Steve Lein

I almost gave it to Theo, and I have given it to relievers several times in the past But I'll take the 1 run allowed and over a K per inning in a 6 inning start every day of the week.

Ack! Yes, I think I totally forgot to update that line from last week. Daytona 1, Fort Myers 2!!! Man, I even went through this a couple times for edits...haha

Was said to have some pop, and always has had a big arm. Definitely showing good signs lately with his bat!

There wasn’t much action on Tuesday night in the Twins system as Chattanooga enjoyed a day off and Rochester was rained out an hour-and-a-half west of home in New York. But in the games that were played, there were fireworks. One version was of the walk-off variety in Fort Myers, while in Cedar Rapids a slugger recorded his first multi-home run game of his young career to propel his team to victory.To find out how it all went down on Tuesday night in the minors, keep reading! RED WINGS REPORT Rochester @ Buffalo (Postponed – Rain) Tuesday’s series opener against the Buffalo Bisons was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Wednesday. David Hurlbut will likely take his normal spot while early season standout Nik Turley, freshly promoted to AAA is scheduled for game two. In award news, Jose Berrios was named the International League player of the week for his two most recent, dominating efforts. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Scheduled day off. The Lookouts were on their way back home on Tuesday after winning three of five against the Generals of Jackson, TN. They start a five game series at home vs. the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Chattanooga is looking to get back to .500 on the season in the opening game, as they are 3.5 games back of Jackson in the North Division at 12-13. MIRACLE MATTERS Daytona 1, Fort Myers 2 (10 innings) Box score Fort Myers got on the board in the bottom of the first inning courtesy of Zack Granite, who led off their half with an infield single. He then stole second base, moved to third on a groundout, and raced home on a passed ball to put them up 1-0. It got pretty boring after that as pitching took over on both sides. Starter Cody Stashak scattered six hits over six innings, allowing just one run while striking out seven in a quality start effort. His one run came in the sixth as three consecutive singles loaded the bases with one out, before a sacrifice fly tied the game at one. Tortugas pitcher Jose Lopez matched Stashak through the sixth as the Lookouts couldn’t capitalize on a double-steal attempt of home in the third after Brian Navaretto led off the inning with a double, his fifth of the season. Michael Theofanopoulos took over for the Miracle in the seventh, and struck out the side in a scoreless inning. He went on to pitch two more scoreless frames, getting Fort Myers to extra innings. He allowed two hits and struck out five. In the bottom of the tenth, Navaretto stepped into the batter’s box with two outs, and walked his team off instead of playing another inning. His solo shot was his second homer of the season and capped a 2-4 day at the plate for the 2013 sixth rounder from Florida. Jonny Drozd picked up the win by pitching a scoreless top of the tenth. He struck out one while setting the opposition down in order. Granite was 3-3 on the night with a walk and his first three stolen bases of the year. Chris Paul added his sixth double in a two-hit game. KERNELS NUGGETS Lake County 3, Cedar Rapids 7 Box Score Lewin Diaz put the Kernels up early when he popped one out to right field for his second home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning. He made it 2-0 in the fourth when he hit his third, marking the first multi-home run game of his young career. On the mound for Cedar Rapids was Eduardo Del Rosario, coming off a seven inning shut-out effort in his last turn where he struck out ten. He wasn’t as good in this one although he didn’t run into major trouble until the fifth. That was when he loaded the bases and walked one run in before a Diaz throwing error led to another and ended his night at 4+ innings. He allowed five hits, three walks, and struck out four on the night. Right-hander Hector Lujan came on in relief and allowed an inherited runner to score and give the Captains the lead 3-2, but escaped further damage with a double-play ball and a caught stealing attempt to end the inning. The home team tied the game back in the bottom of the fifth when Aaron Whitefield slugged his fifth home run of the year. Lujan finished two more scoreless innings to keep the game tied and struck out two along the way. As if Diaz hadn’t done enough already to make up for his earlier miscue, he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh and cleared them with a double to break the game open and give him five RBIs on a 3-4 night at the plate. Catcher Caleb Hamilton tripled in the eighth and was driven in by a Brandon Lopez single to add an insurance run before Colton Davis picked up his first hold with a scoreless inning. Tom Hackimer closed the door in the ninth, striking out the side to put an exclamation point on the victory. Lopez (2-4, R, RBI) and Jermaine Palacios (2-4, R, 2B) added multi-hit efforts for the Kernels offense. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Cody Stashak, Fort Myers Miracle (6.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H’s, 7 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Lewin Diaz, Cedar Rapids Kernels (3-4, 2 R’s, 2B, HR, 5 RBI) WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Buffalo, Game 1 (3:15PM CST) – LHP David Hurlbut (1-2, 1.04 ERA) Rochester @ Buffalo, Game 2 – LHP Nik Turley (0-1, 0.44 ERA, 20.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 36 K’s at AA) Pensacola @ Chattanooga (6:15PM CST) – TBD Daytona @ Fort Myers (5:35PM CST) – RHP David Fischer (2-0, 0.95 ERA) Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Tyler Beardsley (2-1, 3.94 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! Click here to view the article

Going back to last season, Melotakis has yet to pitch on consecutive days since his surgery. Hopefully he crosses that benchmark soon, but good to see him doing well!

In the video linked in the article, they go through every one of his K's from his outing. I think they were split pretty good between breaking balls and 2-seamers/change-ups, and I'd venture there were a few of them that MLB hitters wouldn't offer at (several were caught in the dirt). Only one of them was a called strike.

Exactly...

This seems like a deal more structured for someone like Kepler. I think Sano's going to require significantly more to get him to bite. At least double of what is proposed in the article and I think Brandon is a lot closer to the realistic number.

Winner! He did. August 22nd of 2016. So both were very recent. I went back to 2012 among all the affiliates and haven't found another one...

The last player to strike out 14 in a game in the Twins organization, was much more recent than I figured it would be so I didn't try to look it up while writing this last night. But Jose Berrios struck out 14 on August 31st of last season, his last start of the year in the minors. He went 8 IP, gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, including 2 HR's, and walked 1 to go along with his 14 K's. 70 of his 99 pitches went for strikes... I challenge someone to find the game before that where a Twins prospect struck out 14 or more? (Hint: It's not Berrios, though he was close a few times).

Big names were slated to pitch in the Twins system Tuesday night, with Jose Berrios, Fernando Romero, and Dereck Rodriguez all taking the hill for their respective teams. They were all fantastic, but it was another starter who stole the day with one of the best performances you’ve seen in the minors since Twins Daily came into existence (trust me on this). But he also took the loss despite his efforts, and the Chattanooga Lookouts offense owes both their starters some penance after being swept in a doubleheader.Keep reading to find out just how well all the starters threw on Tuesday night, and why it’s the relative unknown who still gets the most glory! RED WINGS REPORT Gwinnett 4, Rochester 5 Box Score Jose Berrios was pretty good in his fourth start of the year, going six innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits and three walks while striking out ten. I apologize for the modest adjective while you read his state line again: 6IP, 2 R’s (1 ER), 4 H’s, 3 BBs, 10 K’s; but you’ll understand why it was just “pretty good” as you go further along in this report. He struck out multiple Braves hitters in the first, third, and sixth innings and at least one in each inning. His day was finished after 102 pitches and he left the game with the Red Wings down 2-0. A passed ball in the third resulted in one of those runs, while a solo home run in the fourth accounted for the other. D.J. Baxendale pitched a one-two-three seventh inning, striking out one before Rochester’s lineup came alive against Gwinnett’s bullpen in the bottom half of the frame. A Niko Goodrum double scored their first run, then an Ehire Adrianza single and Matt Hague sacrifice gave them the lead 3-2. It was Adrianza’s first game with the Red Wings after being assigned to the roster earlier in the day. Trevor Hildenberger came on for the eighth and gave the lead right back on a single, double, and single to consecutive batters before working his way out of the jam. He did strike out two. Now down 4-3 with two outs in the eighth, Tommy Field got a two-out rally started for Rochester with a double, and Goodrum finished it with his second home run of the season to put the Red Wings back out front. J.T. Chargois came on for the ninth and picked up his first save of the 2017 season with a one-two-three inning. Adrianza, Daniel Palka, Goodrum and J.B. Shuck had two hits on the night. Field and Goodrum each scored two runs in the victory. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Game 1: Tennessee 2, Chattanooga 0 (7 innings) Box Score In the regularly scheduled game of the double-header, Twins Daily’s #1 Prospect Fernando Romero was on the mound for the Lookouts and got himself into a pitcher’s duel. Unfortunately, his offense didn’t come to bat for him in this one. Nick Gordon led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and was followed by an Engelb Vielma walk to put him in scoring position, but that was one of the few opportunities Chattanooga would get all game. Smokies starter Zach Wedger retired the next ten before Travis Harrison drew a walk in the fourth and Tanner English got to second base after an error and stolen base in the sixth for the rest of the opportunities. Romero matched Wedger until the seventh inning. Through six innings he had allowed just three hits and walked two with four strikeouts. He started the final inning with two more K’s, but a Vielma error at shortstop got the losing wheels spinning. The next batter singled and Romero was removed after 81 pitches and was now responsible for the game without being the one throwing the pitches. I’m guessing he would have rather done the rest himself whichever way it went from there. John Curtiss came on, walked the bases loaded, and gave up a single to score both of Tennessee’s runs on the scoreboard before getting a K to end the inning. The Lookouts proceeded to go down one-two-three as Wedger slammed the door on them like he had all game. In his last two starts, Romero has tossed 12.1 innings and allowed just one earned run on ten hits and three walks, while striking out ten. He’s improved his ERA from 9.00 to 3.44. Game 2: Tennessee 1, Chattanooga 0 (makeup of 4/23 PPD, 7 innings) Box Score Nik Turley made his second start of the season for the Lookouts, and he couldn’t have done more. He was ridiculous. Fourteen K’s in a 7-inning complete game ridiculous. Tennessee got their one run in the top of the first as a walk, stolen base, sac bunt and RBI groundout version of offense was all they would end up needing. From there the 2017 signing out of the independent leagues was literally untouchable. He struck out the side one-two-three in the sixth and seventh innings, and eight in a row going back to the fifth to end the game. He allowed just two hits and two walks to go along with the plethora of strikeouts. Seventy-one of his ninety-seven pitches went for strikes as he was as efficient as you could possibly be sending that many opposing hitters on trots of shame back to the dugout. Unfortunately, it was much of the same in Game 2 for the Chattanooga offense, though they did manage to outhit Tennessee 4-2. Nick Gordon was 2-4, and Edgar Corcino and Dan Gamache added singles to account for the four hits. They did draw six walks as a team, but weren’t able to take advantage. For the day, the Lookouts were just 0-9 with runners in scoring position, and left only ten men on base. I hope the lineup took Romero and Turley out for dinner when their day was finally done. MIRACLE MATTERS Bradenton 3, Fort Myers 7 Box score Fort Myers struck first in this one, as Zander Wiel launched his second home run of the season to lead off the second inning, and starter Dereck Rodriguez took it from there. Through four innings he kept the Marauders off the board with some help from a couple of double-plays. In the fifth a leadoff home run tied the game at one before a triple and an error brought in another for a 2-1 Bradenton lead. Fort Myers got those runs back in the sixth thanks to a Casey Scoggins RBI double and a Max Murphy RBI hit-by-pitch. Rodriguez gave up another home run to the leadoff man in the seventh and got two outs before he reached his pitch limit, exiting the game responsible for a runner on third and having recorded only three strikeouts. Nick Anderson came on and got the next batter to fly out, leaving the game tied 3-3. The Miracle put the game away with four runs in the seventh thanks to singles from Nelson Molina, Alex Perez, and Casey Scoggins along with two errors on the Marauder defense. Anderson finished the game to pick up the victory, allowing two hits in 2.1 innings, striking out two along the way. Fort Myers improves to 9-10 on the season and look to get to .500 against Bradenton Wednesday night. KERNELS NUGGETS Burlington 1, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score If you’ve sensed a theme yet in this report, you should have expected nothing less from starter Eduardo Del Rosario in Cedar Rapids in this one. He blanked the Bees for seven innings, allowing just five hits and one walk while also reaching double-digits in K’s like his upper-level cohorts with ten. The Kernels finally got on the board to support him against Burlington’s bullpen in the sixth inning when scorching hot shortstop and reigning Midwest League Player of the Week Jermaine Palacios led it off with a triple. He later scored on a wild pitch and Jaylin Davis added an RBI single to put the home team up 2-0. Alex Robinson walked one and struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning to pick up his first hold of the season, and Tom Hackimer notched his second save with a hitless ninth. An unearned run did score to make it interesting in the final frame as an error from Travis Blankenhorn and wild pitch put a runner on third with one out before a ground ball got the Bees on the scoreboard. Palacios was 2-4 on the night to put his average above .400 so far on the season, and Mitchell Kranson added his seventh double of the year for the Kernels offense. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Nik Turley, Chattanooga Lookouts (L, CG 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H’s, 2 BB’s, 14 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Niko Goodrum, Rochester Red Wings (2-4, 2 R’s, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Gwinnett @ Rochester (12:35PM CST) – LHP David Hurlbut Tennessee @ Chattanooga (10:15AM CST) – RHP Felix Jorge Bradenton @ Fort Myers (5:35PM CST) – RHP David Fischer (2-0, 0.60 ERA) Burlington @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – RHP Tyler Wells (1-0, 2.12 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! Click here to view the article

This is the thing. He has two pitches and one of them is significantly better than the other. His issue, is the better pitch is NOT his fastball. It didn't take long for professional hitters to figure out that you can simply not swing at his curveball and sit fastball. This is exactly why his FB zone % was so off last year compared to the year before. They weren't swinging at his curveball, and crushing his fastballs in the zone. Thus he had to try and nibble with it. It had the expected adverse effect.

Is and always has been a reliever for me. Let him start climbing the pecking order in the bullpen, or you know, do it already... This is Glen Perkins all over again. Don't overthink it.

On Tuesday night two of the Twins affiliate's games were affected by rain with one being postponed, but there was still plenty of action. One hitter kept a hot streak alive in AAA while his teammate picked up his first International League win on the mound. A shutout was pitched in the Midwest League, and in Fort Myers players worked hard on a Miracle comeback.To find out how it all went down on Tuesday in the minor leagues, and if that comeback was completed, read on! RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Gwinnett 2 Box Score The Red Wings offense jumped all over Braves starter and top pitching prospect Sean Newcomb for five runs in the first two innings. His wildness loaded the bases before a ball was put in play in the first, and Kennys Vargas did so loudly with a bases-clearing triple (he thought it was a grand slam). Daniel Palka stayed hot and followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0 after one, and a Matt Hague RBI single in the second was plenty to allow Rochester to never look back. Left-hander David Hurlbut picked up his first win of the season and his first in AAA as he went 5.2 innings in the start. He allowed just one run (unearned) on three hits and three walks. He struck out seven. D.J. Baxendale came on to finish the sixth inning after Hurlbut gave up the run, and started off by walking old-friend-not-known-for-drawing-walks Adam Brett Walker, his second free pass of the game (he’s hitting .147 with a .490 OPS, if you were wondering). Trevor Hildenberger was able to record only one out in the seventh before rain came down and delayed the game. When play resumed, Drew Rucinski was the pitcher and he finished the final 2.2 innings. He allowed one run on three hits while striking out four. Palka finished 2-4 with an RBI, Leonardo Reginatto scored two runs out of the leadoff spot, and Hague also drew three walks in the win. All eyes will be on Jose Berrios on Wednesday as he makes his third start of the season, where he’s been nothing short of spectacular so far, alongside, at Target Field, a scuffling Kyle Gibson. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Biloxi 0, Chattanooga 0 (Suspended after 2 innings) Box Score The Lookouts game with the Biloxi Shuckers was suspended after two innings due to rain, and will be completed on Wednesday as a makeshift double-header starting early. The suspended game will finish its nine innings, while game two will go seven. Matt Tracy was the starter for Chattanooga, and had struck out two and allowed only a walk when play was stopped. Nick Gordon led off the bottom of the first with a double, but was stranded when the next three hitters went down on strikes. Dan Rohlfing and Dan Gamache started the second with consecutive singles and each moved up a base on a wild pitch, but still weren’t able to score. Fernando Romero is the probable starter for Chattanooga in Wednesday’s regularly scheduled contest. MIRACLE MATTERS Florida 5, Fort Myers 4 Box score Despite out-hitting the Fire Frogs 13-9 for the game, the Miracle were always playing from behind and couldn’t quite finish any comebacks in this one. Dereck Rodriguez took the mound for the home team and surrendered single runs in each of the first three innings as Fort Myers fell behind 3-0. It wasn’t all his fault however, as errors from Alex Perex at second base and Nelson Molina at shortstop led to the first two. Three singles in the third led to his only earned run on the game, and he settled in from there to finish with a quality start and retired the last eight hitters he faced. In his six innings he allowed six hits and walked two, while striking out six. Fort Myers closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the third as Molina reached base on a strikeout that got away from the catcher to start the inning, and advanced all the way to third when the throw to first sailed into right field. A double from Perez drove him in, and he scored on a triple from Zander Wiel later in the frame. That score remained until the seventh when Jonny Drozd came on in relief for the Miracle. Consecutive doubles made it 4-2 in favor of Florida. Fort Myers snuffed out a double-steal attempt at home and also got force-out at home in the inning to keep the Fire Frogs from doing any more damage. Williams Ramirez pitched a one-two-three eighth inning, striking out two in the process before the Miracle got a rally started in the bottom half. Wiel and Trey Vavra started the inning with singles before Wiel took off on a steal attempt of third. The catcher's throw was off target and he came around to score to again pull within one. They had the bases loaded later in the frame with just one out, but weren’t able to tie it up. A double in the ninth added an earned run to Ramirez’s line, but he finished two innings with one hit and two walks allowed, with four strikeouts. The ninth inning again was promising at the start, as a Max Murphy double and Chris Paul made the score 5-4, but three consecutive strikeouts finished the game and the last of their comeback attempts. The four game series continues on Wednesday at 5:35PM CST with Cody Stashak on the mound for Fort Myers. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Peoria 0 Box Score The Kernels pitching staff dominated the Chiefs on Tuesday night, with starter Tyler Beardsley leading the way. He allowed five hits and one walk in his six scoreless innings, striking out six along the way. He didn’t allow a runner past second base until his final inning, and only stolen bases got a runner there before that. Andrew Vasquez and Tom Hackimer combined to finish the game with three perfect innings. Vasquez picked up a hold with a one-two-three seventh that included two strikeouts, and Hackimer picked up the save with three strikeouts of his own in the final two innings. It took until the sixth inning before the Kernels were able to strike, but Mitchell Kranson’s third double of the year was a big one to make it 2-0 in favor of the good guys. Jaylin Davis added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 3-0, and Travis Blankenhorn and Lewin Diaz added RBI singles in the top of the ninth to make the final score. Blankenhorn (2-4, 2 R’s, RBI), Diaz (2-5, RBI), and Davis (3-4, R, RBI) had multiple hit efforts in the victory. Jermaine Palacios scored two runs and stole his second base of the season. Early season standout Eduardo Del Rosario toes the rubber for Cedar Rapids in the series finale Wednesday morning. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Beardsley, Cedar Rapids Kernels (W, 6.0 IP, 5 H’s, BB, 6 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Zander Wiel, Fort Myers Miracle (2-4, R, 3B, RBI, SB) WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Gwinnett (6:05PM CST) – RHP Jose Berrios (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Biloxi @ Chattanooga (5:35PM CST) – RHP Fernando Romero (0-2, 9.00 ERA) Florida @ Fort Myers (6:00PM CST) – RHP Cody Stashak (0-2, 3.00 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (11:00AM CST) – RHP Eduardo Del Rosario (1-0, 0.84 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! Click here to view the article

Wells made it into the Baseball America prospect mentions for his efforts yesterday: "Lachlan Wells, lhp, Twins. Acuna’s club lost because it was going up against Wells and Co. The slight (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) lefthander dominated the Fire Frogs, blanking them on three hits over seven innings with eight whiffs and no walks. The Australian native isn’t big but has a lightning-quick arm, a sharp curveball and a changeup that can lock up hitters. In 14 innings so far, he’s struck out 17 and walked one."

The straight fastball he'll top out at 96-97MPH on. It's the 91-92MPH two-seamer that moves a ton that he couldn't control, but is also the pitch that dominates these AAA hitters.

This type of outing is nothing new for Kohl, and I'm not saying that in a bad way. I'll demonstrate: He made his AA-debut on June 4th of last year. He gave up 5 runs (4 earned) in 1.2 innings. In his next two starts he gave up 3 runs in 12.2 innings. Then he gave up 5 runs in 4.1 innings. In his two starts after that he gave up 3 runs in 14 innings. His following start was 7 runs (4 earned) in 3.2 innings. Then he basically was fantastic in his last 9 starts, going from 2-4 as a starter to finish 9-6. My point is: you're going to get burned on Kohl if you lose all hope after one bad game.

Agree on all counts - as I said I don't think it's a great rule beyond rookie leagues, but it's not a big deal to me there. If it's like the rules I know (which I would think is likely), the runner put on 2B would be the last hitter to be put out (e.g.: You struck out to end the 9th, you'd go to 2B in the 10th). Not sure on the ER-part, but I'd assume that one would be unearned. Have seen the inning start with 1 out, but not all the time.

It's Tonkin for me. While I can't explain the way they've used him in the majors, it's clear that Molitor doesn't trust him enough. Why keep pushing the inevitable off? You leave Duffey in the bullpen. I've said throughout his career that's where he should be, even when he was having success as a starter. Good chance he's closing for Twins before season's end.

Game did not go extra innings, but the new rules are only being applied in the rookie leagues. They're going to put a runner on 2B to start every inning when it goes extras. Everyone around the game seems to call this rule "radical" but it's been around forever in amateur league's, specifically during tournament play. Has no place beyond the rookie league's if you ask me (certainly not the majors), but I have no problem with it there.

While none of the affiliates actually completed a no-hitter on Tuesday, two pitchers did put up impressive no-hit outings. A starter’s no-hit effort lasted for all of his six innings, while a reliever closed out another game with four of his own. On the offensive side, a top hitting prospect in Cedar Rapids continued his hot start and a DH candidate for the Twins slugged his first home run of the year.To find out how all of the Twins affiliates fared on Tuesday, keep reading! RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Buffalo 0 Box Score 6-10 right-hander and former Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Aaron Slegers took to the hill for the Red Wings Tuesday afternoon, and he pitched like he did for the Indiana Hoosiers back in 2013 when he won that award. In six innings, he walked three and struck out seven in a no-hit effort to keep the Bisons off the board. He struck out three of the last four hitters he faced and ended his day after eighty-one pitches to pick up his first win of 2017. When his day was finished the Red Wings were leading just 1-0, but their lineup got to Buffalo’s bullpen for a run in each of the last four innings. Kennys Vargas gave them the lead with his first home run of the year in the sixth and consecutive doubles from Niko Goodrum and J.B. Shuck in the seventh made it 2-0. A Goodrum double with the bases loaded in the eighth scored two more and the shutout win was punctuated with Tommy Field’s first home run of the year in the ninth. Travor Hildenberger was the first reliever summoned from the bullpen for the seventh inning, and he pitched two scoreless frames allowing two singles and striking out one. Alan Busenitz came on for the ninth and got a double-play ball after a walk to end the game. Goodrum led the offense as he went 3-4 with two doubles, a run scored, and two RBI. He also switched from shortstop to center field in the eighth inning, displaying his ability to be trusted at multiple up-the-middle positions. Ben Paulsen added two hits, including a double. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga – Scheduled day off. The Lookout’s had Tuesday off as they travel to Florida for a five-game series with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp starting at 6:05PM (CST) Wednesday night. Kohl Stewart will make his second start of the season in the series opener. (If the nickname “Jumbo Shrimp” is a new one to you too, they switched to this name for the 2017 season. They were formerly the “Suns” and are the AA-affiliate of the Miami Marlins) MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Tampa 2 Box score Left-hander Lachlan Wells made his first start of the year for Fort Myers after pitching two scoreless innings of relief on April 6th against the Jupiter Hammerheads. He went the first five innings and despite allowing seven hits and a walk, gave up just two runs (one earned) and struck out six. Fort Myers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Casey Scoggins reached base on an error to start the game, and singles from Chris Paul and Alex Perez got him around the bases. The Miracle bats went pretty quiet after that, as it was Paul and Perez who accounted for all seven of their hits on the game. Wells surrendered his two runs in the third inning as a leadoff double was followed by a sacrifice bunt, two singles, and a throwing error from Paul at third base before he took it upon himself to strike out the next two batters and end the threat. Sam Clay pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out three. Williams Ramirez pitched a scoreless eighth, giving up a double but striking out the next two hitters to keep the Miracle within one. Paul went 4-4 with two doubles while Perez was 3-4 with the Miracle’s lone RBI. It is kind of a strange lineup to look at in the box score, as three hitters (Daniel Kihle, Paul, and Perez) have a small-sample-size season average of .400 or above, but no one else above .154. This likely contributes to their 1-5 record on the season. The Miracle look to avoid the sweep against the Yankees on Wednesday, as Dereck Rodriguez takes the mound in the series finale. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Kane County 1 Box Score Cedar Rapids scored three runs in the first inning and never looked back as they cruised to the 6-1 victory on Tuesday afternoon. It was the first loss of the season for the Kane County Cougars. Jermaine Palacios started the game with a single, stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error, and then scored on an error off the bat of Lewin Diaz to start the scoring in the first. A Shane Carrier double and Brandon Lopez single scored two more runs and the Kernels spotted starter Tyler Beardsley a 3-0 lead before he took the mound. He retired the Cougar lineup in order the first turn through as the Kernels built their lead to 5-0 with single runs in the second and third innings. It was a Travis Blankenhorn double in the second and a Lopez ground out in the third that scored those runs. Beardsley finally gave up a hit to the leadoff man in the fourth and got into some more trouble from there. After a walk and a single brought in the Cougars first run, a passed ball and hit-batter around a strikeout loaded the bases with two outs. Beardsley buckled down and got a ground out to end the inning. Kane County hardly threatened from there. Blankenhorn continued his early display of power in the Midwest League (pssst) when he added a solo home run in the seventh inning, his third of the season already to stretch the lead to 6-1. Reliever Brady Anderson came on for Beardsley in the sixth inning, and faced the minimum over the final four innings. Only an error in the eighth kept him from a perfect pitching line while picking up the save. He struck out three. On offense, Blankenhorn and Carrier led the way with two hits apiece, and Lopez added two RBI. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Aaron Slegers, Rochester Red Wings (W, 6.0 IP, 0 H’s, 3 BB’s, 7 K’s) Hitter of the Day – Travis Blankenhorn, Cedar Rapids Kernels (2-4, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester @ Buffalo (6:05PM CST) – LHP David Hurlbut (0-0, -.-- ERA) Chattanooga @ Jacksonville (6:05PM CST) – RHP Kohl Stewart (0-1, 0.00 ERA) Fort Myers @ Tampa (6:00PM CST) – RHP Dereck Rodriguez (0-1, 8.31 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (11:00AM CST) – RHP Eduardo Del Rosario (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! Click here to view the article