Tom Froemming

Image courtesy of William Parmeter CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 29-22 St. Paul Saints: 25-22 Wichita Wind Surge: 23-21 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 25-18 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 20-24 FCL Twins: 9-6 DSL Twins: Season starts June 2. TRANSACTIONS Fort Myers activated infielder Peyton Carr from the 7-day IL. SAINTS SENTINEL Game 1: Norfolk 12, St. Paul 1 Box Score This was a statement performance from Marco Raya. The 22-year-old entered today struggling mightily in his first full exposure to Triple-A competition. Maybe all he needed to get into gear is for us here at Twins Daily to start wondering if he should be moved to the bullpen. No matter the reason for tonight’s impressive performance, it was great to see from the young right-hander. Raya immediately showed he was poised to impress, striking out the side in order in the first inning on 12 pitches while tallying five swinging strikes. He kept it rolling in the second inning, striking out the side in order once again. Norfolk finally put the ball in play a couple times in the third frame, though Raya turned in another perfect inning. Pitching into the fourth inning for the first time this season, Raya capped his outing with a 1-2-3 frame. When all was said and done, Raya had delivered four perfect innings with seven strikeouts. He threw 32 of his 49 pitches for strikes, which is 65 percent. Entering tonight’s outing, Raya had only thrown 56 percent of his pitches for strikes on the season. Raya topped out at 97.4 mph and got six of his 13 whiffs on his curveball. Per Baseball Savant, he deployed his six-pitch arsenal remarkably evenly, throwing no individual offering more than 10 times among his 49 total pitches. Could this be a turning point for Raya? Time will tell, but if nothing else it was a great reminder of what he looks like when everything is clicking. As for the rest of this game, uh … I guess it could be summed up by saying Anthony Prato pitched. He’s not a pitcher. The St. Paul bullpen combined to walk nine men in just 2 2/3 innings (not counting the out Prato recorded). Yuck. And it’s not like the lineup was firing on all cylinders, either. The only Saints run came on Mike Ford’s eighth homer of the season. Game 2: St. Paul 6, Norfolk 4 Box Score Speaking of Anthony Prato, he hit a home run in this game. Defensively, he started at third base and ended up playing center field. If they asked him to sell popcorn in the stands, I bet he’d do that too. That guy can do anything! Mickey Gasper continues to turn into Superman whenever he dons a Saints uniform. He blasted a pair of homers, giving him nine home runs in 21 games with St. Paul. Andrew Morris got off to a rough start in this one, surrendering three runs and three extra-base hits in the first couple innings. He gutted through a solid outing from there forward, thanks in part to some nice work from his defense. The Saints had an excellent and unique double play to end the top of the third inning. The Norfolk batter hit one into the tricky right field corner at CHS Field, where things get tight toward the pole as a shorter wall in foul territory angles toward the field of play. Right fielder Jeferson Morales anticipated the carom perfectly, playing the bounce off the wall in foul territory and firing an on-target one hopper to second base. The throw beat the runner by a mile. Shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald ran the batter back toward first base while monitoring the other runner, who had already advanced from first to third on the hit. Fitzgerald eventually tossed to first baseman Jose Miranda, who put the tag on the hitter to get one out. While this was happening, the other base runner broke for home. Miranda quickly fired to catcher Patrick Winkel, who put on the tag. It was a bang-bang play, but the Saints got the out there, as well. That’s some fine team defense. It’s not often you see four different players touch the ball on the same play. Morris surrendered a solo homer in the fourth inning, but turned in scoreless frames in both the fifth and sixth innings. Though he gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk, Morris also delivered some length, completing six innings for the first time this season. He threw over 70 percent of his pitches for strikes, which is incredible. For context, the current MLB average strike rate is 63.7 percent so far this season. Oh, and Morris also topped out at 99.0 mph. WIND SURGE WISDOM San Antonio 5, Wichita 2 Box Score Christian MacLeod turned in another scoreless outing. The left-hander started out this season a bit behind, so he’s still building up his innings and pitch count, but in that process he’s also pitched very well. He kept his momentum going tonight, delivering four shutout innings of one-hit ball for the Wind Surge. He did also walk three batters, but managed to strand them all thanks in part to five strikeouts. MacLeod, a fifth-round pick from the 2021 Draft, has a 0.73 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 24 2/3 innings so far this season. He made a spot start for the Saints his last time out and figures to see more time up in Triple A as the season progresses, especially if he keeps this up. This game was locked in a 0-0 tie through five innings but the Wind Surge finally scratched across a couple of runs in the top of the sixth. Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long. Shortstop Tanner Schobel committed a pair of errors in the bottom of the sixth, contributing to what ended up being a five-run inning for San Antonio. The first Schobel error was on a grounder hit right at him and the second was on a high infield pop fly that the wind got creative with. Ben Ross also nearly made a pair of fine tumbling catches in center field that inning but both bounced off his glove. That was it for the scoring; all seven runs in this game came in the sixth frame. It wasn’t all bad for Schobel tonight, as he hit his 12th double of the season and scored a run. He’s hitting .301 with an .825 OPS for Wichita. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 12, Fort Wayne 4 Box Score The Kernels tallied 12 runs despite the fact they only had one extra-base hit, a double by Nate Baez. Cedar Rapids drew a dozen walks, two of which were with the bases loaded. They also had a run-scoring hit by pitch. While the run-scoring effort wasn’t highlighted by big blasts, the Kernels did a nice job of keeping the line moving and running the bases well. The lineup was 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position and were successful on all three of their stolen base attempts. One of the steals came from Kyle DeBarge, who is a perfect 24-for-24 on stolen base attempts this season. Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Chase Chaney did a nice job of providing length, covering six innings while throwing 103 pitches, 70 of which were strikes. He struck out seven batters. In addition to having the only Kernels extra-base hit, Baez also had a single and drew a pair of walks. Kaelen Culpepper also reached safely four times, hitting a pair of singles to go with two walks. He also stole his 11th base of the season and has a .941 OPS so far in 2025. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Lakeland 4 (10 innings) Box Score Dasan Hill’s start got off to a nightmarish opening. He gave up a leadoff ground rule double, which was immediately followed by a two-run homer. Then Hill woke up and retired the next seven batters he faced. The 19-year-old lefty struck out five batters in his 2 2/3 innings, topping out at 97.4 mph. Six of his 11 swinging strikes came on his changeup. This game was a back-and-forth affair. Fort Myers took the lead on three different occasions, but Lakeland kept clawing their way back and tying things up. The Mussels scored immediately in extra innings, with Dameury Pena hitting a seeing-eye single on the first pitch of the top of the 10th inning to score the bonus runner. Pena stole second base, but was stranded there. It was up to Hunter Hoopes to protect the lead in the bottom of the 10th, a difficult task given that pesky bonus runner starting at second base in extras. Hoopes, who had pitched a scoreless ninth inning, retired the first batter he faced on a ground out to third base, preventing the bonus runner from advancing. A five-pitch walk set up a potential game-ending double play, but framing things this way is always wishful thinking, right? Well, not this time. On the very next pitch, the Lakeland hitter sent the ball rolling toward second base. While there is no such thing as a routine double play ball in the lower minors, the Mussels looked smooth on this one. Dameury Pena gathered the ball and did a backhand shovel toss over to shortstop Angel Del Rosario, who avoided the sliding runner and fired a strong throw to first base to end the game. The Mighty Mussels improved to 5-0 in extra innings, and are just 15-24 in games that don’t go into extras. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Red Sox 5, FCL Twins 3 Box Score Today’s game mirrored the output the FCL Twins lineup has put together on the season so far. The club is doing a decent job of getting on — posting an above league average on-base percentage — but little else is going well. They entered today with the worst team batting average (.183) and second-worst slugging percentage (.304) in the FCL. The Twins drew five walks in this seven-inning game, two of them by Bryan Acuña, but collected just three hits. Jayson Bass was the only Twin with an extra-base knock, a double. Twins starting pitcher Joel Garcia gave up three runs on five hits and three walks over his three innings of work. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Marco Raya, St. Paul: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 49 pitches Hitter of the Day: Mickey Gasper, St. Paul: 4-for-8, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 0-for-0, 3 BB 6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, SB (11) 7. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 49 pitches 8. Andrew Morris (St. Paul): 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 87 pitches 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, BB, 2 R, RBI, K 10. Dasan Hill (Fort Myers): 2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 49 pitches 11. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, K, SB (24) 14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 1-for-4, K 16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-4, 2 K 17. Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K, 2 E 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 0-for-4, RBI TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Norfolk, 5:07 pm CT: Darren McCaughan Wichita at San Antonio, 1:05 pm CT: Trent Baker Cedar Rapids at Fort Wayne, 5:35 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo Fort Myers at Lakeland, 11:00 am CT: Michael Ross View full article

Matt Wallner crushed two home runs in the first game of his rehab assignment with the Saints and word is that Carlos Correa will be activated off the IL tomorrow. The Twins have dealt with a lot of injuries of late, but things seem to be coming together. Tonight’s recap includes highlights of Twins prospects Kaelen Culpepper, Connor Prielipp, Gabriel Gonzalez and Emmanuel Rodriguez. View full video

The Minnesota Twins carried a 13-game winning streak and 34-inning scoreless streak into Sunday’s game but both were snapped. It was a magical run for the team, especially the pitching staff, and hopefully a sign of more quality ball to come. Longtime minor leaguers Ryan Fitzgerald and Carson McCusker both made their MLB debuts over the weekend in Milwaukee. On the minor league side, tonight’s System Recap includes highlights of prospects Dasan Hill, Andrew Morris, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Kaelen Culpepper, Kyler Fedko, Rayne Doncon and Kyle DeBarge. View full video

You might be onto something. It’s possible they put KC on the Keaschall track. He was promoted to Double-A on May 28 last year.

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of David Malamut CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 25-20 (12 straight wins!!!) St. Paul Saints: 21-19 Wichita Wind Surge: 20-17 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 22-14 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 17-20 FCL Twins: 5-4 DSL Twins: Season starts June 2. TRANSACTIONS The Twins selected the contract of Ryan Fitzgerald from the Saints. He made his major league debut on Friday night. He’s a 30-year-old utility man and former indy ball guy who has 378 career Triple-A games to his credit. Cody Christie did an excellent writeup on Fitzgerald earlier today, here’s the link. LHP Jaylen Nowlin was promoted up from Wichita to St. Paul and Wichita activated OF Allen Cerda. IF Rayne Doncon started a rehab assignment with Fort Myers and RHP Christian Becerra started a rehab assignment with the FCL Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL Iowa 12, St. Paul 7 Box Score Tyler Beede made his first start for the Saints after coming out of the bullpen his previous four outings. It did not go well. The 31-year-old former big leaguer gave up four runs while recording five outs. Things didn’t get much better for the St. Paul pitching staff from there. Cubs prospect Matt Shaw led the way with a pair of homers, but the I-Cubs had five different players who recorded three hits tonight. Wow. The Saints lineup was able to hang with Iowa through the early innings, as this game entered the fifth inning tied at 7-7. Edouard Julien led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run in what ended up being a four-run inning. Mickey Gasper also homered, his seventh in 15 games with the Saints. Emmanuel Rodriguez homered, as well, though he also struck out four times tonight. Carson McCusker was 1-for-5 and also struck out four times. He also committed his first error of the season. WIND SURGE WISDOM Arkansas 10, Wichita 4 Box Score It wasn’t a great night for the Wind Surge, but the lineup accomplished an odd feat. All nine hitters collected exactly one hit. That’s not particularly noteworthy, I suppose, but it is strange to see. Unfortunately, the result was only four runs on a night their pitching staff struggled. Kyler Fedko hit his sixth home run of the season, already giving him double the amount he hit last year. The 2021 12th-rounder also has a .403 on-base percentage so far this season. The other Wichita extra-base hits were doubles from Ricardo Olivar and Tanner Schobel. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 13, Peoria 2 Box Score This Kernels lineup is popping off. They scored 13 runs tonight, their third double-digit output in their past four games. While they’re certainly peaking at the moment, this club has been impressive at the dish all year so far. Cedar Rapids leads the Midwest League in on-base percentage by 21 points and holds a 41-point lead in slugging percentage. Kaelen Culpepper led off and led the way, going 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs, his first multi-homer game in pro ball. He surpassed the 100-plate appearance mark on the season tonight and is hitting .304/.398/.490 (.888 OPS) while providing strong defense at shortstop. Brandon Winokur and Jaime Ferrer also homered for the Kernels tonight, and it was Ferrer’s first home run of the season. Danny De Andrade had a two-hit night and was hit by a pitch. Gabriel Gonzalez, who is typically an aggressive swinger, drew a pair of walks tonight. This was just his fourth time drawing multiple walks in 113 games since joining the Twins org. Jeremy Lee and Kade Bragg combined to tag team this game on the mound. Lee gave up two runs, one earned, over the first five frames before Bragg delivered four shutout innings of relief while striking out six. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 9, Jupiter 4 Box Score The Mussels trailed 4-1 entering the sixth inning but scored eight unanswered runs to storm back and take the victory. This was the first game of Rayne Doncon’s rehab assignment. He played third base and went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored two runs. Yasser Mercedes had a big game, hitting a home run and stealing his 15th base of the season. He’s yet to be thrown out attempting to steal this season. Maddux Houghton also homered and stole a base for Fort Myers. Dylan Questad has taken great strides in his strike-throwing ability to this point, but he looked more like his 2024 self tonight. The former fifth-rounder had more walks than innings pitched last year, but entered tonight with a 3.4 BB/9 in 21 innings in 2025. He recorded eight outs and walked four batters, hitting another. Questad also had five strikeouts, for what it’s worth. Zander Sechrist delivered 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball out of the Mussels bullpen. The 23-year-old undrafted free agent has a 1.98 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 27 1/2 innings. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Red Sox 5, FCL Twins 2 Box Score The Twins fell behind 4-0 in the first four innings and couldn’t muster a comeback. On the mound, Matt Gabbert and Christian Becerra got some work in on their rehab assignments before St. Louis Park native Mitch Mueller finished things off. Gabbert got knocked around a bit (three runs on six hits over three innings), Becerra only surrendered an unearned run in his two frames and Mueller struck out three while yielding a run in his two innings. At the plate, the only extra-base hits for the Twins came from Yandro Hernandez (a double) and Eduardo Beltre (a triple). Catcher Ricardo Pena had a single and a walk. He has a .667 on-base percentage through his first five games of the season. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Jeremy Lee (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Hitter of the Day: Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-5, 2 HR (4), 3 R, 4 RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 1-for-5, HR (3), R, 2 RBI, 4 K 6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-5, 2 HR (4), 3 R, 4 RBI 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, HR (3), R, 2 RBI, K 11. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 3B, R, RBI, K 14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3, 2 BB, R 16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 1-for-3, 3B 17. Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, R, K 18. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, HR (3), SB (15), 2 R, RBI 19. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 1-for-5, 4 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Iowa, 6:08 pm CT: David Festa Wichita vs. Arkansas, 4:05 pm CT: Darren Bowen Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT: Ty Langenberg Fort Myers at Jupiter, 3:00 pm CT: Eli Jones FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT: TBD View full article

The Minnesota Twins swept the Orioles, extending their winning streak to 11 games, but they may have lost their two star players in the process. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton collided in the field and both were evaluated for concussions. On a positive note, Payton Eeles is back! He started a rehab assignment with Fort Myers. There are highlights of his 2025 debut as well as some Adrian Bohorquez and Khadim Diaw highlights in tonight’s System Recap. View full video

The Minnesota Twins walked off the Giants to cap a weekend series sweep. An unlikely hero emerged to deliver the Twins eighth straight win, as DaShawn Keirsey Jr. hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning. Today’s System Recap tackles the entire weekend of games and features some highlights of pitching prospect Eli Jones and St. Paul Saints hitters Emmanuel Rodriguez and Carson McCusker. View full video

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Kala'i Rosario) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 19-20 St. Paul Saints: 18-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 17-14 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 19-11 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-16 FCL Twins: 4-1 TRANSACTIONS Wichita RHP C.J. Culpepper was transferred from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL. The same can be said for Kernels LHP Rafael Marcano. Cedar Rapids sent RHP Matt Gabbert on rehab assignment to the FCL Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL Buffalo 17, St. Paul 3 Box Score Marco Raya had a nightmare start. Unfortunately, that was a trend across the system this evening. The top of the first inning in St. Paul started with a single, another single, a three-run homer, a single, a single, an RBI single and a walk. The first Buffalo batter retired was their No. 8 hitter. Raya gave up six runs on seven hits and a walk in his only inning of work and has a 12.46 ERA in 13 innings so far this year. The Saints bullpen wasn’t able to do much better. Buffalo had already scored 12 runs by the fourth inning. Mickey Gasper, last night’s hero, played his eighth game for the Saints and hit his fifth home run. He had a four-hit night and boasts a 1.625 OPS in his brief time with St. Paul. Emmanuel Rodriguez hit his first homer of the year, a sky high opposite field blast. Jose Miranda returned to action and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He played third base for seven innings. Eduardo Julien was 0-for-3 with an RBI and a strikeout. Carson McCusker was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Northwest Arkansas 3 Box Score This game was a shutout on both sides until the bottom of the sixth inning. Wind Surge starter Aaron Rozek was cruising until Jac Caglianone, the No. 34 overall prospect per Baseball America, blasted a three-run homer. It felt like that homer may have been a fatal blow, but the Wind Surge lineup had a couple haymakers of their own to deliver. Tanner Schobel lined a double to leadoff the seventh inning, but the next two batters were retired. Just when it felt like the Naturals might escape, Kala’l Rosario crushed an opposite-field two-run homer. Wichita kept the two-out rally rolling. Ben Ross singled, Aaron Sabato drew a walk and Andrew Cossetti socked a three-run homer to complete the comeback and put the Wind Surge up 5-3. Rozek had a quality start and managed to stick around long enough to earn the win. He struck out four batters over six innings and did not issue a walk. Rickey Castro delivered a pair of scoreless innings out of the bullpen while striking out three batters. Jaylen Nowlin finished things off with a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first career save. KERNELS NUGGETS Beloit 8, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score It was a rough start for Jose Olivares. He’d been pitching so great so far this season, but couldn’t get out of the first inning tonight. The most polished silver lining you’ve ever seen: Both of his outs were recorded via strikeout. Olivares faced eight batters. He walked two, hit one and threw two wild pitches. Giving up five earned runs skyrocketed his ERA on the season from 0.66 to 3.77. The Kernels lineup went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and combined to strike out 13 times. Caden Kendle, Gabriel Gonzalez and Jose Salas all had multi-hit games. Kendle slugged his second home run of the season and stole a base. MUSSEL MATTERS Dunedin 9, Fort Myers 1 Box Score It was also a rough start for Michael Carpenter. In fact, I could basically copy/paste everything I wrote about Olivares’ start for the Kernels. Carpenter, a lefty out of Madison Community College, only recorded two outs. Jacob Kisting, who was born in Madison, stabilized the game as the first man out of the Mussels bullpen. He delivered 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball and struck out four batters. Dameury Pena was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. The only other Fort Myers hit came from Yohander Martinez. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 2, FCL Red Sox 0 Box Score Three FCL Twins pitchers combined for the seven-inning shutout, with Matt Gabbert throwing two perfect innings to get things started, Hendry Chivilli covered the next two innings and St. Louis Park native Mitch Mueller finishing off the final three frames. Chivilli was among the centerpieces of the Twins 2023 international signing class … as a shortstop. He was ranked as the No. 38 prospect of that class by MLB Pipeline. He hit .194/.301/.282 (.583 OPS) with a 33.2 K% in 256 plate appearances over the past two seasons, so they’re trying something different. The Twins scored their runs on an error and a balk. Complex baseball, ladies and gentlemen! TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Aaron Rozek, Wichita (6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 74 pitches, 49 strikes) Hitter of the Day: Mickey Gasper, St. Paul (4-for-5, HR, 2B, R, RBI) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HR (1), R, RBI, K 6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K 7. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 35 pitches 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 2B, 2 K 14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, 2B, K 16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 SB (2) 17. Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, R 18. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-2, 2 BB 19. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 1-for-4, 2 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-4 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Buffalo, 2:07 pm CT: Zebby Matthews Wichita at Northwest Arkansas, 6:35 pm CT: Christian MacLeod Cedar Rapids at Beloit, 1:05 pm CT: Jeremy Lee Fort Myers vs. Dunedin, 5:05 pnm CT: Dasan Hil View full article

The Minnesota Twins finished off a three-game sweep of the Orioles Thursday, winning 5-2. It was the fifth straight win for the Twins, who are now 11-5 in their last 16 games. Down on the farm, Connor Prielipp impressed in his outing for Wichita. Kyle DeBarge had another good game for Cedar Rapids, but it ended with him exiting after being hit on the wrist with a 97 mph fastball. View full video

The Minnesota Twins blew out the Orioles Tuesday at Target Field. Carlos Correa hit an impressive home run in what was a three-hit night for him. Pablo López had an impressive start, striking out 11 batters. Down in the minors, Carson McCusker had a two-homer game for the Saints. View full video

The Minnesota Twins took another one-run victory in Boston, thanks in part to another impressive showing from Jhoan Duran in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Twins won 5-4 to end this week’s road trip with a 3-4 record. Byron Buxton got things started with a leadoff homer. Down in the minors, Kaelen Culpepper hit an impressive home run for Cedar Rapids, Zebby Matthews gave up some damage and Royce Lewis was 1-for-5 for the Saints. View full video

Image courtesy of ©Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images Box Score Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 94 pitches, 62 strikes (66.0%) Home Runs: Kody Clemens (1) Top 3 WPA: Bailey Ober 0.231, Jhoan Duran 0.215, Kody Clemens 0.207. Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Kody Clemens didn’t exactly follow in his dad’s footsteps, but he did eventually make it to the same stage. Nearly 41 years after Roger Clemens made his Fenway Park debut, his son Kody was playing his first game there. Instead of being atop the mound like his old man, Kody was in the batter’s box. With proud papa watching from a luxury box, Kody blasted a two-run homer, his first since joining the Twins. It’s easy to have complicated feelings toward Roger Clemens, but as a father, a son, and a Twins fan, I personally felt it was nice to be able to appreciate this moment of pure joy for the Clemens family. Heck, it was nice to simply be able to appreciate some darn runs. The Bomba Squad days are long behind us, as the Twins entered today ranked tied for 25th in home runs. Kody Clemens isn’t going to be the guy to lead the Twins out of this power slump, as he’s only hit 15 home runs in 158 career games, but every little bit helps. Clemens started at second base and also made a nifty catch in shallow centerfield. Simply put, he looked hungry out there. This Twins team could use more of that. That Clemens blast also changed the course of this game, as it broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth inning. The two-run homer was the start of a two-out rally, as Harrison Bader followed with a single, Christian Vázquez walked and Trevor Larnach hit a run-scoring single. With the Twins up 4-1 in the top of the seventh, the threatening skies started to produce and the game went into a rain delay. At least it was conveniently-timed, as Bailey Ober was already at 94 pitches through six innings and was likely to turn the game over to the bullpen anyway. Ober held up his end of the bargain, delivering a quality start. He limited Boston to one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out six batters. Ober has only yielded eight earned runs in 36 innings (2.00 ERA) since his rough season debut in which he gave up eight earned runs in that outing alone. After the delay, Brock Stewart took over on the mound for the Twins and hit the first batter he faced. Jarren Duran later hit a run-scoring triple, then came around to score on a Rafael Devers single to bring Boston within a run. That was it for Stewart, as Griffin Jax came in and stopped the bleeding by coaxing consecutive groundouts. The Twins had a great opportunity to score an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning, but their love of the contact play came back to bite them. Ryan Jeffers led things off with a single and pinch runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr. stole second base. Clemens flew out to deep center field, allowing Keirsey to tag up and advance to third. Harrison Bader hit the first pitch on the ground and right at the third baseman. With the contact play on, Keirsey was heading home. He was out by a mile. Bader stole second base, but Vázquez failed to bring him around, lining out to end the inning. Despite Jax needing just seven pitches to finish off the seventh inning, Cole Sands took over for the Twins in the eighth. Sands struck out the first batter he faced before inducing a weak bouncer up the middle that should have resulted in the second out. Instead, the ball bounced through the infield for a single, splitting Clemens and Carlos Correa. It appeared the two infielders were both under the impression the other was going to take charge and field that ball. Luckily, it didn’t matter. Sands came up huge, coaxing an inning-ending double play with an 88 mph splitter down. The timing and execution both on that pitch by Sands and the around-the-horn twin killing started by Brooks Lee at third base is exactly the kind of thing the Twins have been lacking in these close games so far this season. Byron Buxton got a one-out single in the top of the ninth, but the Twins weren’t able to get any insurance in the top of the ninth. Jhoan Duran came in to try to secure the one-out save in the bottom of the ninth inning and gave up a leadoff single to Boston No. 9 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela. Duran retired the next batter on a ground out, but the speedy Rafaela managed to advance to second. Meat of the Boston order up, man in scoring position and Jhoan Duran channeled prime nasty, attack-mode Jhoan Duran. He went right after Devers, striking him out on four pitches, finishing with a filthy knuckle curve. Rocco Baldelli made the call to intentionally walk the red-hot Alex Bregman with first base open, bringing young and talented left-handed hitter Wilyer Abreu to the plate. Duran remained in attack mode. 101.4 mph fastball fouled off. 100.8 mph fastball fouled off. 100.9 mph fastball out of the zone. 101.8 mph fastball hit for a game-ending flyout to left field. Pfew! A great, much-needed road victory for this Twins team that’s been dreadful in close ballgames. What’s Next? The Twins wrap up their series in Boston Sunday afternoon with a starting pitching matchup of Chris Paddack vs. Garrett Crochet, a lefty. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 pm CT. The Twins are off Monday before starting a six-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting the Orioles for three before the Giants come to tow for the weekend. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT Durán 13 0 24 0 16 53 Stewart 17 21 0 0 13 51 Coulombe 0 16 0 18 0 34 Jax 13 0 14 0 7 34 Sands 0 0 18 0 12 30 Alcalá 0 0 0 23 0 23 Varland 3 0 12 5 0 20 Topa 0 0 12 0 0 12 View full article

Image courtesy of © Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 13-20 St. Paul Saints: 14-14 Wichita Wind Surge: 15-10 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 15-9 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-11 TRANSACTIONS St. Paul placed 3B Armando Alvarez on the 7-day IL with a left ankle sprain and activated SS/CF Will Holland from the IL. Cedar Rapids placed 3B/1B Billy Amick on the 7-day IL with a left oblique strain. The Kernels also transferred LHP Ross Dunn from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL. He is dealing with a left forearm strain. Fort Myers transferred C Rafael Escalante from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL. RHP Liam Rocha was transferred from Fort Myers to the FCL Twins. The FCL Twins open play tomorrow, and it appears their roster page on MiLB.com has been updated to accurately reflect this year’s squad. Among the top names on that team are 2024 Twins Daily Short-Season Hitter of the Year Eduardo Beltre and last year’s Short-Season Pitcher of the Year Melvin Rodriguez. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Columbus 4 (6 innings) Box Score The Saints are having the most difficult time simply playing baseball games. They were scheduled to play a doubleheader today and, much like yesterday and Tuesday, could only get in one game — and it was called early! Royce Lewis played third base and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. On the plus side, he did have two more hard-hit balls with exit velocities of 98.4 mph and 96.4 mph. While we're discussing players coming back from injury, Emmanuel Rodriguez was in the starting lineup for the Saints for the first time since April 23. He went 1-for-2 with a walk as the DH. Jeferson Morales continued his magical spring by delivering the first multi-homer game of his career. He’s hitting .291/.378/.488 (.866 OPS) in 27 games so far this season and .317/.399/.525 (.924 OPS) over his first 44 games at the Triple-A level. Are we witnessing a late-bloom or just a hot streak that carried over from one year to the next? Only time will tell, but never doubt a Sire of Fort Myers. Mike Ford also homered for the Saints, his sixth of the season. The Saints had five hitters with an .800 OPS or higher in their lineup tonight. In addition to Morales (.866 OPS) and Ford (.824), Carson McCusker (1.023), Anthony Prato (.987) and Ryan Fitzgerald (.938) are above that mark. Gee, it’s too bad there’s no room for one of those guys on the big club. Alright, okay, minor league production doesn’t often translate to the big leagues, but the Twins have some bats they could turn to if they’re ever motivated to shake things up. On the pitching side, Marco Raya got the start but struggled despite being provided with some early run support. He walked five of the 16 batters he faced and threw less than 50 percent of his pitches for strikes (30 of 62). After giving up four earned runs in three innings, Raya has a 9.00 ERA through five starts and has yet to record an out in the fourth frame. On the other hand, Travis Adams continued to pitch great for the Saints. He delivered a pair of scoreless frames and has a 2.82 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 22 1/3 innings for the Saints. Adams has 20 strikeouts and just three walks on the year. The Saints are going to take another crack at playing two tomorrow, but there’s a 99 percent chance of rain in Columbus, so … WIND SURGE WISDOM Frisco 3, Wichita 2 Box Score Connor Prielipp was working out of trouble with the help of his defense through the first 2 2/3 innings tonight but gave up a two-run homer that ended his night there. Prielipp’s first throw of the evening hit a batter but he eventually induced a 4-6-3 double play. In the second inning, any damage was avoided in part because right fielder Kala’i Rosario made a nice on-target throw to retire a runner trying to stretch a single into a double. The first two Frisco batters reached base in the third, but third baseman Tanner Scobel started an around-the-horn triple play attempt. The two lead runners were retired but the batter beat the throw from second. That’s where Frisco No. 3 hitter, lefty Abimelec Ortiz, took Prielipp deep into the lazy river beyond the right field fence (yes, this really is a thing at Riders Field in Frisco, Texas). Prielipp failed to record a strikeout for the first time in his minor league career. Burnsville product Aaron Rozek delivered 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen. The Wichita lineup had a tough time delivering on opportunities, as they went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Ricardo Olivar was 3-for-5 as the DH tonight and is hitting .354 with a .913 OPS on the season. Ben Ross also had three hits including a double, the only Wind Surge extra-base hit on the night. KERNELS NUGGETS South Bend 8, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score Tanner Hall did something tonight I’ve never seen a Twins minor leaguer do. Hall threw 38 pitches in the first inning and went back out for the second frame. That’s obviously not an impressive accomplishment in terms of providing quality, but it’s the quantity that’s eye-opening. Previously, anytime a Twins minor leaguer reached 30 pitches in any given inning it was a guarantee his night was done. I was so shocked that Hall came back out for the second inning that I checked in with Seth to see if he ever recalled seeing this. He couldn’t think of a single time in the last 10-15 years where a pitcher had that high of a pitch count in an inning and remained in the game. So while that’s an interesting take away from tonight’s game, it’s not exactly a good reflection upon Hall. I suppose it’s a sign the org believes his arm can handle the stress, but he was alarmingly inefficient tonight, needing 63 pitches to record five outs. Kaelen Culpepper served as the DH tonight, so it was interesting to see who would serve as shortstop on a team with plenty of other candidates. It was Brandon Winokur at shortstop with Kyle DeBarge playing second base and Danny De Andrade at third. Speaking of DeBarge, he hit a home run tonight. After hitting one home run in 26 games after being drafted last year, DeBarge already has four homers in 23 games so far this season. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 9, Tampa 2 Box Score The Mussels lineup was consistently producing this afternoon, tallying runs in six separate innings. It was a consistent attack, as eight different hitters scored a run and eight also drove in a run. All this was accomplished while providing just three run-scoring hits. One run scored on a ground out, they hit a pair of sacrifice flies, another two runs scored on errors and there was a run-scoring balk. Catcher Daniel Pena led the way with three hits while Jose Salas, Jay Thomason, Maddux Houghton and Yohander Martinez all tallied a pair of hits. Salas has hit .444 with a 1.254 OPS and three stolen bases in seven games on his rehab assignment with the Mussels. He’s played shortstop, center field and right field. Jakob Hall, 2024 eighth-round pick, delivered 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball for Fort Myers, striking out three while not issuing a walk. Ivran Romero picked up the win after surrendering a run over his 2 1/3 innings before Tyler Stasiowski struck out the side in the eighth and ninth innings. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Jakob Hall, Fort Myers (4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K) Hitter of the Day: Jeferson Morales, St. Paul (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 2. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 1-for-2, BB 6. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 2 K 7. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, SB (1), R, K 8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, BB, 2 K 10. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 2 2/3 IP 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K 13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, HR (4), 2 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI, 15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-4, BB, RBI, K 18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 2-for-4, R 19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, R, 2 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 3-for-5, K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Columbus, 1:05 pm CT: Darren McCaughan St. Paul at Columbus, Game 2: Zebby Matthews Wichita at Frisco, 7:05 pm CT: Ricky Castro Cedar Rapids vs. South Bend, 6:35 pm CT: Jose Olivares Fort Myers at Tampa, 11 am CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD View full article