Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints
The Twins and all four of their affiliates played on Saturday Lots of good content for you below.
CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 35-30 (2nd in AL Central, 7.0 games behind Detroit.)
St. Paul Saints: 30-30 (6th place in the International League West Division, 7.0 games behind Nashville.)
Wichita Wind Surge: 29-28 (tied 2nd in Texas League North, 2.0 games behind Springfield.)
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 32-24 (2nd place in the Midwest League’s West Division, 0.5 games behind Quad Cities.)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 26-31 (6th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 7.5 games behind Lakeland.)
FCL Twins: 15-10 (1st in FCL South, 0.5 games ahead of the FCL Rays.
DSL Twins: 1-4
TRANSACTIONS
The Twins optioned Travis Adams to St. Paul after Sunday afternoon’s game. With Zebby Matthews on the IL, it would make sense for the Twins to call up a starting pitcher for Tuesday.
The Saints put infielder Ryan Fitzgerald on the 7-Day IL with an ankle sprain.
CJ Culpepper had his rehab assignment moved to Fort Myers (to the Mighty Mussels).
SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 2, Scranton Wilkes Barre 7
Box Score
It was a rough first inning for Randy Dobnak and the Saints. He gave up four runs, all in the top of the first inning. In three innings, he gave up three hits, walked three, and struck out two batters.
Jarret Whorff was first out of the bullpen. He gave up an unearned run on one hit over his two innings. Ryan Jensen gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the sixth inning. Jacob Bosiokovic struck out two in a scoreless inning. Cody Laweryson made his first appearance with the Saints since the 2023 season (when he spent the full season there). He worked two scoreless innings.
The Saints avoided being shutout with two runs in the ninth inning. Edouard Julien led off the inning with a home run, his second with the Saints. Anthony Prato followed with a double. He scored on a triple by Jeferson Morales.
The Saints had seven hits in the game. Julien was 4-for-4. Morales was 1-for-2 and walked twice.
WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 6
Box Score
The Wind Surge took an early lead, and in the fourth inning, they were ahead 4-0. But the Naturals kept the game close, slowly worked their way into the game.
In the first inning, Gabriel Gonzalez and Aaron Sabato walked. With two outs, Kala’i Rosario lined a triple that drove in both runners.
The Surge added on in the top of the second inning when Ben Ross launched his fourth homer of the season to make it 3-0.
Wichita took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth when Andrew Cossetti hit his fifth homer of the season.
Lefty Aaron Rozek was very good again on Sunday. He gave up a fourth-inning run, but that’s it. Over five innings, he gave up three hits, walked three and struck out three batters.
John Klein came in to start the sixth inning. He gave up two runs in the seventh inning on one hit. He had three walks and two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. With a runner on, John Stankiewicz walked two batters but ended the eighth inning without any further damage.
With just a 4-3 lead, the Surge got back on the scoreboard in the seventh inning. With two outs, Kyler Fedko was hit by a pitch. Aaron Sabato followed with a double that scored Fedko and gave the Surge a 5-3 lead.
In the eighth inning, Sabato hit a single to left, but Fedko was thrown out at home. The insurance run might have been good.
Jaylen Nowlin started the ninth. He hit the first batter, but got a flyout for the first out. Gavin Cross hit a single, but another fly out put the Surge just one out from the win. Joel Cesar was brought in to replace Nowlin. On a 3-1 pitch, Dustin Dickerson hit a three-run, walk-off homer to give the Naturals a 6-5 win.
Fedko was 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Sabato was 2-for-4 with a walk and his 10th double. Kala’i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a walk and his second triple of the season. Jake Rucker was also 2-for-4.
KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 7
Box Score
The Rattlers jumped ahead. Cedar Rapids scored four of the final five innings, but it wasn’t enough to catch up. The Kernels lost for the third straight time.
Tanner Hall started for Cedar Rapids and gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks. Wilker Reyes came on and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk over 1 1/3 innings. Paulshawn Pasqualotto allowed two inherited runners to score, but over his 1 2/3 he was charged with no additional runs on two hits and a walk. He struck out three batters. Kade Bragg struck out one in a perfect eighth.
The Kernels were unable to score in the first four innings. Rayne Doncon hit his third homer in the season to cut the deficit to 4-1.
In the sixth, Kaelen Culepper led off with a double. He moved up a base on a passed ball and scored on a Kyle DeBarge sacrifice fly.
With two on and two out in the top of the seventh, Culpepper tripled to drive in Caden Kendle and Misael Urbina. It cut the deficit to 7-4.
Brandon Winokur led off the eighth with his 15th double of the season. Danny Andrade singled him to third. Winokur scored on a double play. However, 7-5 was as close as they could get.
Culpepper went 3-for-5 with his ninth double and second triple.
MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 0, Palm Beach 4
Box Score
This game was quite the pitcher’s duel. No runs scored until Palm Beach scored two runs in the top of the seventh. They added two more runs in the ninth, and that was it.
C.J. Culpepper continued his rehab. He needed just 43 pitches to work through three scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit, walked one and had four strikeouts. Michael Carpenter came in. He threw three zeroes on the board. In all, he went 3 2/3 innings and gave up one run on two hits and two walks. He struck out three batters. Jakob Hall came on and gave up two hits. He allowed an inherited runner to score and one of his own. Josh Bortka struck out three in the eighth inning. Zander Sechrist gave up two runs on three hits and a walk.
The Mussels had just two hits. Ricardo Pena hit his second double.
PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day
Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, 2B(9), 3B(2), R
Pitcher of the Day
Aaron Rozek (Wichita): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 80 pitches, 48 strikes (60.0%)
PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Sunday.
#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – rehab in FM, 0-for-3, BB, K (DHd)
#6 – Kaelen Culpepper (C R (played SS)
#9 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, BB, 2B(15), R, K (played CF)
#11 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, BB, SF, RBI, K (DHd)
#14 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) – 0-for-3, 2 BB, R (played LF)
#15 – C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) – rehab in FM; 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. 43 pitches, 24 strikes (55.8%)
#17 – Tanner Schobel (St. Paul) – 0-for-4, 3 K (played 3B)
#19 – Carson McCusker (St. Paul) – 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (DHd)
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) – 0-for-4, BB (catcher)
MONDAY PITCHING PROBABLES
FCL Twins @ FCL Braves (11:00 AM CT) – TBD
DSL Giants Orange @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CT) – TBD
Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Sunday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!