On Thursday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins completed their sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. It was their fifth straight win. Since starting the season 5-11, the Twins have gone 13-9.  They have also won nine of their last 13 games. 

Long seasons are filled with good stretches and bad stretches for teams, but also for players. That’s, in many cases, even more the case in the minor leagues when development is the #1 key. 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 18-20
St. Paul Saints: 18-14
Wichita Wind Surge: 16-14
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 19-10
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-15
FCL Twins: 3-1

TRANSACTIONS
No surprise, but unfortunately, Austin Martin has been placed on the injured list with a hamstring strain. 

LHP Kade Bragg has been promoted to High-A Cedar Rapids from Fort Myers. 

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 13, Buffalo 10
Box Score
If you’re a fan of baseball games with big offense, you’ll like this game. The two teams combined for 23 runs and 26 hits.  

If you’re a fan of consistent scoring throughout the game, rather than one big inning and nothing else, you’ll like this game. Neither team scored more than three runs in an inning. Of the 18 half-innings played in the nine-inning game, just five times were no runs scored. 

All nine Saints hitters had at least one hit. They combined for four homers. The team also walked seven times. 

Oh, and hey, if you enjoy watching a baseball game in which one of your favorite team’s recently-optioned players with a great mustache ends the game with a walk-off home run. Then this is your game. 

Cory Lewis started and went the first four innings. He gave up one run in three of them yet really limited the damage. He gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks. 

Richard Lovelady threw the fifth inning. He gave up three unearned runs on one hit and one walk. The hit just happened to be a three-run homer by Ali Sanchez. That came in the fifth inning. Michael Tonkin was next, continuing his rehab stint. He was charged with two runs on three hits and two walks and a hit batter. He struck out two batters. Brady Feigl came on and calmed things down. He got five straight batters out, three of them on strikeouts. He got the Saints through the eighth inning. 

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the third, the Saints tied the game. With one out, Will Holland walked and stole second base, but he was able to jog home when Ryan Fitzgerald hit his fourth home run of the season. 

Let’s jump ahead. When the Saints came to the plate for the bottom of the fifth inning, they were behind 6-2. Jair Camargo led off with a double. After one out, Holland hit his second homer since his return from the IL to make it 6-4. 

With two outs, Mickey Gasper and Edouard Julien had back-to-back walks. Carson McCusker singled to left to drive in Gasper with the third run of the inning. In the top of the sixth, the Bisons scored two more runs and held an 8-5 lead. 

In the bottom of the sixth, a Jeferson Morales walk, a Camargo single, and Anthony Prato was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a pitching change, Will Holland hit a sacrifice fly to make it 8-6. Unfortunately, that was all they were able to muster. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Carson McCusker hit his eighth double. With two outs, Morales singles to drive him in and make it 8-7. 

Because of the Feigl outing, Buffalo went scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings. Still down a run going to the bottom of the eighth, the Bisons brought in Eric Pardinho. Prato led off with a single. With one out, Fitzgerald singled. However, with two outs, Julien singled off of the pitcher to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Prato to tie the game for the first time since the third inning. McCusker walked. Then Mike Ford singled to drive in Fitzgerald and Julien and the Saints went to the ninth inning with a 10-8 lead. 

Lefty Anthony Misiewicz came on. With one out, he issued a walk and then gave up a home run to Riley Tirotta which again tied the game, this time at 10-10. He got the final two batters out. 

So, we jump to the bottom of the ninth with the score tied. Camargo led off with a single. After a ground out, Holland walked. A new pitcher was brought in, and he got a strikeout for the second out. 

Flashback – One night earlier, Josh Walker was brought in in the ninth inning. Mike Ford hit a three-run homer off of him. 

Flash to Current – That brought to the plate Mickey Gasper, recently optioned, fantastically-mustached, and to this point in the game, hitless. He took a hack at the first pitch, an 83 mph curveball that hung right over the middle of the plate and hit it 104.5 mph at a 21 degree angle, and it landed 402 feet from home plate, over the outfield fencing, to give the Saints a 13-10, walk off win. 

Carson McCusker went 3-for-3 with his eighth double, two walks and a stolen base. He extended his career-high, 11-game hitting streak. Through 30 games, he is hitting .352/.424/.686 (1.110) with eight doubles, nine homers and 29 RBI. 

Jair Camargo went 3-for-5 with a double. Fitzgerald was 2-for-6 with his fourth homer. Holland went 1-for-2, walked twice, and hit his second homer. 

What a fun game. If you were there, what did you see? Granted, I am not a fan of 3 1/2 hour games, but this one had game-action throughout. Was it as exciting, maybe even more exciting being there? 

The Buffalo Bisons are the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 3
Box Score
The Wind Surge started fast and held on through the end for a nice, 5-3 win. It ended their five-game losing streak, which was their longest of the season. A good way to start a game on the road is to score in the top of the first inning. With one out, Ricardo Olivar hit his fourth home run of the season to give the team a 1-0 lead.  

Rubel Cespedes singled to right which was followed by a Kala’i Rosario walk. The runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Ben Ross flew out to center, deep enough to score Cespedes. Kyler Fedko walked before Aaron Sabato crushed a double to score two runs and make it 4-0. It also caused a pitching change. 

That’s where the score remained until the top of the fifth. With two outs, Fedko walked again and stole second base. Sabato hit an infield single down the third base line. Andrew Cossetti drove in Fedko with a double. 

Connor Prielipp made the start and was really good. In his 46 pitches, he was able to complete four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out a career-high six batters. Of his 46 pitches, 37 of them were strikes. That’s an impressive 80.4% It is rare to see a pitcher throw 80% strikes. I’m sure we haven’t seen it yet this season… (Note – you’ll want to see how many strikes one of the Mighty Mussels pitchers threw on Thursday.) 

Angel Macuare pitched a perfect fifth inning. Mike Paredes gave up two runs on one hit. In 2 1/3 innings, he walked three, hit one and had three strikeouts. He gets the Win to improve to 4-0. Michael Martinez came on with the bases loaded and got out of the jam in the eighth inning. He started the ninth and gave up one run. He got one out, but Joel Cesar came on with the bases loaded. He allowed one of the runs to score but got the final two outs for his third save of the season.  

Sabato led the way, going 3-for-4 with his fifth double and two RBI. Cespedes went 2-for-4 with a walk and stole his first base of the year. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 14
Box Score
If you just see the final score, it sure tells a different story than what most of the game was. At the 7th inning stretch, Beloit led 2-1. 

Tanner Hall started and gave up two unearned runs on three hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts.   

The Kernels actually scored first. In the top of the fifth inning, Nate Baez singles and Jose Salas was hit by a pitch. Caden Kendle knocked his sixth double to drive in Baez with the game’s first run. However, despite having runners on second and third and nobody out, the Kernels were unable to add another run. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Sky Carp took the lead with two runs. 

Spencer Bengard came on with a runner on third base and two outs in the fifth and got the final out of the inning on a strikeout. In the sixth inning, he fielded a ground ball, got another soft groundout, and had a strikeout. Then came the National Anthem. 

When Bengard returned to the mound to start the bottom of the seventh, he uncharacteristically issued two walks before Eric Rataczak singled to load the bases. Bengard responded with a strikeout for the first out. Another walk tied the game at 2-2. But Bengard got another strikeout. However, Ryan Ignoffo hit a 2-0 pitch for a long, grand slam that turned a 3-1 game into a 7-1 game. Gabriel Yanez came in and gave up a double, followed by a triple and the score was 8-1 after seven innings. 

Impressively, the Kernels didn’t just give up. In the top of the eighth, Kyle DeBarge led off with a walk. Brandon Winokur and Gabriel Gonzalez singled to load the bases. Danny De Andrade knocked his 11th double to drive in two runs. Gonzalez scored on a sacrifice fly. De Andrade scored on a single that made it 8-5, a game again. 

But, the Sky Carp gave up six more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the game away.

The Kernels had seven hits and three walks. Kyle DeBarge was 0-for-1 but walked three times and was hit by a pitch. He also stole his 17th base without yet being caught this season. Gonzalez went 2-for-5. Baez was 2-for-4. 

While I rarely write about players on the opponent’s team (unless there is a connection to the Twins), Beloit catcher Ryan Ignoffo hitting two grand slams in the game seems noteworthy.       

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 4, Dunedin 5
Box Score
On Tuesday, the Mussels mounted a comeback and walked it off in extra innings. On Thursday, the teams battled to another close game. Were the Mussels able to complete the comeback again?  

Jakob Hall made the start. He gave up three runs in the first inning and one in the second inning. In four innings, he was charged with four runs on four hits. He walked two, hit two, and struck out three batters. 

Hall finished with two scoreless innings. Lefty Zander Secrist kept that streak going. He put four zeroes on the board which gave the Mussels the opportunity to play some catch up. He coaxed three groundouts in the fifth inning. In the sixth, a Peyton Powell single was surrounded by two groundouts and a strikeout. The seventh inning was another 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout, a groundout and a line out. In the eighth inning, he got an infield pop up and two outs. In other words, he was completely dominant for four innings. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Poncho Ruiz led off with a single. He advanced to second when Fort Myers’ own, Peyton Carr, was hit by a pitch. Maddux Houghton doubles to drive in the team’s first run of the game. Yohander Martinez followed with a two-run single to left field to cut the deficit to 4-3. 

With one out in the fifth frame, Jay Thomason singled to the opposite field. He stole second and reached base on a throwing error. That tied the score at four, and that’s where it remained until the ninth inning. 

Secrist, who won a College World Series title at Tennessee less than a year ago, returned to the mound to start the top of the ninth inning. Unfortunately, Jean Joseph attacked the southpaw’s first pitch, a 70-mph slider, presumably meant to get a quick strike. Joseph hit it, 98.4 mph, and he flew 362 feet, landing in the left field berm at Hammond Stadium. Likely disappointed, he responded with two strikeouts and a ground out to first base to end the half-inning. 

Did the Mussels have another comeback in them? No. A flyout and two strikeouts and the Mussels dropped this game 5-4. 

Remember above my comments about how often we see a pitcher throw 80% strikes in a game? Connor Prielipp threw 37 strikes among his 46 pitches (80.4%). Secrist threw one more pitch than Prielipp (47) and one more strike (38). That’s 80.9%). I’m going to guess we won’t see 80% hit by a pitcher again this year. If I bet on stuff, I’d bet that there won’t be another day with two at 80+%!

Ruiz had two of the team’s seven hits. Houghton’s double was the lone extra base hit. 

The Dunedin Blue Jays are the Low-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. 

COMPLEX CHRONICLES
FCL Twins 10, FCL Orioles 1
Box Score
The Twins swept the Orioles at Target Field, and down in Ft. Myers, the FCL Twins squad topped the FCL Orioles handily. 

The Twins got ahead early. They scored one run in each of the first two innings. In the first inning, he was Merphy Hernandez who led off with a walk. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored on a ground out. In the second frame, Ricardo Pena led off with a walk. After a fly out, Isaac Pena walked. A force-out advanced Ricardo Pena to third base with two outs. After scoring the first run, Merphy Hernandez drove in the second, with Pena scoring on a line drive to center. 

The score remained 2-0 Twins through four innings. Melvin Rodriguez gave up two hits and a walk over four scoreless innings on the mound. He had two strikeouts. 

In the top of the fifth inning, the Twins bats exploded with an eight-run inning. Ramior Dominguez led off with a walk, and Merphy was hit by a pitch. A ground out by Eduardo Beltre grounded out but both runners advanced and scored on a triple off the bat of Ariel Castro. Bryan Acuna singled him with the inning’s third run. Luis Fragoza ws hit by a pitch. After a second out, Yandro Hernandez loaded the bases thanks to a fielding error. Acuna scored on a passed ball. Isaac Pena walked to reload the bases. After a pitching change, a wild pitch scored Fragoza. Ramiro Domingez walks to again load the bases. Merphy Hernandez walked. Eduardo Beltre walked, and finally Ariel Castro walked before the inning ended. 

RBI walks are not all that uncommon in the Complex Leagues. Neither are wild pitches, passed balls and errors. Again, these are part of the reason that we have to be really careful about how much the stats matter this far down the organizational ladder. 

Santiago Rojas and Liam Rocha each threw a scoreless inning. Aiberson Ventura gave up one run on two hits in the bottom of the seventh. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 3-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(8), R, RBI
Aaron Sabato (Wichita): 3-for-4, 2B(5), 2 RBI

Pitcher of the Day 
Zander Secrist (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. 47 pitches, 38 strikes (80.9%)
Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 46 pitches, 37 strikes (80.4%)

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

#5 – Connor Prielipp (Wichita) – 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 46 pitches, 37 strikes (80.4%). 
#6 – Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-5, K.  (SS)
#9 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, HBP, R, K (CF)
#11 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-1, 3 BB, HBP, R, K, SB(17). (DH)
#12 – Cory Lewis (St. Paul) – 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. 79 pitches, 44 strikes (55.7%)
#14 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-5, R, K
#16 – Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) – 0-for-4, BB, RBI, 2 K
#17 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-5, 2 K
#18 – Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) – 0-for-4, BB, K.
#19 – Carson McCusker (St. Paul) – 3-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(8), R, RBI, SB(2), CS(2).
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) – 1-for-4, BB, HR(4), R, RBI, K. 

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Buffalo @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (4:05 PM CST) – LHP Aaron Rozek (1-1, 3.86 ERA).
Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (0-0, 0.66 ERA).
Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Michael Carpenter (0-0, 3.00 ERA).
FCL Twins @ FCL Red Sox (11:00 AM CST) – TBD 

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’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!

View Twins Top Prospects