Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip for August 26th, 2017

Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, August 26th, 2017

Welcome to the August 26th edition of the Daily Dip, your daily piece of news and notes here on Puckett’s Pond. You’ll find the scores and a quick summary of every level of the Minnesota Twins organization and links to any information you need to know to follow the Minnesota Twins here every morning!

We’ll start with the news and notes portions and work our way through each level of the system!

News and Notes

RHP Cody Stashak promoted to Chattanooga
LHP Tyler Jay assigned to Fort Myers

Minnesota Twins 6, Toronto Blue Jays 1

The Twins offense tapped out plenty of hits, and while the Blue Jays offense did the same against Bartolo Colon, the speed of Byron Buxton and excellent defense from all the Twins allowed him to keep them at bay. Colon went 6 2/3 innings, allowing a run on 9 hits and a walk, with no strikeouts. John Curtiss made his debut for the Twins, throwing a perfect 9th inning and recording a strikeout.

Byron Buxton was among three Twins who had three hits, two of his coming via bunt singles, and he also stole a base. Joe Mauer had a double and two singles. Jorge Polanco had a double, two singles, a walk, and stole a base. Brian Dozier had a pair of singles, a walk, and a stolen base. Mitch Garver had a triple. Chris Gimenez had a double.

August 26th Probable Starter: Dillon Gee @ Toronto, 11:05AM CT

Buffalo Bisons 2, Rochester Red Wings 1 (11)

An extra-inning game went to Buffalo in the 11th on Friday as Rochester couldn’t capitalize on multiple opportunities to score. Stephen Gonsalves made the start and threw an excellent game, going 6 innings, allowing a run on 7 hits and a walk, striking out 6. Nik Turley and Michael Tonkin each threw two hitless innings of relief, with Turley walking one and striking out one and Tonkin punching out 3. Anthony Recker had a double and a single. Matt Hague and Engelb Vielma each had a single and a walk. Levi Michael had a home run. Niko Goodrum had a double.

August 26th Probable Starter: David Hurlbut vs. Buffalo, 5:05PM CT

Chattanooga Lookouts 3, Mississippi Braves 1

The Lookouts shut down the Braves on Friday night. Ryan Eades started a relief game, throwing 4 innings, allowing a run on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3. Cody Stashak and Alex Muren each threw two scoreless innings of relief, each allowing one hit, with Stashak striking out 5 and Muren striking out 2. T.J. White had a double, single, and a walk. Jonathan Rodriguez had a double, single, and was hit by pitch. Max Murphy had a double and a single. Brian Olson had a single and was hit by pitch.

August 26th Probable Starter: TBD @ Jackson, 6:05PM CT

Fort Myers Miracle 14, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2

Fort Myers put up two 6-run innings, in the first and in the fourth innings, to blow out the Stone Crabs. Brady Anderson opened the game with 3 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and no walks, striking out 4. Tyler Jay pitched a pair of scoreless rehab innings, allowing a hit, walking none, and striking out 3. While the Miracle pitching struck out 13 Charlotte hitters on the night, the big news was the lineup that knocked out 4 home runs among its 13 hits and 3 walks. Jaylin Davis had a pair of home runs and a single. Brent Rooker had a home run and two singles. Tanner English had a grand slam, a single, and a walk. Zander Wiel had a double and two singles.

August 26th Probable Starter: Lewis Thorpe vs. Charlotte, 5:05PM CT

Cedar Rapids Kernels 6, Quad Cities River Bandits 2

Different day, different team, different locale, but nearly the identical score to the day before as the Kernels took the win. Charlie Barnes made the start, going 4 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits and a walk, striking out 3. Logan Lombana had a pair of scoreless relief innings, allowing 2 hits and no walks, striking out 1. Caleb Hamilton had a double and two walks. Royce Lewis had a single, walk, was hit by pitch, and stole a base. Shane Carrier and Jordan Gore each had a pair of walks. Travis Blankenhorn and Lewin Diaz each had a home run and a walk. Shane Kennedy had a single and a walk.

August 26th Probable Starter: Tyler Wells @ Quad Cities, 6:35PM CT

Elizabethton Twins 12, Bristol Pirates 1

The Twins blew out the Pirates on Friday. Ryley Widell started the game and went 4 innings, allowing a run on 3 hits and 6 walks, striking out 6. Moises Gomez threw 5 innings of scoreless relief allowing 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Carson Crites had a home run and three singles. Akil Baddoo had a pair of singles and a pair of walks. Ariel Montesino had a home run, a double, and a single. Wander Javier had a pair of singles. Andrew Cosgrove had a pair of walks. Mark Contreras had a single, walk, hit by pitch, and stole a base. Jose Miranda had a home run.

August 26th Probable Starter: Brusdar Graterol @ Greeneville, 5:00PM CT

GCL Twins were rained out

August 26th Opponent: vs. GCL Red Sox, 9:00AM CT (game 1);
vs. GCL Red Sox (game 2)

DSL Twins 3, DSL Angels 2

The Twins opened their final series of the regular season with a victory over the Angels. Luis Gil threw two scoreless innings in the start, allowing just one hit and striking out 1. Samuel Vasquez was a pest on the basepaths, getting a single, a walk, and stealing three bases. Agustin Marte had a single and a walk.

August 25th O6ponent: @ DSL Angels, 9:30AM CT

Minor League Pitcher/Hitter Of The Day

Pitcher: Stephen Gonsalves, Rochester – 6 innings, 7 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Hitter: Jaylin Davis, Fort Myers – 3-5, 2 runs, 2 home runs, 3 RBI

Next: Players Weekend Nickname Stories

One Last Thing

Perhaps we’re just too spoiled as Twins fans, but that catch by Byron Buxton simply didn’t get the notice that you would think it would!

That play added to Buxton’s defensive runs saved total on the season, which now stands at 24. That is tied among all positions for second in baseball behind Mookie Betts, who has 28 in right field this season. He’s tied with the brilliant Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons, who has 24 as well.

Among his peers in center field, it’s really hard to compare Buxton to anyone with a straight face. The only knock on him compared to others is his arm, which is quality, but not the same strength as some and certainly not always accurate. Cincinnati’s Billy Hamilton has the best rated arm in Fangraphs defensive metrics among center fielders.

Buxton does lead all center fielders in another category, which is range rating. One of the things that is very difficult to rate defensively is the ability that a player has to simply read a ball instinctually and make a play look easy that should be hard. That’s where statcast data has been tremendous, and that has shown Buxton in an extremely positive light while also highlighting the incredible amount of balls that Byron can get to that no one else can because of his speed.

Byron does still make some errors for certain, but one service (I read this on Twitter, and no matter the searching I did could not track it down or reproduce it) found that Buxton made in the range of 70-75% of his errors on balls that would be a “four-star” defensive play on Statcast in terms of likelihood that an average player would be able to even make a play on the ball. In watching Andruw Jones do the same early in his career, Buxton will get there and soon will somehow be an even better defender than he is now…

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