Tom Froemming

RED WINGS REPORT Syracuse 8, Rochester 6 Box Score Wings starter Yohan Pino got lit up in this one. Over 1.2 innings, he gave up five runs on eight hits, three of them homers. Rochester battled back to make this one interesting, but fell short. Mitch Garver connected for his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, and drew a pair of walks. Matt Hague was 3-for-5 with two RBI. Zack Granite had a multi-hit game streak snapped, but had a nice game, going 1-for-2 with three walks. D.J. Baxendale saw his ERA jump to 3.99 after giving up three runs over 3.1 innings out of the bullpen. Kam Mickolio was perfect over the final four innings. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 6, Montgomery 3 Box Score Stephen Gonsalves needed 96 pitches to get through five innings, but he battled his way through to put his team in position to win. It doesn’t hurt that he was backed up by a spectacular bullpen. Gonsalves struck out six and gave up three runs on five hits and walked a pair of batters. Nick Anderson threw two perfect innings, notching a couple of strikeouts. John Curtiss came on in the eighth with the Lookouts up one. His untainted 0.00 ERA appeared to be in jeapordy as he gave up a leadoff double. Curtiss induced a foul pop out and struck out the next two batters to protect the lead. Chattanooga added two runs in the top of the ninth to give Curtiss some wiggle room in the bottom of the inning. He wouldn’t need it, of course, as he retired the Biscuits 1-2-3 for his 12th save of the season. Ryan Strausborger hit his first home run for the Lookouts, a go-ahead two-run bomb in the third. T.J. White was 2-for-4 with a double and drove in three runs. Nick Gordon, LaMonte Wade and Travis Harrison each walked twice, as Chattanooga drew nine free passes. This was a huge game for Chattanooga, which entered the day tied with Montgomery in the standings. The Lookouts now trail the first-place Tennessee Smokies by just a half game. The first half ends June 18. And it sounds like they’re getting some reinforcements. Randy Rosario is being sent back down from the Twins. And then there’s this from Dereck Rodriguez’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/DereckrodRF3/status/873709716043689988 MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Tampa 1 Box Score Nelson Molina socked a first-inning grand slam and Lachlan Wells pitched into the seventh inning to pick up the victory. The homer was Molina’s third of the season, which may not sound like much, but he only went deep twice last season in Cedar Rapids. Wells had been scuffling a bit, posting a 7.07 ERA over his previous three starts. He went 6.2 innings, and gave up one run on five hits. He had six strikeouts and did not walk a batter. The Molina slam was especially key because the Miracle only managed three other hits on the night, though they walked seven times. Alex Perez was 2-for-4 with a double, a run and an RBI. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Burlington 3 Box Score Jaylin Davis, the Midwest League home run leader, smashed his 12th tater of the season. He also hit a double and made this sensational catch: https://twitter.com/MiaOBrienCBS2/status/873720223261765636 Coming off a rocky start in which he gave up six runs, Eduardo Del Rosario bounced back to hold the Bees to two runs over six innings to pick up the win. He struck out four batters and walked one. Caleb Hamilton hit his fifth home run of the year to give the Kernels the lead in the sixth inning, immediately followed by Davis’ dinger. Ariel Montesino was 3-for-4 and Hank Morrison had a pair of hits. Out of the bullpen, Ryan Mason, Alex Robinson and Hector Lujan each pitched a scoreless inning. The win secured Cedar Rapids’ two-game lead in the Midwest League Western Division. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – John Curtiss (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, save) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jaylin Davis (2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Syracuse, 12:35 pm CT, Matt Tracy (appears he’ll be promoted, he’s listed as the starter in the bottom of this Syracuse game story) Chattanooga at Montgomery, 5:35 pm CT, TBD Fort Myers OFF Cedar Rapids vs. Burlington, 2:05 pm CT, Max Cordy Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games.

Twins 3, Giants 2 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) In Berrios’ turbulent 2016 season with the Twins not much went right, but one thing he struggled with in particular was getting the third out. It seemed he could never stop the bleeding. He gave up an .840 OPS with no outs, .817 OPS with one out and that ballooned to a 1.132 OPS with two down. Berrios has been better all around this year, but the dropoff in two-out OPS has been dramatic. With no outs, opponents have had a .638 OPS, with one out a .604 OPS and with two outs opposing batters had just a .398 OPS entering today’s game. Jose was not very efficient today, but he finished off innings. The Giants loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, but The Machine was not about to crack. He struck out Brandon Crawford. He struck out Hunter Pence. Inning over. Here is some info on those two at-bats: Berrios ran into trouble again in the fifth. Eduardo Nunez led off the inning with a walk, followed by a Brandon Belt single. Nunez scored on a Posey groundout. With Belt at second and one out, it was deja vu all over again. Instead of unravelling and giving up a big inning, Berrios struck out Crawford, struck out Pence. Inning over. Berrios had eight strikeouts over 5.1 innings. He gave up two runs on six hits and three walks, throwing 97 pitches in the process. Kennys Vargas got the Twins on the board in the fourth inning by slugging the third-longest home run of the season. Here’s the data from MLBBarrelAlert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLBBarrelAlert/status/873648308635480065 Here’s the highlight via Statcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/statcast/status/873652831408062465 Brian Dozier hammered a two-run shot the next inning to put the Twins up. The heatmap below via Baseball Savant shows how Dozier has been pitched so far in 2017. No surprise, teams are staying down and away. Whether they intended to or not, Giants pitchers gave Dozer a few pullable pitches on the inner half of the plate. He made sure they paid for it. Tyler Duffey got the last two outs of the sixth, and pitched the seventh. Matt Belisle handled the eighth and Brandon Kintzler picked up his 17th save. The bullpen threw 3.2 perfect innings. Also, Chris Gimenez stole a base. Postgame With Molitor Today Twins (Nik Turley) at San Francisco (Matt Cain, 4.87 ERA), 3:05 pm CT Turley, who grew up in California, will be making his major league debut. He had a combined 2.05 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 14.4 K/9 between Rochester and Chattanooga this season. Lee Roth of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle wrote a great profile of Turley, highlighting his last start in which he dominated the Yankees Triple A team. Cain has been very good at home this season, posting a 1.82 ERA in six starts (8.40 road ERA). AL Central Standings Twins 32-26 Cleveland 30-28 (-2.0)* Detroit 29-31 (-4.0)* Kansas City 27-34 (-5.0) Chicago 25-34 (-6.0)* *Saturday games still in progress at the time of publishing this article.

Twins 4, Giants 0 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) You don’t make it through a complete game on just 91 pitches by dilly-dallying around. As one would expect, Santana was very aggressive on the first pitch. Image above via Brooks Baseball The pitching performance was great to see, but it was a shocker to see Erv also contribute the biggest hit of the evening. Here’s a link to the highlight at MLB.com. Image above via Yahoo Sports I guess Erv decided he'd be aggressive on the first pitch at the plate, too. Robbie Grossman was 3-for-4 with a double. Brian Dozier went 2-for-4 with a walk and drove in a run. Recent rumors have the Twins taking Brendan McKay with the No. 1 overall pick in Monday’s draft. He’s been a great two-way player at Louisville … maybe the Twins are onto something here. Santana can be the new SP/DH and Chris Gimenez can be the catcher/closer. McKay would fit right in. Plus, you don’t have to worry about how many pitchers you have in the bullpen if everybody plays both ways. Just sayin'. Some big news broke at the conclusion of this one. Nik Turley, a former indy ball pitcher who has been a strikeout machine this season, will be called up to make his major league debut Sunday. The 27-year-old lefty is coming off a performance in which he struck out 15 batters, 14 on swinging strikes, in six innings. Postgame With Santana Postgame With Molitor Today Twins (Jose Berrios, 2.76 ERA) at San Francisco (Jeff Samardzija, 4.29 ERA), 3:05 pm CT Getting the third out was seemingly impossible for Berrios at points last season, as opposing hitters had a 1.132 OPS off him with two down. This season? Totally different story. He has limited opponents to a .121/.216/.182 (.398 OPS) line. In just nine plate appearances, Eddie Rosario has homered off The Shark twice. AL Central Standings Twins 31-26 Cleveland 30-28 (-1.5) Detroit 29-31 (-2.5) Kansas City 26-34 (-6.5) Chicago 25-34 (-6.0) Check out the minor league report from Friday night’s action.

RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 9, Syracuse 3 Box Score Adam Wilk earned his first victory in the Twins organization, aided by a big day at the plate from Tommy Field. Wilk had a clean first inning, was then spotted a three-run lead, but gave it all back in the top of the second. To his credit, the 29-year-old lefty kept battling, and held Syracuse scoreless over the next four innings. Wilk ended the night having pitched six innings while giving up three runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out five. The game was tied in the bottom of the sixth when singles from Field, ByungHo Park and John Ryan Murphy produced the go-ahead run. Rochester later tacked on five runs in the eighth. Field was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs and two RBI. Alan Busenitz followed Wilk with two scoreless innings before Drew Rucinski finished it off in the ninth. Zack Granite (2-for-5) had his eighth-straight multi-hit game. Mitch Garver started the game in left field, his first professional appearance in the outfield. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 7, Montgomery 4 Box Score Fernando Romero didn’t have his best stuff or command, but he was able to hold the Biscuits at bay. Romero walked five batters, but only surrendered three hits, limiting the damage to two runs over 5.2 innings. He tallied six strikeouts. Ryan Walker hit a go-ahead, bases-clearing triple in the top of the sixth. Nick Gordon was 2-for-5 with his 17th double of the season and drove in a run. Jonathan Rodriguez was 2-for-3 and drew a pair of walks. Both T.J. White and Dan Rohlfing had three hits on the evening. Montgomery scored four of about the flukiest runs you’ll ever see. The first two came on a chopper that should have been the third out of the first inning, but instead bounced off second base and into the outfield to go down as a two-run double. The last two came in the bottom of the ninth on a bases-loaded wild pitch that should have been a strikeout to end the game. Luke Bard and Mason Melotakis both recorded four strikeouts out of the bullpen. Bard pitched 2.1 innings. Melotakis technically only recorded three outs. Baseball math is funny sometimes. The win put the Lookouts in a three-way tie with Montgomery and Tennessee for the Southern League North division lead. MIRACLE MATTERS Tampa 2, Fort Myers 1 Box Score Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth, the Miracle made a comeback attempt, but it fell short. The inning started with back-to-back singles from Max Murphy and Alex Perez. A couple of strikeouts were sandwiched between Trey Vavra reaching on a fielding error. The Miracle’s lone run came in on a bases-loaded wild pitch before Rafael Valera flied out to right field to end the game. Starter David Fischer went 4.2 innings, limiting the Yankees to just one run despite walking five batters. Andrew Vasquez had two strikeouts over 1.1 IP in his second appearance with Fort Myers. It was a tough night for the Miracle bats, as they managed just five hits (all singles) and a walk while striking out 11 times. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 15, Burlington 5 Box Score What’s better than hitting for the cycle? Whatever you want to call what Jermaine Palacios did Friday night. Palacios was 5-for-6 with two homers and two doubles. I suppose he “fell” a triple short of the cycle, but I’m sure he’s happy having to settled for 13 total bases on the night. Heck, let’s call that hitting a Palacios! The Kernels shortstop scored five runs and drove in three. Travis Blankenhorn was 3-for-6 with a home run. Lewin Diaz, Mitchell Kranson and Ben Rortvedt also had three hits each. Brandon Lopez had two hits, including a triple, as did Aaron Whitefield, who stole his 14th base. Clark Beeker gave up four runs but managed to pitch six innings, extending his streak of pitching six or more to seven-straight starts. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Adam Wilk (6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Jermaine Palacios (5-for-6, 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 R, 3 RBI) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Syracuse, 6:05 pm CT, Yohan Pino (4.50 ERA, 0.93 WHIP) Chattanooga at Montgomery, 6:35 pm CT, Stephen Gonsalves (2.45 ERA, 0.82 WHIP) Fort Myers vs. Tampa, 5:05 pm CT, Lachlan Wells (4.42 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) Cedar Rapids vs. Burlington, 6:35 pm CT, Eduardo Del Rosario (5.30 ERA, 1.52 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games.

Twins 2, Seattle 1 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Gibson kept it simple, essentially ditching everything but his two-seamer and curveball. That’s especially of note since the curve is usually Gibby’s least-used pitch (13.3 percent). Image above via Baseball Savant Image above via Brooks Baseball We’ll see whether this becomes a new trend for Kyle or if he simply had a better feel for that pitch last night than others. His catcher provided the big offensive blast of the night. Here’s a look at the Castro homer from @MLBBarrelAlert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLBBarrelAlert/status/873014155716026368 Castro now has a 10-game hitting streak. One night after blowing the save, Brandon Kintzler was right back out there in the ninth again. He apparently heard the cries for more strikeouts, as he got Jarrod Dyson looking and Boog Powell swinging in a perfect inning. As much of a pitcher’s duel as it was, the difference of the game really came down to defense. The game-winning run scored on a pair of Robinson Cano errors on the same play in the fifth inning. Byron Buxton made an outstanding catch with two runners on to end the fifth. Taylor Rogers made a nifty snag on a comebacker to start a double play. Postgame With Kintzler Postgame With Molitor Today Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.44 ERA) at San Francisco (Matt Moore, 5.22 ERA); 9:15 p.m. CT Erv has looked a bit more human of late, posting a 4.28 ERA over his last six starts. Moore is having a rough go of it in his first full season with the Giants. What’s especially strange is lefties are killing the southpaw, hitting .385/.444/.785 (1.229 OPS) off him so far in 2017. AL Central Standings Twins 30-26 Cleveland 29-28 (-1.5) Detroit 29-30 (-2.5) Kansas City 26-33 (-5.5) Chicago 25-33 (-6.0) Be sure to also check out the Minor League Report.

Seattle 6, Twins 5 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Top 5 Plays (via Baseball-Reference) Kintzler opened the ninth by quickly getting two groundouts on seven total pitches. Ben Gamel hit a two-out single into center field on a 2-0 count to extend the game. Kintzler then fell behind Zunino 2-0, as well. Image via Yahoo Sports The Star Tribune’s Phil Miller shared this interesting tidbit regarding Zunino’s two-homer game: https://twitter.com/MillerStrib/status/872707782402744325 Adalberto Mejia had a 5-2 lead as he entered the fifth inning, in which he gave up a run. In seven starts, Mejia has now factored into the decision in just two of them (1-1). Tyler Duffey gave up another run in the sixth, but managed to record seven outs. Taylor Rogers got the last two outs of the eighth, and was very impressive, topping out at 96 mph. Image via Brooks Baseball The only Twins hitters who failed to reach base were Robbie Grossman and Byron Buxton, and the team went 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Miguel Sano hit his 15th home run of the season, a three-run blast (see below). The only other extra-base hit was an Ehire Adrianza double. Image via ESPN’s Home Run Tracker The Twins made a number of roster moves prior to Wednesday’s game. Hector Santiago was placed on the 10-day DL and Jorge Polanco on the bereavement list. Kennys Vargas was recalled from Rochester and Chris Heston was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers. To make room on the 40 man, Nick Tepesch was released. Highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3OhJIEvubI Postgame With Molitor Today Kyle Gibson (7.23 ERA) vs. Christian Bergman (4.36 ERA) In three starts since returning from Rochester, Gibson has a 5.63 ERA. Current Mariners have hit .232./.286/.348 off Gibby, with their only home run coming from Jarrod Dyson, who has gone deep just nine times in 1,740 career PAs. The only Twins hitter who has faced Bergman, a former Rockies pitcher, is Adrianza (1-for-3). AL Central Standings 1. Twins 29-26 2. Cleveland 29-28 (-1.0) 3. Detroit 29-29 (-1.5) 4. Kansas City 26-32 (-4.5) 5. Chicago 25-32 (-5.0) Make sure to check out the Minor League Report from Wednesday’s action. And here's a link to last night's Twins Daily game thread.

Seattle 12, Twins 3 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Top 5 Plays (via Baseball-Reference) Santiago did not look right from the get-go. Below is a visual on how he fared against the first batter of the game (via Yahoo), the location is obviously an issue, but note the velocity, as well. Hector struggled to eclipse 90 mph early on, though he did appear to loosen up as the game progressed. (Data below from BrooksBaseball.net) Brian Dozier hit his ninth home run of the season on a prototypical Dozier homer. The pitch was left up and he pulled it right down the left field line. The Twins are now 4-4 when Dozier homers (he had a two-homer game), but oddly enough they're 12-2 when Miguel Sano goes deep. (data below from Yahoo) The new guys out in the bullpen had ugly games. Randy Rosario gave up five earned runs in 0.1 IP. His ERA is 30.86. Alex Wimmers managed to get five outs, but he also gave up a pair of runs. Byron Buxton was 2-for-4 with a double and saw 19 pitches. Highlights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDGRFN0OTqo Postgame With Molitor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIM8NLGZ0-w Today Adalberto Mejia (3.95 ERA) vs. Yovani Gallardo (6.24 ERA) Mejia has been solid in three starts since returning from Rochester, lowering his ERA from 5.79 to 3.95 in the process. Current Twins have hit .359/.450/.516 off Gallardo over a combined 81 PAs. AL Central Standings 1. Twins 29-25 2. Cleveland 29-27 (-1.0) 3. Detroit 28-29 (-2.5) 4. Chicago 25-31 (-5.0) 5. Kansas City 25-32 (-5.5) Click here for the minor league report for Tuesday's games.

Transaction Alert The Red Wings added Ryan Pressly, reinstated Engelb Vielma from the temporary inactive list (paternity leave) and sent Nik Turley back to Chattanooga. Also, Rochester won't be needing to make room for Jason Wheeler, as he has been traded to the Dodgers. https://twitter.com/LaVelleNeal/status/870847189752332289 Award Announcement John Curtiss was named the Southern League Relief Pitcher of the Month for May. In eight games, 9.1 IP, Curtiss had a 0.00 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, gave up just four hits and struck out 12. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Norfolk 2 Box Score David Hurlbut gor off to a rocky start, giving up two runs in the first, but the Wings staff shut out the Tides from there on. The Rochester bats managed to string together a four-run third inning despite not recording an extra-base hit in that frame. Zack Granite led off the game with a triple, drew a walk in that big third inning and added a double in the fifth. He scored three runs on the night. Matt Hague and Tommy Field also had multi-hit games. Despite his early struggles, Hurlbut turned in a quality start. Over six innings he gave up six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out two. Drew Rucinski followed with clean innings in the seventh and eighth before Michael Tonkin pitched a perfect ninth inning. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Birmingham 2 Box Score Felix Jorge continued to roll, as he pitched into the seventh inning for the fourth-consecutive start. He also tied a season high with six strikeouts. Heading into the seventh frame, Jorge had a two-hit shutout in the works. After giving up a solo home run and a single, his night was done. Jake Reed was thrown right into the fire for his 2017 debut, and struggled to find the zone. He walked three-consecutive batters, causing the runner he inherited from Jorge to score, before finally recording the final out of the inning on a strikeout. I’d relay Reed's radar gun readings, but let’s just say the Birmingham gun was unreliable. https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/870826369562931201 With the game tied in the top of the eighth, Edgar Corcino hit a leadoff single and later came around to score on a Dan Gamache double. Corcino was the only Chattanooga batter to record a multi-hit game, bumping his average up to .301 on the year. Nick Gordon hit his 15th double of the season, putting him in a tie for the Southern League lead. Seth Stohs recently provided an update of his prospect rankings which had Gordon at the top spot. John Curtiss pitched a perfect ninth inning, picking up his 26th strikeout (over 18.2 IP) and 10th save of the season. All it took was 10 pitches, eight of which were strikes. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Bradenton 0 Box Score Daniel Kihle’s two-run homer was the difference maker in this pitcher’s duel. Dereck Rodriguez, Williams Ramirez and Alex Muren combined to shut out the Marauders. Rodriguez went six innings, gave up just three hits (all singles) and a walk while striking out six. You’d be hard pressed to find a pitcher in the Twins system who’s had a better year than Rodriguez. He lowered his ERA to 2.66 and his WHIP is at 1.07 for the season. He has nearly five times as many strikeouts (49) as walks (10) and has averaged a hair over six innings per start. Second baseman Alex Perez was 1-for-2, drew the Miracle’s only two walks of the game and scored on the Kihle homer. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Burlington 0 Box Score Domenick Carlini had his best start of the season, limiting the Bees to three hits and two walks over six innings while tallying two strikeouts. Patrick McGuff (0.1 IP), Max Cordy (1.2 IP) and Hector Lujan (1 IP) secured the shutout, giving Carlini his third win. Lujan also picked up his third save. The Kernels failed to record an extra-base hit in this one, but managed to string together some runs thanks in large part to Aaron Whitefield’s speed. The Aussie outfielder led off the third inning with a walk, went first-to-third on a Travis Blankenhorn single, then scored the first run of the game on an Ariel Montesino sac fly. In the fifth inning, Whitefield hit an RBI single, stole second base (his 12th of the season) and scored on a Blankenhorn sac fly. That’s right, he scored from second base on a sac fly. The win put Cedar Rapids up to 32-23 in what is shaping up to be a special first season under rookie manager Tommy Watkins. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher(s) of the Day – Felix Jorge (6.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K) & Dereck Rodriguez (6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Aaron Whitefield (1-for-2, BB, RBI, 2 R, SB) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Norfolk, 6:05 pm CT, Aaron Slegers (3.81 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) Chattanooga at Birmingham, 6:30 pm CT, TBD Fort Myers at Palm Beach, 4:30 pm CT, David Fischer (3.35 ERA, 1.33 WHIP) Cedar Rapids at Burlington, 6:30 pm CT, Clark Beeker (2.50 ERA, 0.99 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games.