.447 in 11 games. Adam Walker hit his second home run of the season and he had three RBI in the contest. Travis Harrison was also able to knock in two runs with his couple of hits for the E-Twins. It seems that the Twins are being careful with the amount of innings pitched by Taylor Rogers as he has thrown four innings in all of his starts this year. On this night, he allowed two runs on a couple of hits but the big lead allowed him to pitch comfortably. Tyler Herr picked up his second win of the season and he has not allowed a run in his last five trips to the mound. GCL TWINS 3, GCL RAYS 2 After trailing for most of the game, the GCL Twins scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to come out on top. Aderlin Mejia and Logan Wade lead the Twins with two hits apiece and each player had an extra-base hit to their credit. Dereck Rodriguez doubled in a run as part of the rally for the Twins and he later scored the winning run when Bryan Haar singled. Byron Buxton might of had his worst game as a professional by striking out three times in four plate appearances. Adrain Salcedo made his second appearance as he tries to return from injury. He made his first start and gave up two hits and two unearned runs in his two innings of work. Chris Mazza got his first victory of the year and his first victory as a professional. He threw 2.1 innings and struck out three to lower his ERA to 1.17. Jose Berrios got his first save by throwing a scoreless ninth. --- Players of the Day for Tuesday, July 3, 2012 Hitter of the Day- Estarlin De Los Santos http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gOdjyQdGZmY/T_O60AXicrI/AAAAAAAACm4/d9nQKewbNIY/s320/RockCats.jpg Pitcher(s) of the Day- Red Wings Bullpen (12.1 inning scoreless streak) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XkMsrXHz5BU/T_O64-1fpRI/AAAAAAAACnA/ronnKtp688Q/s320/4553.gif --- A Look Ahead- Wednesday, July 4th Schedule Rochester vs Pawtucket- LHP Luke French New Britain vs Trenton- LHP Logan Darnell Fort Myers at Charlotte- RHP Matthew Hauser Beloit at Clinton- LHP Steven Gruver Elizabethton vs Kingsport- RHP Hudson Boyd GCL Twins vs. GCL Orioles- TBA GCL Twins at GCL Orioles- TBA --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, leave them in the comments section and Seth or I will try to answer them.