Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (image of Christian MacLeod)

Like their big-league counterparts, the Twins minor leaguers really struggled on Saturday once runners were on base. They got lots of runners on base, but were unable to do anything once they were there. 

RESULTS
St. Paul 3, Gwinnett 1
Wichita 2, Tulsa 3
Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities (Postponed)
Fort Myers 3, Bradenton 5  
Game 1: FCL Twins 4, FCL Red Sox 1
Game 2: FCL Twins 6, FCL Red Sox 5
DSL Twins 6, DSL 5 (8 innings)

 

TRANSACTIONS
Travis Adams was officially promoted to the Twins and made his MLB debut. The corresponding move was optioning Kody Funderburk.

Jonah Bride was activated by the Saints and played in his first game with the Twins Triple-A squad. 

The organization signed lefty Yordi Jose a couple of days ago. He was assigned to the DSL Twins. 

STARTING PITCHERS
Randy Dobnak (St. Paul): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 K.
Christian MacLeod (Wichita): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
(Cedar Rapids): Game Postponed
(Dasan Hill (Fort Myers): 3 2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
Game 1: Anthony Narvaez (FCL Twins): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K.
Game 2: Hendry Chivilli (FCL Twins) – 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Rainer Marin (DSL Twins) – 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

HOME RUNS
St. Paul: Edouard Julien (7)
FCL: Daiber De Los Santos (4)
FCL: Rafael Escalante (1)  

MULTI-HIT GAMES 
St. Paul:
Carson McCusker – 3-for-4, 2-2B(16), RBI
Fort Myers:
Angel Del Rosario – 2-for-4, 3B(3), R, 2 RBI,
FCL Game 1:
Ramiro Dominguez – 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, K, 2-SB(11)
FCL Game 2:
Luis Fragoza – 2-for-4, R, RBI, SB(11)
Daiber De Los Santos – 2-for-4, HR(4), 2 R, 2 RBI
Rafael Escalante – 2-for-3, HR(1), R, 2 RBI
Yovanny Duran (DSL) – 2-for-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI, R
Gerardo Cardona (DSL) – 2-for-2, BB, 2B(1), 2 RBI 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Carson McCusker (St. Paul):  3-for-4, 2-2B(16), RBI
It’s been a struggle for McCusker since he returned from his two weeks with the big-league club, but he had a strong game on Saturday. Before Saturday’s three-hit game, he was 17-for-105 (.162) with three doubles and six home runs over 29 games. Hopefully the three-hit game, including a couple of doubles and a couple of hard-hit balls, will get him going again.

Pitcher of the Day 
Christian MacLeod (Wichita): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 73 pitches, 44 strikes (60.3%)
The southpaw from Mississippi State was really good again on Saturday, but he’s really pitched well throughout the season for Wichita. His season began a couple of weeks late. After two outings with four scoreless innings for Fort Myers, he tossed six scoreless innings over his first two outings and six innings for Wichita. In fact, he gave up zero earned runs in seven of his first eight starts. He has four more starts with one earned run allowed.

It’s no surprise that MacLeod has a nice 2.06 ERA over his 10 starts and 35 innings. In addition, he started with four scoreless innings in Fort Myers (rehab). He also made one start for the Saints. He gave up only an unearned run on one hit over 3 2/3 innings. He continues to work back from Tommy John surgery and coupled with the Twins strategy with several pitchers of having them throw three to four innings or 50-70 starts. It’s a strategy. It’s part of the plan. That said, five innings on Saturday was his season high. 

 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday.

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – 1-for-4, BB, R, K (played CF)
#3 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) – Rehab in Fort Myers, 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 K.
#6 – Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) – 3 2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 79 pitches, 51 strikes (64.6%)
#13 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) – 1-for-3, 2 HBP, (played LF)
#15 – Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) – Game 1: 1-for-3, 2B(8), Game 2: 1-for-4, R, 2 K, SB(14) (DHd both games)
#20 – Payton Eeles (St. Paul) – 0-for-5, K

CURRENT W-L Records

Minnesota Twins: 45-46 (tied for 2nd in AL Central, 11.5 games behind Detroit.)
St. Paul Saints: 38-46
Wichita Wind Surge: 44-36
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 45-34
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 32-46
FCL Twins: 28-14
DSL Twins: 8-17 

SUNDAY PITCHING PROBABLES
Tampa Bay @ Minnesota (1:10 PM CT) – RHP Joe Ryan (8-4, 2.75 ERA)
St. Paul @ Gwinnett (12:05 PM CT) – Connor Gillispie (3-0, 4.91 ERA, first start in Twins organization.)
Tulsa @ Wichita (1:05 PM CT) – RHP John Klein (6-4, 3.00 ERA)   
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM) – Ty Langenberg (1-4, 5.96 ERA)
Bradenton @ Fort Myers (11:05 AM) – RHP Jason Doktorczyk (2-4, 4.83 ERA)

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!

And just for fun, here is a benches-clearing brawl in a minor-league game recently.  

 

SAINTS SENTINEL
The Saints went just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Saturday. They left 11 runners on base. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM 
Kyler Fedko had an RBI on Saturday, giving him 51 on the season. Fedko leads the Texas League leader in RBI and Home Runs (17). His 21 stolen bases rank fifth in the league. He is tied for the league lead in Total Bases (128). His 28 Extra Base Hits ranks second, behind teammate Kala’i Rosario‘s 29. 

Ben Ross extended his on-base streak to 14 games. Gabriel Gonzalez is at 13 games. 

Jaylin Nowlen has given up zero earned runs over his past six appearances and 11 innings. 

On Saturday, the Surge went just 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Brandon Winokur leads the Midwest League in At-Bats (298) and Plate Appearances (338). 

Kyle DeBarge has now been caught three times, but his 45 stolen bases are 10 more than anyone else in the Midwest League. He is also Top 10 in the league in Runs and RBI. 

It’s been a really terrific redemption season for Danny De Andrade. He was 19 when the Kernels season started in 2024. Less than two months into the season, he was injured and never returned. He hasn’t played shortstop, but he has been really strong defensively at second base and third base. He also is tied for third in the Midwest League in Extra Base Hits with 30. He is top 10 in the league with 17 doubles and is tied for the league lead with six triples. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Like the Saints and Wind Surge,, the Mussels struggled with driving in runs. They went 1-for-10 with Runners in Scoring Position and left nine on base. 

Please provide feedback on this minor league report format, particularly compared to the previously-used one. I have my thoughts, but your thoughts are more important. 

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