What a wild day across the Twins minor league system on Sunday. The Wind Surge stole the show with an outrageous ten-run ninth inning, capped by a huge game from newly acquired Hendry Mendez. In St. Paul, Mick Abel impressed in his organizational debut with five dominant frames.
Plenty of action, standout performances, and prospect notes to dig into from top to bottom. Let’s get into it.
TRANSACTIONS
Cedar Rapids placed infielder Rayne Doncon on the temporary inactive list.
SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 1, Toledo 4
Box Score
The Saints got on the scoreboard in the top of the first when Payton Eeles singled to drive in Luke Keaschall, who led off the game with a double. Unfortunately, that was the Saints’ lone run of the game.
Mick Abel made his first start since joining the Twins organization from the Phillies in the Jhoan Duran trade. He threw five scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. He walked two and struck out seven batters.
Christian MacLeod went the final three innings and was charged with four runs on five hits and two walks.
Randy Dobnak made the start for the Mudhens. He gave up one run on three hits and three walks over four innings.
WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 16, Amarillo 8
Box Score
Ryan Gallagher came to the Twins from the Cubs in the Willi Castro trade last week. On Sunday, he made his debut in the Twins organization. While the results were not great, it’s clear he’s got some good stuff, especially a good breaking ball. He put a zero on the board in the first inning and then gave up either one or two runs in each of the next four innings. In five innings, he gave up six runs on seven hits (including three home runs) and a walk.
The top of the second inning began with a walk by Walker Jenkins. With one out, Ricardo Olivar homered for the second straight day. Hendry Mendez (who also joined the Twins from the Phillies, only in the Harrison Bader trade) followed immediately with his first Surge homer.
In the fourth inning, Jenkins drove in the team’s fourth run with a sacrifice fly.
Rubel Cespedes led off the top of the sixth inning with a laser line drive driven beyond the wall in right field to lessen the Surge deficit to 6-5.
In the top of the seventh, Mendez singled to drive in Kala’i Rosario and tie the game at six.
Ricky Castro came on and put two zeroes on the board while the Surge tried to come back. However, he gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth to turn a tied game into an 8-6 deficit heading to the ninth inning, but the Wind Surge had the top of their lineup coming to the plate.
Kaelen Culpepper lined a single to left. Jenkins followed with a single to right. Rosario walked to load the bases. The first pitch to Olivar went to the backstop, allowing Culpepper to score and runners to advance to second and third with nobody out. Olivar walked to re-load the bases.
Then the new guy came through again. Mendez dropped a single to center which drove in Jenkins and Rosario and gave the Surge a 9-8 lead.
Andrew Cossetti added an insurance run with an RBI groundout, making it 10-8. Then Cespedes laced a double to extend the lead to 11-8. Jorel Ortega followed with an RBI single, pushing the score to 12-8. Culpepper ripped a triple into the gap, scoring Ortega to make it 13-8. Jenkins kept the line moving with another RBI single to push it to 14-8. And finally, Rosario capped the explosion with a towering two-run homer to left field, making it 16-8.
In all, Wichita put up ten runs in a remarkable ninth inning rally, turning an 8-6 deficit into a commanding 16-8 advantage.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kade Bragg took the mound and shut the door, sealing the improbable comeback victory for the Wind Surge.
KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Lansing 6
Box Score
Jay Thomason got the Kernels on the board first with a home run in the second inning.
Chase Chaney started with four scoreless innings. He went five innings and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. He had eight strikeouts.
Matt Mikulski came in and gave up four runs (three earned) on two hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Ivran Romero got the final five outs without allowing another base runner.
Down 2-1 going to the sixth inning, Brandon Winokur drove in Maddux Houghton to tie the game at 2-2.
The Lugnuts scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Kernels responded with two in the top of the seventh. Caden Kendle singled, and Jaime Ferrer followed with a two-run homer.
Down two, Eduardo Tait (also acquired from the Phillies in the Duran trade) doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Danny De Andrade, but the Kernels were unable to complete the comeback.
Ferrer was 2-for-4 with his fourth home run. Kendle went 2-for-4. Kyle Hess and Tait each hit a double.
MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 1, Dunedin 7 (11 innings)
Box Score
The final score may not show it, but this was a fantastic pitchers duel. A six-run top of the 11th inning gave the Jays an “easy” win after all.
The Mussels went with a bullpen game. Sam Rochard, fresh up from the FCL, made the start. He gave up one run on four hits and two walks over three innings. He had three strikeouts. Will Armbruester came on and gave up just one hit over the next 2-1/3 innings. Anthony Narvaez gave up one hit in 1 -1/3 innings. Lefty Zander Sechrist got all seven batters out that he faced. Julio Bonilla pitched a scoreless 10th.
Tyler Stasiowski started the 11th inning. He was charged with four runs (three earned) on one hit and two walks. Jakob Hall came in with the bases loaded and allowed all three runners to score. Plus, he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in the inning.
The lone Mussels run came in the seventh inning when Luis Hernandez singled to drive in Bryan Acuna. Hernandez, a non-drafted catcher last month, went 1-for-2 with two walks. Acuna went 2-for-4. Dameury Pena was 2-for-5. Acuna went 2-for-4. Khadim Diaw continued his rehab and added a double.
PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day
Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 3-for-5, HR(1), 2 R, 4 RBI
Pitcher of the Day
Mick Abel (St. Paul): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 66 pitches, 43 strikes (65.2%)
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-4, BB, HR(5), 3 R, 2 RBI, K (played CF)
#2 – Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) – rehab SP: 1-for-4, 2B(1), R (DHd)
#3 – Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) – 3-for-6, 3B, 2 R, RBI (played 3B)
#4 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) – IL
#5 – Connor Prielipp (Wichita) – DNP
#6 – Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) – DNP
#7 – Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) – Injured List
#8 – Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) – 1-for-4, 2 K (played RF)
#9 – Marco Raya (St. Paul) – DNP
#10 – Marek Houston (Fort Myers) – 1-for-5, 2 K (DHd)
#11 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, RBI, K (Played 3B)
#12 – Andrew Morris (St. Paul) – Injured List
#13 – Riley Quick (FCL Twins) – DNP
#14 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, BB, K, (played SS)
#15 – C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) – DNP
#16 – Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) – DNP
#17 – Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) – rehab FM: 1-for-3, 2B(1), 2 K (played CF)
#18 – Quentin Young (FCL Twins) – DNP
#19 – Eduardo Beltre (Fort Myers) – 0-for-4, BB, 2 K (played LF and CF)
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) – 1-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI (DHd)
MONDAY PITCHING PROBABLES
DSL Twins @ DSL Miami (10:00 AM CT) – TBD
CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 52-59
St. Paul Saints: 47-59
Wichita Wind Surge: 54-48
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-42
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 45-55
FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs)
DSL Twins: 17-27
Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!
Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins’ top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!