Over the Mother’s Day weekend all four of the Twins full-season minor league affiliates were in action. The Twins flirted with their first winning streak of the season before losing Saturday evening’s 2-1 battle against our neighbors to the North, the Toronto Blue Jays. Twins minor league call-ups have been the story lately for the Twins with stellar pitching performances from both Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters who combined to throw 20.0 innings. Last week Diamond pitched 7.0 innings of shutout baseball before giving way to the Twins bullpen who were able to secure the W. Walters gave the Twins a quality start going 6.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs but the offense was unable to respond against Drew Hutchison and the Toronto bullpen, managing only 1 run when Hutchison walked Brian Dozier to force home a run. Dozier is 8-for-29 in his first week in Minnesota and Drew Butera has three hits in his four games of action since getting called up to join the Twins. Diamond pitched again on Mother’s day and pitched another 7 scoreless innings to bring his scoreless inning streak to 14 and although Jeff Burton tried to give the game away, Diamond is now 2-0 on the season with the Twins and has yet to surrender a run. But enough about the guys playing in the big leagues, let’s take a look Down on the Pond!
Studs: Ben Revere continues to have a hot bat, Revere was 4-for-12 over the weekend with no K’sand is 11-for-27 on the current 7 game road trip. His season average in AAA sits at .319 and his on base plus slugging is .674.
Liam Hendriks pitched 6.0 innings and gave up only 1 run in his no decision, and has given up only 2 runs in his 11.2 innings of work for the Red Wings this season.
Duds: Jeff Manship took his first loss of the season giving up 6 runs in 4.0 innings of work, and recording only a single strike-out.
Daryl Thompson gave up 7 runs in 3.2 innings of work on Saturday and was tagged with the loss to move his record to 1-4 on the season.
Casey Fien came in to mop up the 9th inning on Saturday and gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in a single inning of work and saw his ERA rise from 3.20 up to 4.79. Fien had given up only 7 runs in 19.2 innings of work prior to entering the game.
Joe Thurston went 0-for-7 over the weekend and has a slash line of .139/.267/.236 (BA/OBP/SLG) on the season and is now batting .038/.133/.154 in the month of May.
AA New Britain Rock Cats (22-14)
Friday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies – W 4-1
Saturday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies – W 8-4
Sunday: Rock Cats vs Reading Phillies – L 4-6
On Friday afternoon the Reading Phillies’ Trevor May took a no-hit bid into the top of the 7th before the Rock Cats’ bats came alive. The Cats would score one in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th. Wilkin Ramirez homered in the 8th to make it three games in a row with a HR. The Rock Cats’ own David Bromberg also had a nice evening on the mound pitching 6 innings and giving up no runs and striking out 7. Lester Oliveros came on to pitch 2 innings of perfect relief and picked up the win. Daniel Turpin came on for the ninth and gave up a run to spoil the shutout, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 1. On Saturday the Phillies took an early 1-0 lead off of B.J. Hermsen, but he settled down to pitch 7.0 innings and gave up only 2 runs, no walks to go with 3K’s. The Rock Cats got the bats out and scored in 5 different innings and Wilkin Ramirez went 3-for-4 and hit another HR to take his HR streak to 4 games which ties a Rock Cats record. Aaron Hicks went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3RBI. Blake Martin pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Louis Perdomo made things interesting in the 9th when he came in and surrendered 2 before securing the win for Hermsen, Rock Cats 8, Phillies 4. On Mother’s Day, with the series lead 2-1 on the Phillies, the Rock Cats were unable to get the W and had to settle for a series split. Andrew Albers gave up only 3 runs in his 6.0 innings of work, however; the Rock Cats were hitless until Nate Hudson broke up the no-no in the bottom of the 6th. The Rock Cats would score 4 runs on 4 hits, but Caleb Thielbar was unable to keep the Phillies at bay and gave up 3 runs in 1.1 innings of work. The Phillies would hold on for the W, Rock Cats 4, Phillies 6. The Rock Cats now sit a half-game back of the Phillies for the division lead.
Studs: David Bromberg, 6.0 innings, 0 runs, 7 K’s.
Lester Oliveros, 2.0 innings, no hits, no runs, 1 K.
Wilkin Ramirez, 4-for-8 over the weekend, with HR’s in 4 straight games and is now batting .388 on the season. Ramirez enjoyed a well earned day off on Sunday. Over the course of his last 10 games, Ramirez has a slash line of .419/.444/.884 with 9XBH.
Duds: Joe Benson was 0-for-9 this past weekend with 3 K’s. Benson is batting .095 (2-for-21) since his demotion to New Britain earlier this month.
Caleb Thielbar pitched 1.1 innings in relief and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He recorded no K’s. Tough outing for the usually reliable Thielbar who had pitched 6.1 scoreless innings of releif since being promoted from Fort Myers before his Mother’s day struggles.
A+ Fort Myers Miracle (15-21)
Friday: Miracle vs Dunedin Blue Jays – L 5-8
Saturday: Miracle vs Charlotte Stone Crabs – W 3-1
The Miracle had 2 games over the weekend as they continued their road trip. Friday afternoon’s game was a 8-5 loss for the Miracle at Dunedin, but they still managed to split the 4 game series. Marty Popham struggled early, giving up 4 runs in the second and finished the day giving up 6 runs on 7 hits and 3 BB’s in 5.2 innings. The Miracle offense came alive for 5 runs in the game (5th time this month w/ 5+ runs), including a 2-run HR by Josmil Pinto, but it was not enough to overcome the tough outing for Popham. Saturday the Miracle headed down to Charlotte and stole the series opener from the Stone Crabs 3-1. The Miracle managed only 3 runs, but a 2-run double by Daniel Rohlfing in the first inning was all the offense that Pat Dean and the Miracle bullpen would need. Dean (2-2, 3.23ERA) pitched 5.0 strong innings, giving up only 1 run to go with a walk and 2K’s.
Studs: Josmil Pinto was 4-for-8 with a HR, 2RBI and did not leave any runners in scoring position (RISP) and raised his BA 18 points and now has a slash of .263/.307/.404 (BA/OBP/SLG).
Pat Dean earned his second W of the season on 5 innings of 1 run baseball.
The Miracle bullpen had a strong weekend, giving up only 2 runs in 6.1 innings of work. Of the 5 pitchers who came in to relieve for the Miracle over the weekend, only Matthew Hauser gave up any runs. Jose Gonzales, Kyle Waldrop, Nelvin Fuentes, and Ricky Bowen gave up no runs and each pitched at least an inning in relief.
Duds: Levi Michael was 1-for-9 over the weekend with 3K’s and no BB’s. The Twins 2011 first round draft pick picked up his 7th error of the season and is batting .167 with 11K’s and only 4BB’s over his last 10 games.
Daniel Ortiz was also 1-for-9 over the weekend and is now sporting a slash of .195/.267/.195, woof!.
Low-A Beloit Snappers (22-15)
Friday: Snappers vs Peoria Chiefs – L 2-6
Saturday: Snappers vs Clinton Lumberkings – W 3-1
Sunday: Snappers vs Clinton Lumberkings – W 3-1
Friday afternoon the Snappers sent Jason Wheeler to the mound but he gave up 5 runs in the first inning and hopes of sweeping the Peoria Chiefs quickly went out the window. Wheeler would settle down and would give up only 1 more run in the next 4 innings but the Snapper bats were unable to overcome the early defeciet and Wheeler was tagged with his first loss of the season, Snappers 2, Chiefs 6. On Saturday the Snappers returned home to Beloit to take on the Clinton Lumberkings. In their April match-up vs the LumberKings in Iowa the Snappers split the series, 2-2. Matthew Summers (3-2) got the start for Beloit on Saturday and pitched 7 innings giving up only 1 run while striking out 5 to lower his ERA to 4.02 on the season. Tyler Grimes hit a 2 run blast in the 5th to put the Snappers up 2-0 and then Goncalves doubled home a run in the 6th and the Snappers went on to win 3-1 as A.J. Achter and Corey Williams each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. On Mother’s day Matthew Tomshaw made his mother proud by pitching 6.0 scoreless innings giving up only 3 hits while striking out 6. Miguel Sano blasted his 11th HR of the season, a 3-run HR to give the Snappers the lead. Michael Tonkin would come in and earn a 3.0 inning save giving up 1 run and scattering 4 hits to perserve the W for Thomshaw, Snappers 3, Lumberkings 1.
Studs: Jonathon Goncalves was 4-for-9 over the weekend w/ 2 BB and rasied his BA from .256 up to .273. Over the last 10 games Goncalves is .286/.366/.314.
Matthew Tomshaw scattered 3 hits in 6.0 innings giving up no runs, 1 BB and 6 K’s. Tomshaw earned his second W of the season, and his first as a starter.
The Snapper Bullpen scattered 7 hits over 8.2 innings of work and gave up only 1 run.
Duds: Jason Wheeler pitched 5.0 innings on Friday but gave up 6 runs off of 9 hits and a couple of walks including a 5 run first inning.
Beloit First Basemen combined to go 0-for-9 over the weekend. Adam Bryant was 0-for-3 on Friday and Sunday. Rory Rhodes was 0-for-2 on Saturday. Bryant did, however, manage 2 hits on Saturday as the DH.
Note: Miguel Sano was 1-for-6 over the weekend but did hit his 11th HR of the season, a 3-run HR in the third which were the only runs scored by Beloit on Sunday.
Summary: The Twins minor league affiliates finished the weekend with 5 wins and 6 losses and the cumulative record for the season now sits at 73-72. Check back later in the week for more minor league news and notes here Down on the Pond.
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