On the Pond Daily (7/5): J.D. Williams and Mike Kvasnicka

On Friday, July 5th the major league club continued to stumble and dropped to 11 games under but the rest of the Twins system is in good shape. The organization was 4-3 on the day as Rochester’s win got them back to the 0.500 mark. That win leaves New Britain as the only affiliate currently under 0.500 and the Rock Cats, at 42-44, aren’t far off.

Dozier singles in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. (Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports)

Minnesota Twins (36-47): 4-0 loss to Toronto (42-44)

RHP Kevin Correia (6.0 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO) did his best to battle the Blue Jays but couldn’t keep runners off base. His only 1-2-3 inning came in the 5th and by that point Toronto had already built up their 4-run lead. Correia’s latest start pushed his season ERA up to 4.19 and dropped his ERA+ under 100 to 99. Near league average performance through 17 starts still makes him a relative bargain with a $4.5 million salary but Minnesota desperately needed a win yesterday and have now lost 9 of 11 and 6 in a row.

Rookie Ryan Pressly pitched a pair of clean, hitless innings and appears to have bounced back from a rough four game stretch at the end of June.

2B Brian Dozier and LF Oswaldo Arcia each went 2-4 but the lineup as a whole was unable to do much off Mark Buehrle. Dozier’s 10th double was the Twins only extra-base hit and they didn’t draw a single walk all game.

Rochester Red Wings (45-45): 1-0 win over Pawtucket (52-35) in 10 innings

Friday’s start marked the first time all season that RHP Liam Hendriks (6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO) didn’t give up at least two runs. Coupled with his previous start, which was his previous best, he’s given up 10 hits, 4 walks and 2 runs in his last 14.0 innings of work.

RHP Shairon Martis (3.0 IP, 1 H, o ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) and RHP Michael Tonkin (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) kept Pawtucket off the board after Hendriks was out of the game. Martis has had a rough year but Tonkin has been fantastic since joining the Red Wings. He’s now logged 13.2 IP with the Red Wings and has a 1.32 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 15-3 SO-to-BB.

CF Antoan Richardson‘s (1-4) triple was the only extra base hit of the day for Rochester. Chris Colabello (1-3, 2 BB, SO , SB) reached base three times and has a modest 5-game hitting streak underway. 2B James Beresford (2-4, SO) scored the only run and is hitting 0.407/.414/.444 in his last 10 games.

New Britain Rock Cats (42-44): 7-5 win over Portland (44-40)

LHP Pat Dean (6.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 HR, BB, 0 SO) was back to getting roughed up after his complete game shutout on the 29th.

The top of New Britain’s order did most of the damage as SS Danny Santana (2-4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB), 2B Eddie Rosario (3-5, 2 R, 2B, RBI) and LF Nate Hanson (2-4, 2 RBI) drove in five of the team’s seven runs.

Fort Myers Miracle (53-27): 7-3 win over Bradenton (31-51)

RHP Kyle Davies (5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO)

CF Byron Buxton (2-5, R, 2 RBI) hit his first Florida State League home run but Mike Kvasnicka did him one better. The team’s right fielder went 2-3 with two runs, two home runs, four RBI, a walk and a strikeout.

2B Levi Michael (2-4, R, SB) is showing signs of life of late. He’s 5-12 in his last three and is hitting 0.290/.333/.387 in his last ten.

Cedar Rapids Kernels (52-31): 8-7 loss to Wisconsin (35-45)

LHP Brett Lee (5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) turned in another solid start but this one was sabotaged by his bullpen that gave up five runs in 3.1 innings.

CF Max Kepler (4-5, 2B, 2 RBI, SO) had the second four-hit day of his young career.

LF J.D. Williams (3-5, 3 R, 3B, HR, 3 RBI, BB, SO) hit his 6th triple and 7th home run of the season and is now hitting a robust 0.515/.590/.909 in his last ten games.

Elizabethton Twins (11-3): 5-2 win over Bluefield (10-4) in 13 innings

RHP Josh Burris (4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) made his third start for Elizabethton and for the third time he allowed only one earned run.

The E-Twins offense went 16-52 in the came as five players had multi-hit games. CF Zack Granite (3-7, R, RBI, SO), 3B Bryan Haar (3-6, R, 3B, RBI, BB) and 2B Tanner Vavra (3-4, R, BB, SB) led the way with three hits each.

GCL Twins (6-6): game against GCL Red Sox (6-4) not yet completed

DSL Twins (14-15): 9-8 loss to the DSL Padres (11-18)

RHP Jose Ramirez (3.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO)

LF Frank Encarnacion (3-3, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, SB)

Transactions:

Fort Myers activated RHP Kyle Daviesfrom the 7-day disabled list

Fort Myers placed LHP Taylor Rogers on the 7-day disabled list

New Britain activated RHP D.J. Baxendale from the 7-day disabled list