Since the calendar turned to August, wins have been hard to find for the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. Gabriel Gonzalez had a walkoff for the Saints on Saturday night. On Sunday at Target Field, the Twins topped the Royals in 11 innings when Luke Keaschall walked it off with an opposite field home run. 

TRANSACTIONS
OF Misael Urbina was activated from the IL by Cedar Rapids. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 3, Iowa 2
Box Score
Clutch hits from Gabriel Gonzalez and James Outman, and strong bullpen work sealed the Saints win.

Through three innings, there was no score. Jordan Wicks started for the I-Cubs, and Mick Abel threw for the Saints. 

Abel was not as sharp as he was in his Saints debut last weekend when he tossed five scoreless innings. He had to work in this one. However, he still limited damage. In his 4 1/3 innings, he gave up just one run on four hits and four walks. He had five strikeouts. As you would expect, he needed to throw a lot of pitches. He threw 83 pitches, and just 47 were strikes. The run he gave up in the fourth inning came on a wild pitch.

The Saints got on the board and took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Gabriel Gonzalez led off the inning by crushing his first Triple-A home run. 

DaShawn Keirsey Jr followed with a well-placed bunt single down the third base line. A throwing error by the pitcher sent the ball down the right field line allowing Kiersey to reach third base. Aaron Sabato hit a high fly ball to the warning track in left field. Keirsey scored easily. 

Aaron Rozek entered the game with one out and a runner on first base. He got two fielders choice ground balls to end that inning. Jonathan Long led off the top of the sixth inning with his 17th home run of the year to tie the game at 2-2. The southpaw went three innings and gave up just one run on three hits. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Kyler Fedko singled to left field and then stole second. James Outman drove him in with a double to give the Saints a 3-2 lead, one they held onto the rest of the game. 

Trent Davis came on with one out in the eighth inning. He got the next five outs, one on a strikeout, to earn his first save. 

Keirsey Jr went 2-for-3. Outman’s double was his second since joining the Saints.  

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 3, NW Arkansas 11
Box Score
Surge fall despite early offense from Cossetti and Jenkins as the Naturals pulled away in the middle innings.

The Wind Surge were able to face a rehabbing big leaguer on Sunday afternoon. Royals starter Michael Lorenzen tossed 5 2/3 innings. 

The Wind Surge actually did alright against him. In the second inning, Rubel Cespedes scored on an Andrew Cossetti double to the wall. 

Walker Jenkins led off the third inning with a single to center. He went to second on a wild pitch. Lorenzen tried to pick him off at second but threw it into center. Jenkins raced all the way home to score. Later in the inning, Nate Baez, Cespedes and Cossetti hit back-to-back singles which tied the game at 3-3. 

However, NW Arkansas scored three runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, plus single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. 

Sam Armstrong started and was charged with six runs on five hits over four innings. He also hit three batters. 

Jacob Wosinski gave up three runs on two hits and two walks in the fifth inning. Jaylen Nowlin pitched the sixth inning and gave up one run on three walks and one hit. Next up was Kyle Bischoff who gave up one run on two hits and a walk in the seventh inning. Kade Bragg and Gabriel Yanez each threw a scoreless inning in relief. 

Andrew Cossetti went 2-for-3 with a walk, his 12th double, and two RBI. Walker Jenkins was 2-for-5. Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-3 with a walk. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 2, West Michigan 4
Box Score
Despite homers from Winokur and Houghton, Kernels Swept in West Michigan.

It was a series that the Kernels will want to just forget. Not only did the Kernels lose all six games of the series, they were outscored 49-12. They have lost eight of nine games since the calendar turned to August. Maybe a little home cooking will help. The Kernels will be hosting Quad Cities in a seven-game series. They will be playing a doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon, making up for a rain out a month ago. 

Sunday’s game was competitive. However, West Michigan manufactured two runs in the bottom of the eighth and held on in the ninth to complete the sweep. 

Needing pitchers to eat some innings, the Kernels couldn’t have asked for much more from their first two arms. Jacob Kisting started and gave up just one hit over the first three innings. He had three strikeouts. He was efficient and used just 33 pitches. Matt Gabbert came on and gave up two runs on three hits over four innings. He walked none and struck out three. Again, he was very efficient, needing just 38 innings to complete four innings. Unfortunately, a two-run Brett Callahan homer in the fifth inning proved big in a low-scoring game. 

The Kernels actually took the first lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Maddux Houghton hit his third Kernels home run to make it 1-0. 

The Whitecaps went ahead in the bottom of the inning on the Callahan homer. However, in the top of the sixth inning, Brandon Winokur crushed a solo home run to tie the game at 2-2.

Lefty Brennan Oxford entered the game to start the bottom of the eighth. He gave up a single and a walk to start the inning. Seth Stephenson laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, and it paid off when Jack Penney singled to drive in both runs and give the Whitecaps a 4-2 lead. 

The Kernels managed just five hits. No singles. Brandon Winokur led the way. He went 2-for-4 and hit his 19th double and 15th home run. Maddux Houghton hit his third Kernels homer. Jefferson Valladares hit his first double with the Kernels. Misael Urbina returned from the IL and knocked his 12th double. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers, Clearwater (Canceled)
With the second half reaching the final four or five weeks of the season, it becomes much more difficult to make up games. Therefore, a Sunday afternoon rain out is going to mean a cancellation rather than a postponement.

The Mussels lost all five games to Clearwater this week, and they have lost six in a row.   

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2B(19), HR(15), R, RBI

Pitcher of the Day 
Jacob Kisting (Cedar Rapids): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 33 pitches, 21 strikes (63.6%) 

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

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – 2-for-5, R (played CF)
#2 – Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) – 3-for-5, 2B(6), GW-`HR(2), R, 2 RBI (played 2B) 

#5 – Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-4, K (catcher)
#7 – Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) – 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches, 41 strikes (63.1%)
#8 – Mick Abel (St. Paul) – 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R,4 BB, 5 K, 83 pitches, 47 strikes (56.6%)  
#11 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) – 1-for-2, BB, HR(1), R, RBI (played RF)
#14 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-4, 2B(19), HR(15), R, RBI (played 3B)
#20 – Hendry Mendez (Wichita) – 0-for-3, K (played LF)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Monday:
Minnesota @ NY Yankees (6:05 PM CT) – RHP Zebby Matthews (3-3, 5.17 ERA)
DSL Twins @ DSL Phillies (10:00 AM CT) – TBD (Monday)
Tuesday:
St. Paul @ Omaha (6:35 PM CT) – TBD
Wichita @ Springfield (7:05 PM CT) – TBD
Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CT) – TBD
Fort Myers @ Daytona (5:35 PM CT) – TBD

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 56-61
St. Paul Saints: 51-61
Wichita Wind Surge: 57-51
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-48
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 45-60
FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs)
DSL Twins: 20-28

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

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