Tom Froemming

Welcome to another edition of the Twins Prospect Pulse, a new feature on Twins Daily inspired from suggestions from you, the readers. There have been numerous players promoted over the past few weeks and a lot of players who got off to slow starts are suddenly surging. Here's how each affiliate is performing, a rundown of the Twins Daily top 20 prospects and another 10 names of note. Here we go …In case you missed it, late last month I rolled out this feature without really having any idea where it was going to fit into the big picture of minor league coverage at the site. Seth and I came to the conclusion this would be a good mid-month feature to sort of play off his Minor League Player of the Month Award articles. Speaking of which, here are the award winners from May: Hitter: Alex Kirilloff, OF, Cedar Rapids Starting pitcher: Brusdar Graterol, RHP, Cedar Rapids Relief pitcher: Todd Van Steensel, RHP, Chattanooga Below are the stats for this edition of the Prospect Pulse. All numbers were pulled on the morning of June 15. Affiliates -Rochester Red Wings: 30-33, fifth place in IL North -Chattanooga Lookouts: 35-32, second place in SL North -Fort Myers Miracle: 26-39, last place in FSL South -Cedar Rapids Kernels: 31-35, sixth place in MWL Western -Elizabethton Twins (season starts June 19) -GCL Twins (season starts June 18) -DSL Twins: 8-3, tied for first place in DSL South Top Prospects Here’s a snapshot at how the top 20 prospects have performed. Just a quick note before we get into the numbers, one way or another there will be an updated top 20 list I’ll be using for the mid-July Prospect Pulse. 1. Royce Lewis, SS, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .267/.300/.505 (.805 OPS), 17.1 K%, 3.6 BB% Full season: .291/.336/.437 (.773 OPS), 15.9 K%, 6.0 BB% 2. Fernando Romero, RHP, Minnesota Last 28 days: 24.2 IP, 6.20 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 2.7 K:BB Full season: 62.1 IP, 3.47 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, 2.3 K:BB (MIN & CHAT) 3. Nick Gordon, SS, Rochester Last 28 days: .269/.290/.385 (.674 OSP), 19.6 K%, 2.8 BB% Full season: .308/.347/.466 (.813 OPS), 16.8 K%, 4.7 BB% (ROC & CHAT) 4. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, Rochester Last 28 days: 15.1 IP, 9.98 ERA, 2.28 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 0.9 K:BB Full season: 57.0 IP, 4.42 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 1.9 K:BB (ROC & CHAT) 5. Alex Kirilloff, RF, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .346/.417/.635 (1.051 OPS), 13.3 K%, 10.8 BB% Full season: .329/.386/.608 (.994 OPS), 16.9 K%, 8.2 BB% 6. Wander Javier, SS, out for the year with a shoulder injury. Last 28 days: None. Full season: None. 7. Brent Rooker, 1B/LF, Chattanooga Last 28 days: .273/.354/.535 (.889 OPS), 28.3 K%, 11.5 BB% Full season: .255/.310/.449 (.759 OPS) 28.4 K%, 7.0 BB% 8. Blayne Enlow, RHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 15.2 IP, 4.60 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 6.3 K/9, 1.4 K:BB Full season: 34.1 IP, 4.46 ERA, 1.72 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, 1.7 K:BB 9. Brusdar Graterol, RHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 22.0 IP, 3.68 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, 4.2 K:BB Full season: 36.1 IP, 2.48 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 7.0 K:BB 10. Akil Baddoo, CF, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .233/.309/.493 (.802 OPS), 27.2 K%, 9.9 BB% Full season: .220/.364/.387 (.751 OPS), 30.4 K%, 17.8 BB% 11. Zack Littell, RHP, Rochester Last 28 days: 19.0 IP, 7.11 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 8.1 K/9, 1.6 K:BB Full season: 58.0 IP, 5.12 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 10.20 K/9, 2.6 K:BB (MIN, ROC & CHAT) 12. Lewis Thorpe, LHP, Chattanooga Last 28 days: 26.1 IP, 3.76 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 3.7 K:BB Full season: 62.2 IP, 4.74 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 3.5 K:BB 13. Lewin Diaz, 1B, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .167/.177/.244 (.421 OPS), 16.5 K%, 0.0 BB% Full season: .208/.232/.344 (.576 OPS), 18.2 K%, 1.5 BB% 14. LaMonte Wade, OF, Rochester Last 28 days: .267/.375/.350 (.725 OPS), 9.7 K%, 13.9 BB% Full season: .293/.396/.424 (.821 OPS), 9.3 K%, 13.7 BB% (ROC & CHAT) 15. Mitch Garver, C, Minnesota On May 28, Mitch collected his 130th MLB at bat, meaning he no longer qualifies as a prospect. 16. Ben Rortvedt, C, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .362/.384/.435 (.818 OPS), 16.4 K%, 4.1 BB% Full season: .288/.335/.388 (.723 OPS), 20.8 K%, 6.4 BB% (FM & CR) 17. Travis Blankenhorn, 3B/2B, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .313/.385/.388 (.773 OPS), 20.3 K%, 10.1 BB% Full season: .270/.323/.446 (.769 OPS), 24.4 K%, 6.7 BB% 18. Yunior Severino, 2B, expected to join E-Town next week. Last 28 days: None. Full season: None. 19. Tyler Jay, LHP, Chattanooga Last 28 days: 15.1 IP, 3.52 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 2.8 K:BB Full season: 27.2 IP, 2.60 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 2.3 K:BB 20. Felix Jorge, RHP, out with a knee injury. Last 28 days: None. Full season: None. Another 10 to Know These aren’t necessarily the next 10 in the rankings, but here are some other names of note: Luis Arraez, 2B, Fort Myers Last 28 days: .345/.400/.500 (.900 OPS), 8.1 K%, 8.1 BB% Full season: .271/.328/.371 (.699 OPS), 11.8 K%, 7.2 BB% Charlie Barnes, LHP, Fort Myers Last 28 days: 23.0 IP, 3.13 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 7.4 K/9, 2.7 K:BB Full season: 55.2 IP, 3.88 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 8.1 K/9, 2.0 K:BB Trey Cabbage, 1B/LF, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .254/.325/.463 (.787 OPS), 24.7 K%, 9.1 BB% Full season: .248/.312/.418 (.730 OPS), 31.2 K%, 7.1 BB% Randy Dobnak, RHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 28.0 IP, 1.29 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 4.8 K/9, 7.5 K:BB Full season: 58.1 IP, 4.01 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 5.4 K/9, 3.89 K:BB Adalberto Mejia, LHP, Rochester Last 28 days: 27.1 IP, 2.63 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 8.9 K/9, 3.9 K:BB Full season: 36.1 IP, 3.47 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 2.9 K:BB Sean Miller, SS/2B, Chattanooga Last 28 days: .303/.387/.364 (.750 OPS), 21.3 K%, 12.0 BB% Full season: .225/.281/.275 (.556 OPS), 19.4 K%, 5.8 BB% (ROC & CHAT) Jose Miranda, 2B/3B, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: .339/.390/.514 (.904 OPS), 12.7 K%, 6.8 BB% Full season: .251/.308/.381 (.689 OPS), 13.0 K%, 6.5 BB% Jovani Moran, LHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 18.1 IP, 2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 15.2 K/9, 3.9 K:BB Full season: 34.2 IP, 2.60 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 14.0 K/9, 2.1 K:BB Brian Navarreto, C, Chattanooga Last 28 days: .269/.319/.388 (.708 OPS), 12.5 K%, 4.2 BB% Full season: .265/.300/.377 (.677 OPS), 13.4 K%, 2.9 BB% Bryan Sammons, LHP, Cedar Rapids Last 28 days: 23.2 IP, 3.04 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 7.0 K:BB Full season: 53.0 IP, 2.89 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 8.7 K/9, 3.6 K:BB That’s it for this edition of the Prospect Pulse. Thanks for checking it out. Click here to view the article

Congrats Griffin!

Alex Kirilloff has been among the most impressive prospects in the Twins system all year, but he may have had his best game yet in what was an impressive offensive output from the Kernels Thursday night. Also, some familiar faces had strong performances for Rochester and there were some noteworthy transactions.TRANSACTIONS Hmmm, where to start? Well, I suppose Miguel Sano being demoted to Fort Myers was something worth mentioning, huh? Joe Mauer’s rehab assignment with Rochester ended. He was 0-for-10 with two strikeouts and no walks. Also, Jake Cave was optioned to Rochester. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 3, Buffalo 1 Box Score W: Adalberto Mejia (6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) SV: John Curtiss (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) Multi-hit games: Zack Granite, Kennys Vargas Adalberto Mejia! Zack Granite! Kennys Vargas! Remember those guys? Well, they’re still around, and they all helped lift the Red Wings to a win tonight. Mejia gave up just one run on four hits in six innings of work, lowering his ERA to 3.47 on the season. He struck out six and walked three batters. Granite was 2-for-5 with a stolen base and a run scored while Vargas was 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs. Nick Anderson had hit a bit of a rough patch, but he got back on track again tonight, pitching two scoreless innings. John Curtis picked up his fourth save. All three of Rochester’s runs were scored in the first inning. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Birmingham 3, Chattanooga 0 Box Score SP: Omar Bencomo (5.0 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) It was a really rough night for the Chattanooga bats. The Lookouts were shut out, only had five hits, drew zero walks and struck out 11 times. I usually don’t mention opposing players, but Birmingham pitcher Dane Dunning is looking like a stud. He was a first-round pick out of Florida back in 2016 and made most of the top 100 prospect lists this season. He was originally drafted by the Nationals, who traded him to the … Chicago White Sox. Aw man, seriously? Edgar Corcino got the only extra-base hit of the night for Chattanooga, a double. Omar Bencomo gave up three runs on nine hits over five innings. He struck out seven. Tyler Jay (two innings) and Cody Stashak (one inning) combined for a scoreless night from the bullpen. MIRACLE MATTERS Palm Beach 3, Fort Myers 2 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Charlie Barnes (5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) HR: Taylor Grzelakowski (6) Multi-hit games: Ben Rortvedt, Travis Blankenhorn Charlie Barnes didn’t get his first full season as a professional off to a great start, but he’s been rolling as of late. Last year’s fourth-round pick had a 5.14 ERA through his first five starts, but since then he’s pitched to a 3.12 mark. Barnes gave up one run on just two hits in 5 2/3 innings tonight, but unfortunately the Miracle bullpen couldn’t hold a one-run lead. Ben Rortvedt was 3-for-4. They’ve all been singles, but he’s 6-for-15 (.400) since being promoted. Rortvedt’s arrival has provided an opportunity for fellow catcher Taylor Gzelakowski to get work in elsewhere. He started in left field tonight and hit his sixth homer. Travis Blankenhorn and Jaylin DAvis each reached safely twice and they also both stole a base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 10, Kane County 3 Box Score W: Bailey Ober (7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) HR: Alex Kirilloff 2 (13) Multi-hit games: Kirilloff, Robby Rinn, Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda, David Banuelos Take a bow, Alex Kirilloff. This was his first four-hit game of the season and second multi-homer effort. He’s tearing apart Midwest League pitching, posting a line of .329/.386/.608. It would have been understandable if Alex had gotten off to a slow start after missing all of last season, but he’s been a beast from the get-go. In a season that hasn’t had many positives for Twins fans, this young man represents a brilliant beam of sunshine. There were plenty of other strong performers for Cedar Rapids, as Robby Rinn had three hits, both Royce Lewis and Jose Miranda had two doubles and David Banuelos reached safely three times. The Kernels were actually trailing 1-0 after the first inning, but Bailey Ober ended up getting settled in. He went seven innings, needing only 79 pitches to do so, and gave up two runs on four hits and one walk. He struck out seven batters and threw 72.2 percent of his pitches for strikes. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bailey Ober, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Alex Kirilloff, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis, CR: 2-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, BB 2. Fernando Romero, MIN 3. Nick Gordon, ROC: 0-for-4 4. Stephen Gonsalves, ROC: Did not pitch. 5. Alex Kirilloff, CR: 4-for-6, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBIs 6. Wander Javier: Out for the season with a shoulder injury. 7. Brent Rooker, CHAT: 0-for-4, 2 Ks 8. Blayne Enlow, CR: Did not pitch. 9. Brusdar Graterol, CR: Did not pitch. 10. Akil Baddoo, CR: 1-for-5, BB 11. Zack Littell, ROC: Did not pitch. 12. Lewis Thorpe, CHAT: Did not pitch. 13. Lewin Diaz, FM: 1-for-5, K 14. LaMonte Wade, ROC: 1-for-2, 1 R, 2 BBs 15. Mitch Garver, MIN 16. Ben Rortvedt, FM: 3-for-4 17. Travis Blankenhorn, FM: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 K 18. Yunior Severino: Expected to join E-Town. 19. Tyler Jay, CHAT: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K 20. Felix Jorge: Out with knee injury. FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Buffalo, 6:05 pm CT (Zack Littell) Chattanooga at Birmingham, 7:05 pm CT (Kohl Stewart) Fort Myers OFF Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT (Bryan Sammons) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Lance Lynn did his job, but things went poorly when he was asked to put in overtime. Lynn held the Tigers scoreless over his first six innings, giving up just three hits in the process. He went back out for the seventh and gave up three runs on a triple, a sac fly, a hit by pitch and a home run. The homer was from JaCoby Jones, who had a career .586 OPS heading into today, and it came on Lynn’s 114th pitch of the afternoon.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 29-36 Lance Lynn: 62 Game Score, 6.2 IP, 3 ER, 9 K, 1 BB, 66.7% strikes Bullpen: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB Lineup: 1-for-4 w/RISP, 6 LOB Top three per WPA: Garver .044, Duke .023, Escobar .013 Download attachment: chart.png Like it or not, it’s unrealistic to expect a starter to continue to perform after he’s pitched six innings or eclipsed 100 pitches. At that point, he’s been overexposed. You put him out there for more and you're playing with fire. Maybe it works out, but the risk is probably not worth it, especially when your team is holding a one-run lead, as the Twins were after six innings on Thursday afternoon. A lot of fans will reject that premise. Players too, as we know Lynn himself has said pitch counts are worthless. It’s a debate that will go on, but it certainly appeared today that the Twins would’ve been better off going to a fresh bullpen arm for the seventh. Matt Magill, who has a 1.31 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 13 appearances, hasn't pitched in more than a week. Or maybe the Twins are just doomed no matter how they manage the pitching staff. The offense mustered just one run and it came in the first inning. It was scored by Eddie Rosario and driven in by Eduardo Escobar. Bet you would’ve never predicted that, huh? The Twins only tallied six hits and drew one walk. Both Brian Dozier and Logan Morrison were 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. Max Kepler was 0-for-3 with a walk and also had a pair of strikeouts, bad zone or no bad zone. Miguel Sano was on the bench, even when he could've pinch hit for Jake Cave in the ninth inning. The Twins have won just three of their last nine games as they head to Cleveland for a three-game series. AL Central Standings CLE 35-31 DET 33-37 (-4) MIN 29-36 (-5.5) CHW 24-42 (-11) KC 22-46 (-14) Next Three Games Fri at CLE, 6:10 pm (Gibson vs. Kluber) Sat at CLE, 3:10 pm (Romero vs. Carrasco) SUN at CLE, 12:10 pm (Odorizzi vs. Plutko) Last Three Games DET 5, MIN 2: Bulldog Berrios and the Addison Reed Experience MIN 6, DET 4: More Grand Slams, Please MIN 7, LAA 5: Jake Cave Sparks a Fire More From Twins Daily Miguel Sano Optioned to Ft. Myers Twins Minor League Report (6/13): Lookouts Pace the Action Twins Daily Roundtable: Romero's Innings Twins Sign Belisle: What Does This Mean? Click here to view the article

Reed needs to work some low-leverage situations to get pointed in the right direction, but ... Here are the hit probabilities on the five hits he gave up: 66, 44, 16, 53, 86. It was basically a bunch of seeing-eye singles, outside of the last one. I think he's going to eventually be fine, but you just can't keep pitching a guy who's struggling this badly in one-run ballgames.

This is a fun question because it's really hard to answer. Even though I was on the higher side with my number, I reserve the right to completely lose my mind if his velocity drops or he starts to get roughed up on a consistent basis. I was really freaked out about Romero last September. I wrote an article in which I said this: What would I do? Well, I've already joked around here a few times that I'd freeze Romero in carbonite a la Han Solo and have him remain in that state until the spring.

To your point ... Ehire Adrianza in 118 games as a Twin .261/.322/.403 (.726 OPS, 97 OPS+) Jorge Polanco in 211 games as a Twin .266/.322/.417 (.739 OPS, 98 OPS+) Ehire is hitting .340/.404/.723(!) over his last 53 plate appearances. That's obviously not sustainable, but he's been a breath of fresh air for an offense on life support.

Earlier today, the Twins brought back Matt Belisle, which appeared to be an indication the front office isn’t ready to trust the younger relievers. Well, there’re two sides to every transaction. To make room for Belisle, the Twins designated Gregorio Petit for assignment, leaving the bench without an infielder. That's a pretty big show of trust in Ehire Adrianza. In a situation he may usually have been lifted for a pinch hitter, Adrianza hit his first career grand slam tonight, lifting the Twins to a come-from-behind victory.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 29-34 Jake Odorizzi: 52 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 K, 4 BB, 62.7% strikes Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 K, 1 BB Lineup: 2-for-4 w/RISP, 3 LOB Top three per WPA: Adrianza .558, Sano .185, Rodney .101 Download attachment: WinEx612.png How great was it to see the Twins not only comeback, but also hold a slim lead late? Coming into this game, the Twins were only 4-25 when trailing after six innings. Eduardo Escobar (who else?) led off the seventh with a single, which was followed by a walk from Miguel Sano. You had to have a feeling things were going to go the Twins’ way when Sano was actually able to check his swing on a full count to draw the free pass. Max Kepler struck out and pinch hitter Jake Cave flew out. Just like that, you had to have the feeling the Twins were going to squander another scoring chance. Logan Morrison drew a walk to load ‘em up, bringing up Adrianza. Ehire entered this game hitting .202/.269/.340 (.610 OPS) against right-handed pitchers. Those numbers look much better now. Adrianza knocked his first career grand slam, putting the Twins up 5-2. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen612.png AL Central Standings CLE 35-29 MIN 29-34 (-5.5) DET 31-37 (-6) CHW 22-42 (-13) KC 22-44 (-14) Next Three Games Wed at DET, 6:10 pm CT Thu at DET, 12:10 pm CT Fri at CLE, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 7, LAA 5: Jake Cave Sparks a Fire LAA 2, MIN 1: Is This a Rerun? LAA 4, MIN 2: Bullpen, Bats Spoil Strong Start from Lynn More From Twins Daily Win Free Tickets To Meet Jose Berrios Don't Give Up On These Twins Quite Yet Jose Miranda Heating Up With The Weather Click here to view the article

Just start calling it bading average. If that's the only thing you're looking at, yes, you are missing something. If this makes you feel any better, here's his batting line from May 9 on, a sample of 133 PAs: .292/.361/.458.

Injuries create opportunity. Unfortunately for the Twins, there hasn’t really been anyone who’s jumped out and seized those opportunities, until now … maybe? In his first start since being recalled from Rochester, Jake Cave went on a rampage. He was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, a double and an RBI single, providing a much-needed boost to the Twins offense.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 28-34 Fernando Romero: 52 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 64.9% strikes Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 K, 3 BB Lineup: 3-for-9 w/RISP, 7 LOB Top three per WPA: Cave .225, Adrianza .158, Morrison .111 Download attachment: WinEx610.png Cave, who was acquired via a trade with the Yankees in mid March, hit a home run in his MLB debut back on May 19. He got only a three-game cameo before being sent back to Rochester. He reacted exactly as you’d hope. Cave went on a tear, hitting .315/.377/.556 with four home runs over 15 games with the Red Wings, forcing his way back up to Target Field. With Byron Buxton out and Ryan LaMarre hitting just .194/.265/.258 over his last 24 games, Cave has an excellent opportunity to make an impression. Some players are never afforded such a chance. If today’s game was any indication, Cave intends on making the most of his opportunity. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen610.png AL Central Standings CLE 34-29 DET 31-36 (-5.0) MIN 28-34 (-5.5) CHW 22-41 (-12) KC 22-43 (-13) Next Three Games Mon OFF Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT Wed at DET, 6:10 pm CT Thu at DET, 12:10 pm CT Last Three Games LAA 2, MIN 1: Is This a Rerun? LAA 4, MIN 2: Bullpen, Bats Spoil Strong Start from Lynn MIN 7, CHW 2: Berrios CG, Power from the Eds Fuel Twins Victory Click here to view the article

The Twins made a few promotions of note recently, one being catcher Ben Rortvedt getting the call up to Fort Myers. He made his Miracle debut tonight and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Check out what else happened across the system on Saturday.TRANSACTIONS -Jake Cave promoted to Minnesota with Tyler Duffey optioned to Rochester. -LaMonte Wade promoted to Rochester. -Jordan Balazovic and Robert Molina promoted to Cedar Rapids. RED WINGS REPORT Durham 3, Rochester 1 Box Score SP: D.J. Baxendale (3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Willians Astudillo The Willians Astudillo saga continues. He made his first appearance of the season at third base tonight, was 2-for-3 with an RBI and stolen base. You wouldn’t figure a guy listed at 5-foot-9, 225 pounds who’s primarily a catcher would be a threat on the bases, but that was Astudillo’s fifth steal of the season. Unfortunately, the Red Wings could muster only one run. This ended up being a bullpen game for Rochester, and the pitching staff performed admirably, all things consideed. D.J. Baxendale gave up one run over 3 2/3 innings and struck out five batters. Maybe the biggest item of note was the fact that Trevor May only pitched 1 2/3 innings in a night that Rochester could have used some length. He gave up a run on two hits and walked three batters. Gabriel Moya pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and John Curtiss gave up a run in two frames of work. This was the seventh-straight loss for the Red Wings, who have now fallen below .500. LaMonte Wade was 0-for-4 in his Triple-A debut. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 7, Montgomery 4 Box Score W: Omar Bencomo (8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) HR: James Ramsey (2) Multi-hit games: Brian Navarreto, Chris Paul The Lookouts had a 2-0 lead before they even recorded an out. This game opened with back-to-back singles which were followed by a two-run triple from Edgar Corcino. Catcher Brian Navarreto had a big night, going 3-for-4 with a couple of doubles and two RBIs. He now has 11 doubles on the season, which is just two shy of his career high. Omar Bencomo held the Biscuits to one run over eight innings. He improved his Southern League record to 5-0 and he now has a 1.94 ERA for the Lookouts. Left fielder James Ramsey hit a two-run homer. Chattanooga had a 7-1 lead heading into the ninth, but Tyler Jay surrendered three runs, two of which were earned. MIRACLE MATTERS Dunedin 6, Fort Myers 4 Box Score SP: Andro Cutura (5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez, Brandon Lopez, Ben Rortvedt Fort Myers fell behind 6-0 in this one thanks in part to three errors in the field. They battled back to get the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but could not complete the comeback. Ben Rortvedt went 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs in what was his Florida State League debut. Luis Arraez led the team with three hits. Starter Andro Cutura gave up four runs, though only two were earned, over five innings. Andrew Vasquez gave up yet another unearned run in his two innings of work. Logan Lombana gave up an earned run over the final two innings. KERNELS NUGGETS Wisconsin 4, Cedar Rapids 0 Box Score SP: Edwar Colina (5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis The Kernels just could not get anything going on offense, as they combined for four hits, two of which came off the bat of Royce Lewis. Edwar Colina gave up four runs over five innings, though one run was unearned due to Lewis’ 10th error of the season. The Cedar Rapids bullpen provided three no-hit innings, as Carlos Suniaga handled the sixth and seventh innings and Jared Finkel covered the ninth. Trey Cabbage was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. It’s only been six games, but Cabbage is hitting .389/.455/.722 so far this month. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Omar Bencomo, Chattanooga Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Brian Navarreto, Chattanooga TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis, CR: 2-for-4, 2B 2. Fernando Romero, MIN 3. Nick Gordon, ROC: 0-for-4 4. Stephen Gonsalves, ROC: Did not pitch 5. Alex Kirilloff, CR: 0-for-3, BB 6. Wander Javier: Out for the season with a shoulder injury. 7. Brent Rooker, CHAT: 1-for-5, R 8. Blayne Enlow, CR: Did not pitch. 9. Brusdar Graterol, CR: Did not pitch. 10. Akil Baddoo, CR: 0-for-4 11. Zack Littell, ROC: Did not pitch. 12. Lewis Thorpe, CHAT: Did not pitch. 13. Lewin Diaz, FM: 1-for-5, 2B 14. LaMonte Wade, ROC: 0-for-4 15. Mitch Garver, MIN 16. Ben Rortvedt, FM: 2-for-4, 2 RBI 17. Travis Blankenhorn, FM: 0-for-1 18. Yunior Severino: Expected to join E-Town this month. 19. Tyler Jay, CHAT: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K 20. Felix Jorge: Out with injury. SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Durham, 12:05 pm CT - Zack Littell Chattanooga at Montgomery, 5:05 pm CT - Kohl Stewart Fort Myers vs. Dunedin, 3:00 pm CT - Tyler Wells Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin, 1:05 pm CT - Melvi Acosta Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Kyle Gibson pitched a good game but the offense was quiet and the Twins lost by a run. Again. This team is now 3-13 in one-run games. They only lost 18 games by a one-run deficit all of last season.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 27-34 Kyle Gibson: 55 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 60.2% strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB Lineup: 0-for-5 w/RISP, 6 LOB Top three per WPA: Gibson .141, Rosario .066, Adrianza .062 Download attachment: WinEx69.png Gibson threw a career-high 118 pitches and only gave up two solo home runs over seven innings pitched. It’s pretty difficult to expect more from a starter in 2018. Gibson has now allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his 13 starts … and his record is 1-4. Baseball is weird. Last season, Gisbon wasn’t very good and the Twins still went 18-11 in games he started. Gibby’s been really good this year, and the team is only 6-7 when he’s on the bump. Eddie Rosario had a pair of hits (ho-hum), as did Miguel Sano. Both those guys also made some plays in the field, as Rosie nailed a runner at the plate with a nice throw and Sano made a pair of good-looking scoops at first base. The Twins had the go-ahead run on in the ninth and turned to the recently called up Jake Cave to pinch hit for Ehire Adrianza. Yes, that same Jake Cave who had nine career plate appearances coming into today. He struck out on three pitches to end the game. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:Download attachment: Screenshot 2018-06-09 at 8.04.32 PM.png AL Central Standings CLE 33-29* DET 31-35 (-4) MIN 27-34 (-5.5) CHW 21-41 (-12) KC 22-43 (-12.5) Next Three Games Sun vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Mon OFF Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT Wed at DET, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games LAA 4, MIN 2: Bullpen, Bats Spoil Strong Start from Lynn MIN 7, CHW 2: Berrios CG, Power from the Eds Fuel Twins Victory CHW 5, MIN 2: Time is Running Out More From Twins Daily Where Are They Now? Former Twins IF Denny Hocking Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Signing Tracker Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Recap Click here to view the article

Lance Lynn held the Angels to one run over six innings, Miguel Sano had a run-scoring hit and Robbie Grossman hit a homer. You’d think that’d be a recipe for victory, but the bullpen gave up three runs and the Twins scored only twice.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 27-33 Starting Pitcher: 68 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB, 61% strikes Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 K, 0 BB Lineup: 0-for-3 w/RISP, 7 LOB Top three per WPA: Lynn .265, Grossman .084, Rosario .028 Download attachment: WinEx68.png Let’s start out by focusing on the positives. Lynn is looking like the guy who was an above-average MLB starter for so long with the Cardinals. This was his seventh start since the end of April, five of those have been quality starts. His ERA over that stretch is 3.05. This is as confident as I’ve been in the Twins rotation, from top to bottom, in more than a decade. That’s more of an indictment on how bad the team’s starting pitching has been, but still, a nice development. Also a positive: Prince night provided this pearl of a moment: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen68.png AL Central Standings CLE 33-28 DET 30-35 (-5) MIN 27-33 (-5.5) CHW 21-40 (-17) KC 21-42 (-13) Next Three Games Sat vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Sun vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Mon OFF Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 7, CHW 2: Berrios CG, Power from the Eds Fuel Twins Victory CHW 5, MIN 2: Time is Running Out MIN 4, CHW 2 & CHW 6, MIN 3: Escobar Hits Dramatic Home Run, Twins Split Doubleheader More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (6/8): Lewis Cracks Fifth Homer Where Are They Now? Former Twins IF Denny Hocking Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Recap Click here to view the article

That is the greatest name I've ever heard!!! Eds all around, congratulations! Now the tricky part is going to be finding a way to convince your wife to go with the middle name of Rosarobar or Esckosario

Thanks everybody

There’s this weird thing listed in the box score from today’s game: CG. You ever see that before? I’m stumped. Whatever the heck it is, Jose Berrios did it today. He pitched nine innings … wait, is that legal? That’s gotta be a misprint. One thing that does look familiar in the box score is a bunch of crooked numbers next to the names of Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar. They both homered. The Twins cruised to victory as the bats tallied seven runs in the first four innings and Berrios carried a perfect game through 4 2/3 innings.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 27-32 Jose Berrios: 86 Game Score, 9.0 IP, 2 ER, 10 K, 0 BB, 71.6% strikes Lineup: 3-for-6 w/RISP, 4 LOB Top three per WPA: Berrios .229, Escobar .128, Rosario .098 Download attachment: chart.png The Twins have been playing a ton of close ballgames. Just three of their last 25 contests ended with the score separated by more than three runs. All those tight games have put a tax on the bullpen, but a blowout also has to be a nice vibe for everybody on the roster. Berrios, wow. He went the distance, picking up the second complete game of the season. He only needed 109 pitches to do so, an impressive 78 of which were strikes. Jose racked up 10 strikeouts, reaching double-digits for the third time in 2018, and did not walk a batter. He got 15 swinging strikes on the day, but was also spotting his curveball, getting 10 called strikes on that pitch. Escobar got the scoring started with a two-run homer in the first, Ehire Adrianza hit a solo shot in the second and Rosario had a three-run blast in the fourth frame. Rosario also doubled and threw out a runner at home. I mentioned yesterday how there appears to be a fun battle for the team lead in OPS evolving. Well after today, Rosario is at .919 and Escobar at .902. Picking up a low-stress victory to salvage a series split was a great way to wrap up their series before the formidable Angels come to town. Postgame With Molitor Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: IMG_20180607_153607.jpg AL Central Standings CLE 32-28 DET 29-34 (-4.5) MIN 27-32 (-4.5) KC 21-41 (-12) CHW 20-40 (-12) Next Three Games Fri vs. LAA, 7:10 pm CT Sat vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Sun vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Last Three Games CHW 5, MIN 2: Time is Running Out MIN 4, CHW 2 & CHW 6, MIN 3: Escobar Hits Dramatic Home Run, Twins Split Doubleheader HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! These game recaps are officially one year old! It was a memorable day in Twins history, for some really weird reasons. Here are the first couple sentences from that first recap back on June 7, 2017: Chris Gimenez pitched to Eduardo Escobar. That about says all you need to know about this game. Just before I started putting these together, I was having trouble keeping up with an exciting Twins team that was performing above my expectations. My daughter was just about to turn one, and it was difficult to find time to invest into a game each night. Instead, my morning routine started to include digging through a half dozen sources. I’d read Mike Berardino’s gamers, watched the highlights on MLB.com, postgame interviews on FSN’s YouTube page, check out some of the more advanced stuff at FanGraphs, pull up pitching info at Brooks Baseball and sift through the game feed info at Baseball Savant. During the games I was able to follow along with live, I found myself constantly wondering which bullpen arms were available, cycling through Baseball-Reference game logs to check appearances and pitch counts. I thought to myself “somebody should put all this stuff in one place.” DING! I just wanted to take a moment to thank Seth Stohs for this opportunity. I also want to thank all of you for reading these things and participating in the conversations that follow. I hope I’ve helped make things easier for you to keep up with the team on a day-to-day basis, or at least provided a bit of a different perspective than was previously available. The goal has always been to provide something valuable whether you watched the entire game or didn’t see a single pitch, whether you only had 15 seconds to spend at the site or had 15 minutes to dig through everything. Over the past 12 months, I’ve written something like 155 of these bad boys. It’s been a lot of fun, but I don’t expect to hit that mark over the next 12 months. I’m going to be letting a few more people contribute over the next month to see how things go. I suspect I’ll still be doing the vast majority of them for the foreseeable future, but there are some other projects I’d like to turn some more of my attention to. There are some other ideas I’ve had that just haven’t quite gotten to that “ding” moment just yet. Click here to view the article