Tom Froemming

Am I right!? Ervin Santana made an encouraging 2018 debut as the Twins managed to pull off a sweep at Toronto, scoring six runs in the top of the 11th inning. I spent much of the Royals series wondering aloud on here if the Twins taking a downturn before the deadline may be for the best, but these last three games have been fun. I mean, not really keep the band together fun, but still.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Ervin Santana: 50 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 61.9% strikes Bullpen: 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 BB Lineup: 6-for-17 w/RISP, 12 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Garver .396, Kepler .364, Belisle .289, Duke .140 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Morrison -.143, Hildenberger -.408 Download attachment: WinChart725.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base It’s great to see Ervin back, and his 2018 debut has to be considered a success. After a much longer recovery than expected followed by some concerning reports throughout the early stages of his minor league rehab assignment, Santana didn’t pitch a gem but he gave his team a chance to win. Santana topped out at 91.1 mph, but relied heavily on his offspeed stuff. According to Baseball Savant, only 25 of his 97 pitches were fastballs. He threw 37 changeups and 35 sliders. Last season, Ervin averaged 93.1 mph on his four-seamer and only threw his changeup 10.3 percent of the time. It’ll be really interesting to follow Santana’s pitch usage, but as a veteran who’s had to make plenty of adjustments over his career, one would think he can still be an asset even without his best stuff going. Second Base Trevor Hildenberger’s having a weird year. He gave up three earned runs in an inning of work today, coughing up the lead in the eighth inning in the process. He’s now given up 21 earned runs this season, 11 of which have come in three particularly ugly appearances. But hey, he’s been pretty awesome in those other 44 games. It was all OK, because the Twins were bailed out by ... Matt Belisle? Wait, that can’t be right. OK, so Matty B pitched his way into trouble and then was aided by terrible baserunning by Kendrys Morales, but he did pitch a scoreless ninth inning. And he wasn’t done! Belisle came back out for the 10th, gave up a leadoff single, but again worked a scoreless inning. Just gonna go ahead and pencil Matt Belisle into my projected 2019 Minnesota Twins bullpen right now. Third Base Max Kepler, well ... he had a bad moment. Garver entered this game having hit .308 with an .868 OPS over his previous 30 games. It was also great to see things work out so that Mitch was catching Santana’s first game back. Forming a battery with such a veteran is only going to help Garver’s development behind the plate. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen725.png AL Central Standings CLE 55-46 MIN 47-53 (-7.5) DET 44-60 (-12.5) CHW 36-64 (-18.5) KC 31-70 (-24) Next Three Games Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Brian Johnson Fri at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Chris Sale Sat at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 5, TOR 0: All-Star, Indeed MIN 8, TOR 3: Twins Cruise Over Toronto KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously) Click here to view the article

They also signed Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey that offseason. I'm not so sure I'd classify that as an attempt at a complete rebuild. The weighted averages for both their hitters and pitchers were right around league average in 2013. The last time this franchise truly committed to a youth movement was 1999. That team sucked, but it was damn fun to watch and that investment in the young talent paid off in the long run. I'm not necessarily saying it's time to burn things to the ground to that level, but it'd be nice to see them really commit to a direction one way or the other.

Parker posted one on Twitter last night.

My only prediction is there will be fewer moves than everyone anticipates. If it was me calling the shots, I'd probably try to move even more than the five guys you've predicted are going to get traded. This organization has never committed to a fire sale/tear down/rebuild, so I'm not going to hold my breath. I'll guess that Duke and Lynn get dealt for very underwhelming returns. Everybody else stays.

Jose Berrios is out to prove his first half was no fluke. Well, this was a good start. Berrios set the tone with seven excellent innings, leading the charge in what was a shutout victory for the Twins. Eduardo Escobar hit yet another double and even added a three-run blast to cap things off.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jose Berrios: 81 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 9 K, 1 BB, 63.7% strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 K, 0 BB Lineup: 3-for-9 w/RISP, 5 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Berrios .451 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Wilson -.176 Download attachment: WinChart724.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base There were a couple things that just gave you the vibe this was going to be the Twins’ day. First, they actually won a replay challenge. In the fifth inning, it appeared Taylor Motter had been picked off. He broke from first, the pitcher threw over there and Motter was called out on the throw over to second. Instead, the call was overturned, as the tag missed. The Twins couldn’t score that inning, but the sixth led off with Joe Mauer sending a pretty routine fly ball out to left field. Teoscar Hernandez just flat out dropped it, Mauer hustled into second and would later score the first run of the ballgame. Nice to see some things break the Twins’ way for a change. Second Base Jose Berrios had a great night. Take a look at this awesome overlay of his changeup and curveball: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen724.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-46 MIN 46-53 (-7.5) DET 43-60 (-12.5) CHW 36-64 (-18) KC 31-69 (-23) Next Three Games Wed at TOR, 3:07 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Sam Gaviglio Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Fri at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 8, TOR 3: Twins Cruise Over Toronto KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously) KC 4, MIN 2: For Sale Click here to view the article

They sure made this one look easy. It was shades of 2017, as the Twins offense broke out with eight runs through the first five innings of this game, making for a low-stress night at the ballpark. How low-stress? Well, there was a leverage situation so low that Paul Molitor even used Matt Magill! Seriously though, sale or no sale, Twins Territory could use one of these more often.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Adalberto Mejia: 46 Game Score, 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 BB, 60.8% strikes Bullpen: 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 3 BB Lineup: 4-for-14 w/RISP, 6 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Escobar .189, Morrison .168, Mauer .165, Mejia .101 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None Download attachment: WinChart723.png Let’s go around the horn … First Base RUNS! After scoring just 4.26 runs per game in June, the Twins are now averaging 5.74 runs per game so far in July. During that great run the 2017 Twins’ offense went on from August forward, they were averaging 5.86 runs per game. Both Joe Mauer and Mitch Garver had three hits on the night. Logan Morrison hit his 12th home run and drove in three. Max Kepler his his 13th homer, a two-run shot, and made a great catch in center. Eduardo Escobar was 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk and two RBIs. Second Base Adalberto Mejia did his job, but he didn’t exactly have the type of performance that’s going to force the Twins to keep him on the big league roster. He managed to hold the Jays to one run over 5 1/3 innings, but he also gave up eight hits and walked a pair of batters. With Ervin Santana’s return slated for Wednesday, Mejia’s likely going to be headed back to Rochester. Mejia topped out at 95.2 mph and tallied eight swinging strikes, but he only got three strikeouts as Toronto also fouled off 18 pitches and put 21 balls in play. His line would have been worse is the bullpen didn’t clean up the mess he made in the sixth. Speaking of which ... Third Base I don’t think Matt Belisle is going anywhere. The guy has carved out a role, and you know what? He’s been good at it. Coming into this game, Belisle had only allowed one of the 11 runners he’s inherited score. He took over for Mejia tonight with one out and the bases loaded and managed to strand all those runners, meaning he’s only allowed 7.1 percent of his inherited runners to score since he’s joined the Twins. For comparison, Zach Duke has allowed six of his 11 inherited runners to score (54.5 percent) and 13 of the 23 runners Trevor Hildenberger’s inherited have scored (56.5 percent). Home Plate Watching a blowout sure gives you some time to think. Let’s talk about bullpenning vs. having an opener. I think tonight’s game is a good example of some of the issues you can run into when you try and cover an entire game with your bullpen. Relievers, in general, are a little unreliable. If you need to run out five different pitchers over the first six frames, as Toronto did tonight, chances are one of those guys is not going to have his best stuff working. In this case it was Tim Mayza (four earned over 1.1 innings) and Joe Biagini (three runs in an inning). The funny thing was once Jaime Garcia finally got into the game for Toronto he threw three perfect innings. Hmm … maybe he should have started … Anyway, having an “opener” is a bit of a different concept. You have a reliever pitch the first innig and roll right into your traditional “starter” in the second. The Twins are experimenting with it in the minors, which I like, but I’m not so confident that’s a great strategy either. What I’d be interested in seeing a team try is having their starter go through the lineup twice, then have the first guy out of the bullpen take a full turn through the lineup. After that you start mixing and matching in the later innings and using your relievers in shorter bursts. Just a thought. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen723.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-44 MIN 45-53 (-9) DET 42-59 (-13.5) CHW 34-64 (-20) KE 30-68 (24) Next Three Games Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Ryan Borucki Wed at TOR, 3:07 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. Sam Gaviglio Thu at BOS, 7:10 pm CT, TBD Last Three Games KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously) KC 4, MIN 2: For Sale KC 6, MIN 5: Maybe It’s Better Off This Way? Click here to view the article

What’s more embarrassing than getting swept by the Royals? Getting swept by the Royals on a Drew Butera three-run inside-the-park home run. I think we’ve hit rock bottom. I mean what could be worse than this? Is Ricky Nolasco going to get signed by the Blue Jays and pitch a perfect game against the Twins next week or something?Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jake Odorizzi: 72 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 8 K, 1 BB, 67.0 % strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 0 K, 2 BB Lineup: 1-for-4 w/RISP, 3 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Dozier .107 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Hildenberger -.349 Download attachment: WinChart722.png First Base Before we even get to the game, there is quite a bit of roster news to go over. Logan Morrison was activated from the DL, and as a corresponding move Willians Astudillo was optioned back to Rochester. Morrison started at first base and hit fifth in the Twins order, going 0-for-3 with a run-scoring groundout and a walk. There figure to be plenty more transactions in the coming days, as Adalbero Mejia (who is scheduled to start tomorrow) and Ervin Santana (who’s scheduled to start Wednesday) need to be added to the active roster. Santana will be coming off the 60-day DL, so the Twins will even need to create a spot on the 40-man roster for him. Second Base The Twins have had a very strange year when it comes to replay, and Sunday they had yet another one that left some people scratching their heads. Jake Cave sent a line drive out to left field and Alex Gordon appeared to make a really nice diving catch. The slow-motion replays seemed to tell another story. Here’s the video: Alright fine, we’ll talk some about the game. On the plus side, Jake Odorizzi was really good, giving up just two runs (one earned) on two hits and one walk while striking out eight batters in six innings of work. Max Kepler hit his 12th home run of the season. Also, um … Alan Busenitz pitched a scoreless eighth inning. That’s all I got. The Twins could only muster three hits and racked up 10 strikeouts. Joe Mauer had a particularly rough afternoon, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. UPDATE: After the conclusion of this game it was announced that Busenitz was being sent back down to Rochester to make room for Mejia. Matt Belisle is bulletproof. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen722.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-43 MIN 44-53 (-10) DET 42-58 (-13.5) CHW 34-63 (-20) KC 30-68 (-24.5) Next Three Games Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Adalberto Mejia vs. TBD Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Ryan Borucki Wed at TOR, 3:07 pm CT: Ervin Santana vs. TBD Click here to view the article

I doubt we'll see many promotions until after the trade deadline. There could be quite a few guys coming and going, so it seems to me like it makes sense to keep things the way they are unitl you know which opportunities open up. So that's just another reason why the next couple weeks should be really fun to follow.

Sounds like everything is gonna be OK.

Miguel Sano played his first game since being called up to Rochester. Fernando Romero and Blayne Enlow were on the bump. Brent Rooker and Zander Wiel stared for Chattanooga, Alex Kirilloff and Ben Rortvedt did damage for Fort Myers and (of course) Ryan Jeffers and Chris Williams continued to be the bash brothers for E-Town. However, it was a Cedar Rapids outfielder who tallied the most total bases on the evening (and probably not the one you’d assume). Come check out what happened across the minors Saturday.RED WINGS REPORT Norfolk 5, Rochester 3 Box Score SP: Fernando Romero (7.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Gregorio Petit, Jordan Pacheco Fernando Romero got off to a terrible start, opening this game by walking the first two batters he faced. He then gave up a single to load the bases with nobody out. The Tides tallied three runs in the first, but Romero was able to recover and pitching into the eighth inning. Miguel Sano, in his first game since being promoted from Fort Myers, started at third base and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He drove in a run on a ground out. Rochester’s lineup is in desperate need of a boost. Over their past six games, they’ve managed to scratch across just five runs. This was their sixth-straight loss and the Red Wings are 3-12 in their last 15 games. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 12, Mobile 10 (11 innings) Box Score W: Tyler Jay (2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SP: Dietrich Enns (5.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Zander Wiel, Brent Rooker, Mitchell Kranson, Jaylin Davis, Jimmy Kerrigan Lookouts manager Tommy Watkins has seen a couple of his better leadoff options promoted up to Rochester, but he may have found his new tablesetter tonight. First baseman Zander Wiel hit first for Chattanooga tonight and was 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles, a walk and scored all four times he was on base. Brent Rooker, who hit directly behind Wiel was also 3-for-6 with two doubles and a walk. He also drove in three runs. That’s a nice one-two punch right there. This was a crazy game. Mobile led 6-1 after the first three innings but Chattanooga managed to storm back and tie the game at 7-7 in the eighth inning. This one went into extras, and while the Lookouts were able to score in the top of the 10th, the BayBears answered with a run of their own to send this game into the 11th. Chattanooga responded with a four-run inning. That surely would be enough, right? Yes, but Mobile didn’t go down quietly. They managed to score twice before the game finally ended. Some of the numbers are just silly. The Lookouts were 9-for-27 with runners in scoring position. They had 17 hits and drew nine walks, so there was just constantly traffic on the bases. Jordan Gore made the jump all the way up from Cedar Rapids earlier this month, but he’s fitting right in. Tonight he hit a triple, drove in three runs and drew three walks. As you’d imagine by the score, there was a lot of bad pitching, but Andrew Vasquez kept rolling along. He was the first man out of the bullpen for Chattanooga and struck out five of the seven batters he faced. Sam Clay struck out three batters in his two innings of scoreless work. MIRACLE MATTERS Lakeland 8, Fort Myers 2 Box Score SP: Andro Cutura (3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) HR: Ben Rortvedt (3) Multi-hit games: Alex Kirilloff Starter Andro Cutura ran into trouble in the fourth inning and the Ryan Mason, who’s been having an excellent year, got knocked around in the fifth, putting the Miracle behind 8-0 after five innings. The Fort Myers lineup wasn’t able to dig out of that hole, but there were a couple strong performances. Ben Rortvedt hit a two-run home run, his third already with the Miracle in just 28 games. Rortvedt only had five home runs in 161 pro games prior to being promoted to Fort Myers. Alex Kirilloff was 3-for-4 and scored a run. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Lansing 5 Box Score W: Blayne Enlow (6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) HR: Jean Carlos Arias (5) Multi-hit games: Robby Rinn, Jean Carlos Arias, Jared Akins Blayne Enlow was in control and the Kernels put up a six spot in the fifth inning of this one. Jean Carlos Arias got Cedar Rapids on the board with a solo homer in the second inning and then capped off the big rally in the fifth with a run-scoring triple. Enlow completed six innings for the third-straight start and has never had to eclipse 80 pitches over that stretch. The only runs he gave up were unearned, so Enlow’s ERA sits at 3.16 on the season. Arais was hands down the offensive star of the game, but Robby Rinn had two hits and drove in a pair of runs and Jared Akins also had two hits. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 7, Princeton 6 Box Score W: Pedro Garcia (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K SV: Seth Pinkerton (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) SP: Josh Winder (4.0 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) HR: Chris Williams (9), Ricky De La Torre (2), Micheal Helman (1) Multi-hit games: Ryan Jeffers, Ricky De La Torre, Michael Helman Michael Helman, a member of the 2018 draft class, hit his first professional home run and it was extra sweet because it put the E-Twins up for good. A second baseman out of Texas A&M, Helman also had a single. Ryan Jeffers was 3-for-4 with a double and scored twice, of course, because that’s what he does. Jeffers is now hitting .422 with an 1.121 OPS. Chris Williams hit a home run, because that’s what he does. The Clemson product now has nine dingers for E-Town. Shortstop Ricky De La Torre hit his second homer of the season. Josh Winder had a rough start, giving up six runs on eight hits over four innings, but Pedro Garcia bailed him out with four frames of one-hit ball and the bats mounted a comeback. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 7, GCL Twins 6 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Andriu Martin (4.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: LaRon Smith, Yeison Perez The Twins held a 6-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth but the Red Sox managed to tie it up and then won this one in extras. Victor Tademo and Kidany Salva each drove in two runs, LaRon Smith had three singles and Yeison Perez was 2-for-3 with a double. It’s actually a little crazy that the Red Sox scored only seven runs. Five Twins pitchers combined to surrender 17 hits, they walked four batters and the defense committed four errors. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Blayne Enlow, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jean Carlos Arias, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed. Please note that this Prospect Summary has been updated. 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-4, K 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 3-for-4, R 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 1-for-4, RBI, K 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not pitch. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): 1-for-4, K 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 3-for-6, 2 2B, BB 3 RBI, R, K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 1-for-5, R, 2 K 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not pitch. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-4, K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 0-for-4, 3 K 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not pitch. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R 16. Yunior Severino (ET): Did not play. 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): 1-for-3, BB, 2 K 18. Ryan Jeffers (ET): 3-for-4, 2B, 2 R 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): Was used as a late sub, only pinch ran and played left field. 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-2, R SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Norfolk, 12:05 pm CT: Zack Littell Chattanooga at Mobile, 5:05 pm CT: Lewis Thorpe Fort Myers: Off Cedar Rapids at Lansing, 12:05 pm CT: Jordan Balazovic Elizabethton vs. Princeton, 5:00 pm CT: TBD GCL Twins: Off Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

After ending the first half on such a hot streak, this Twins team sounded motivated to try to convince the front office it was too early for a fire sale. They’ve opened things up after the All-Star break with basically an ideal opponent to clean up against, but instead have dropped the first two games to the lowly Royals.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Lance Lynn: 43 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 K, 6 BB, 55.9% strikes Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 K, 3 BB Lineup: 2-for-4 w/RISP, 6 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Mauer .105 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Cave -.110, Polanco -.144, Dozier -.191 Download attachment: WinChart721.png First Base Congratulations are in order! Joe Mauer led off this game with a double, giving him 415 for his career. The significance in that number? Joe is now the Twins’ all-time leader in doubles. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen721.png AL Central Standings CLE 54-43 MIN 44-52 (-9.5) DET 42-58 (-13.5) CHW 33-63 (-20.5) KC 29-68 (-25) Next Three Games Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Brad Keller Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Adalberto Mejia vs. Marco Estrada Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Ryan Borucki Click here to view the article

Wanna know what's really weird? Both those guys you mentioned were born on the same day, July 12. But Ober was born in 1995 and Leach in 1999. The biggest thing is there's about 50 pounds of weight difference between those two. Tyler looks like a football player and Bailey looks like he belongs on a basketball court, but you're right, they both look very comfortable on a pitcher's mound, especially for dudes their size.

When is a loss maybe a win? Well, when you think it might be best for your favorite team to sell at the trade deadline, but a recent surge has kinda sorta put them back into the playoff discussion, in theory. The way I see it, Twins fans can’t lose right now. If the team wins, great. If not, maybe in the big picture that’s for the best anyway.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Kyle Gibson: 43 Game Score, 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 63.1% strikes Bullpen: 2.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 BB Lineup: 3-for-13 w/RISP, 11 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Garver .154 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Rosario -.111, Dozier -.143, Gibson -.154, Kepler -.300. Download attachment: WinChart720.png After really playing around with things last season, I got these game recaps to a format I liked and haven’t changed them much over the course of this year. Let’s try something different tonight … First Base Nobody’s going to replace Platinum Glove Award winner Byron Buxton in center field, but Jake Cave has looked pretty darn good out there and tonight Max Kepler made a very nice catch at Kauffman: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen720.png AL Central Standings CLE 52-43 (Friday game still in progress) MIN 44-51 (-8) DET 41-58 (-13) CHW 33-62 (-19) KC 28-68 (-24.5) Next Three Games Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Jakob Junis Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Brad Keller Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT: TBD vs. Marco Estrada More From Twins Daily Miguel Sano Promoted to Triple-A Rochester GM For A Deadline, Part One Twins Owe it to Themselves to Look at Existing Talent in Second Half Click here to view the article

I guessed he was going to be back July 5, but I think the Twins falling so far behind may have given them less incentive to speed things along. They were four games back of Cleveland when he went down, but then were 11.5 back on the fifth. Obviously I was wrong, but it never made sense to me to keep him down for an extended period if he was healthy. Establishing some new habits/routines shouldn't take months.

Falvinegaard has a nice ring to it ... My question to you, Jeremy, is now that we've seen a few trades go down and have some feel for how guys are being valued, would you change your expectations at all on what the Twins may be able to fetch for Dozier/Escobar? Or have things panned out close to what you would have expected?

And don't sleep on Kai-Wei Teng, who started for the GCL Twins. I think he could be a guy we're all pretty excited about in a year or two. Yeah ... They've got the worst offense in the IL. I think it really hurt that guys like Chris Carter and Cameron Rupp under performed (and now are gone). I think you're always going to see quite a few career minor leaguers in Triple A, which is fine just so long as they're performing. But, just like with the big club, injuries have not helped. Under normal circumstances, Cave and Astudillo would be down there and Romero probably would have spent the whole year there to this point, maybe Matt Magill too ... Ryan LaMarre ... Bobby Wilson. Instead, those guys were called upon by the Twins and their replacements have not stepped up like you'd like to see. I think that would make a lot of sense, even if Stewart and Jay aren't really "ready" if you can even really know that. I'd like to see Watson jump back up to Fort Myers now that he's back on track. The scenario you laid out is better than anything I could come up with. I was trying to work through that myself, but then I got a headache and figured I'd just paste in the game log word-for-word Unfortunately, it's really difficult to find any additional info on the GCL games and I didn't really have time to dig around because ... ... sloopjont said I had to get some sleep Toss in the fact that we had a game scheduled for seven innings go into extras and this just made for a really weird day. Speaking of which ... ... don't take this as a dig at this specific stance, but I'm curious if people also don't like the fact that minor league doubleheaders are seven-inning games? It's kind of an odd thing they do on the farm, but both the short doubleheaders and the "bonus" runner in extras rules are there to try and keep from crazy long days at the ballpark/travel issues. Obviously that's a a valid concern, but what I wonder is would it just be better to allow minor league games to end in a tie?

Of the seven games in tonight’s report, four of them went into extra innings. Kohl Stewart had a great start, Brent Rooker hit another home run, Aaron Whitefield had a walk-off double, Akil Baddoo collected three more hits, a Cedar Rapids reliever went strikeout crazy and Chris Williams slugged another homer. Check out what else happened across the minors Thursday night.TRANSACTIONS Jeremy Hazelbaker was acquired from Tampa Bay for cash considerations and was assigned to Rochester. Another left-handed hitting outfielder, Hazelbaker has hit .258/.327/.500 (.827 OPS) over 285 plate appearances with the Cardinals and Diamondbacks. The 30-year-old was having a rough go of things for Durham, Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, hitting .210/.293/.397 (.690 OPS). Cody Stashak was placed on Chattanooga’s temporary Inactive List. Fort Myers placed Tom Hackimer on the 7-Day DL with an ankle sprain. RED WINGS REPORT Game 1: Norfolk 1, Rochester 0 (7 innings) Box Score SP: Kohl Stewart (6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Nick Gordon Rochester was held to just three hits, two from Nick Gordon, but Kohl Stewart was awesome. Making his fourth Triple-A start this season, Stewart gave up just one run on three hits, all singles, and two walks. He also struck out eight of the 22 batters he faced on the day. Stewart also went six innings and only gave up one run in his last start. Jeremy Hazelbaker was 0-for-2 with a strikeout in his debut in the organization. Game 2: Norfolk 1 Rochester, 0 (8 innings) Box Score SP: D.J. Baxendale (3.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Yes, Rochester played two games, they lost both and the score was 1-0 in both contests. Also, both runs scored over the 15 innings of baseball were on sacrifice flies. This game was played in Rochester, but it was technically a road game for the Wings, er, they were the Plates tonight, I guess. They were making up a game that was rained out in Norflolk earlier in the season. That meant Rochester was walked off in their own ballpark, which had to feel a little weird. The only hits by the Plates in this one were a Juan Graterol double and a Jon Kremmer single. D.J Baxendale opened things with 3 1/3 shutout innings before Trevor May tuned in 2 1/3 frames of no-hit ball. Gabriel Moya pitched two innings and gave up the game-winner, though it’ll go down as an unearned run since that was the “bonus” runner that started the inning on second base. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Mobile 3 Box Score W: Omar Bencomo (5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) SV: Tyler Jay (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) HR: Brent Rooker (16) Multi-hit games: Brent Rooker, Mitchell Kranson This one started with a Zander Wiel double followed by Brent Rooker’s 16th home run. The Lookouts built a 4-0 lead thanks to RBI singles from Mitchell Kranson and Rooker, but the BayBears battled back to pull within a run of Chattanooga. Brian Navarretto plated an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a sac fly and the bullpen locked it down. Omar Bencomo (29) gave up two runs and struck out seven batters over 5 1/3 innings. Williams Ramirez (who turns 26 in a few weeks) gave up a run in his inning of work before Sam Clay (25) delivered 1 1/3 innings of scoreless work. Tyler Jay (24) earned his second save by recording the final four outs. He gave up one hit and had three strikeouts. Why yes, the Lookouts do have the oldest pitching staff in the Southern League (second oldest in all of Double A), why do you ask? MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 3 (10 innings) Box Score W: Jovani Moran (3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SP: Griffin Jax (7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Hits were hard to come by for the Miracle, but they made the most of them. They managed to score four runs despite only being able to muster three well-timed hits. Alex Kirilloff hit a single to load the bases in the first inning, Joe Cronin drew a walk to score the first run and then Ben Rortvedt delivered a two-run single to put Fort Myers up 3-0 in the first inning. They didn’t get another baserunner until the seventh. In the meantime, the Flying Tigers stormed back to tie the game at 3-3. Griffin Jax gave up just one earned run over seven innings before handing the game off to Jovani Moran, who was making just his third appearance for the Miracle. Moran managed to fend off Lakeland for three innings, keeping the game knotted up. Things didn’t get off to a very good start in the bottom of the 10th for Fort Myers. Rortvedt was walked to try to set up the double play. To combat that, the Miracle bunted … into a double play. Since offense was impossible to come by, Fort Myers hadn’t recorded a hit since the first inning, they seemed doomed. Instead, Aaron Whitefield delivered a walk-off double that scored Rortvedt from second base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Great Lakes 3 Box Score W: Tyler Watson (6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) SV: Jose Martinez (2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB 6 K) HR: Ben Rodriguez (8), Jacob Pearson (4) Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo Tyler Watson set the tone with six innings of shutout ball and Ben Rodriguez mashed a three-run homer that put the Kernels up 4-0 in the third inning, making for a low-stress night, especially when compared to how the other affiliates fared. Akil Baddoo had an excellent game, going 3-for-5 and was a homer shy of the cycle and Jacob Pearson hit his fourth home run of the season. Jose Martinez made sure things remained under control as he absolutely blew through the Loons’ lineup. Martinez faced seven men and he struck out six of them. He threw 21 of his 26 pitches for strikes. Wow. E-TWINS E-NOTES Greeneville 3, Elizabethton 2 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Andrew Cabezas (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) HR: Chris Williams (8) Multi-hit games: Yunior Severino, Andrew Cosgrove My goodness, is Chris Williams flexing his muscles or what!? The guy now has eight home runs through 26 pro games. Combined that with his numbers at Clemson this year Williams has 25 homers in 88 games this year. Again, my goodness! E-Towns’ other run came on a game-tying single from Trevor Larnach. Andrew Cabazas pitched five shutout innings of two-hit ball. Johan Quezada followed with two no-hit innings to go with four strikeouts. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Twins 6, GCL Orioles 3 (11 innings) Box Score W: Petru Balan (3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SP: Kai-Wei Teng (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Agustin Marte, Charles Mack, Victor Tedemo, Erick Rivera The Twins trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the ninth, but they tied it up on a pretty wild play. Here’s the description from the MiLB play log: “Victor Tademo out on a sacrifice bunt, left fielder Jacob Brown to third baseman Jared Gates. Alberoni Nunez scores. Charles Mack to 3rd. Victor Tademo out at 3rd. Victor Tademo out at 3rd, left fielder Jacob Brown to third baseman Jared Gates.” Uh ... say what now? Things continued to get interesting, as the Twins added another run in the top of the 10th thanks to a passed ball. But the O’s also scored in the bottom of that inning. The Twins really broke loose in the 11th, tallying four runs, the big blow being a Tademo double. Second baseman Agustin Marte was 3-for-5 with a double and Mack was 2-for-4 with a walk. Kai-Wei Tend delivered five frames of one-run ball before J.T. Perez pitched two scoreless innings. Petru Balan gave up an unearned run over his three innings of work and Osiris German also surrendered an unearned run in the 11th STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jose Martinez, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Brent Rooker, Chattanooga TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed. Please note that this Prospect Summary has been updated. 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-3, BB, R, E 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 1-for-4, R, K 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 2-for-6, SB 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not pitch. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): 1-for-3, BB, RBI, K 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBIs, R 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not pitch. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): Did not pitch. 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-6, 4 K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 0-for-3, K, E 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not pitch. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI, R 16. Yunior Severino (ET): 2-for-5, R 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): 0-for-3, RBI, K 18. Ryan Jeffers (ET): 1-for-4, BB 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): 1-for-4, HR, RBI, R, K 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Norfolk, 5:05 pm CT: Ervin Santana Chattanooga at Mobile, 7:05 pm CT: Sean Poppen Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 6:00 pm CT: Brusdar Graterol Cedar Rapids at Great Lakes, 6:05 pm CT: Bailey Ober Elizabethton vs. Greeneville, 6:00 pm CT: TBD GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox, 11:00 am CT: TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article