Twins 10 Athletics 5
- The Twins snapped a 3 game losing streak last night with a very nice 10-5 victory over the Athletics last night. Scott Baker got the start for the Twins last night and put on his 2nd consecutive quality start and his 3rd in 4 starts. In his last 4 starts Baker has went 3-1 with a very good 3.72 era in those starts. Baker went 8 plus innings last night giving up 3 runs on 4 hits along with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. Baker took a shutout into the 9th inning on only 2 hits, but just ran out of gas as he let the first 3 guys reach base in the 9th before leaving the game. That withstanding Baker pitched a great game when the Twins really needed it because after losing 3 in a row the Twins really needed a win and Baker kept the A's offense down giving the Twins offense time to come back. As good as Baker was on the mound the bullpen was equally as bad as they almost blew this one. Jesse Crain saw his struggles continue as he came on for Baker and did not get an out and gave up 2 runs on 1 hit along with a walk to raise his era to a very bad 7.79 on the year. I really don't know the problem with Crain as he has been really bad this year after being good in years past. Right now all you can do is keep running him out there and hope that he will start making better pitches because for the Twins to succeed the Twins need Crain to be a big part of it and right now he is not doing his part. Jose Mijeras then came on and was awful again as he faced 3 batters and walked 2 of them and struck out the other. Mijares has to quit walking people or he is no good for the Twins. He has all the talent in the world, but if he keeps walking people he will buy himself a trip to Rochester. He reminds me so much of JC Romero as he also has tons of talent that can't put it together. Hopefully, Mijeras can figure it out before we ship him somewhere else because Mijeras has too much talent to struggle like this. Joe Nathan then came into a terrible situation with the bases loaded and only 1 out and the tying run on deck. What did he do just what he always does and that is blow people away. Nathan struck out both batters he faced to pick up his 12th save of the year for the Twins. Joe Nathan is worth every penny he gets paid because games like this could easily have slipped away and games like this is the reason the Twins made sure to lock him up.
- The Twins finally woke up at the plate last night as they put 10 runs on the board along with 16 hits. Just about everyone pitched into the game with Joe Crede the only starter that played the whole game and didn't get a hit. Justin Morneau led the attack as he went 4-5 with his 16th homerun of the year which is 3rd most in the American League. Morneau also drove in his 53rd and 54th runs of the year. With the 2 hits Morneau raised his average to a very good .339 on the season. Jason Kubel also contributed his 8th homerun of the year a 3 run shot that brought his rbi total up to 34 on the year. Morneau and Kubel both had been struggling with the bat in Seattle and the beginning of the Oakland series. In the first 4 games of the roadtrip they had combined to go 1-26 in those 4 games. That really says it all why the Twins have been struggling as of late because Morneau and Kubel are arguably 2 of the top 3 hitters on the team and when they do that bad its not surprising they went 1-3 in those games. Joe Mauer also went 2-4 to raise his average to an awesome .413 on the year. Brendan Harris also went 3-4 to continue his hot streak as Harris is hitting .342 in his last 10 games to get his average up to .290 on the year. It sounds like even when Nick Punto comes back Harris is going to stay at short with Punto moving to 2nd. Harris is too good of a hitter for him not to be in there just about every day. Delmon Young also contributed 2 hits and 3 rbi's to bring his rbi total up to 17 on the year. Hopefully, that is the start of things for Young because the Twins really need for Young to step it up and be the hitter we all know he can be. Carlos Gomez, Matt Tolbert, and Michael Cuddyer each contributed 1 hit apiece in the winning cause.
- Tonight, the Twins continue their series with the A's as Francisco Liriano tries to build off his last start and will be faced by A's starter Dallas Braden.
Rochester Wrap
Rochester 9 Syracuse 8 10 innings
- The Red Wings pulled out their 2nd straight extra inning game last night as the Red Wings defeated Syracuse 9-8 in 10 innings. Jason Pridie sent the Red Wing fans home happy for the second consecutive night as his rbi double in the bottom of the 10th gave the Wings a come from behind 9-8 victory. The Wings came back from an unbelievable 7-1 deficit to pull within 6 games of first place Scranton. Matt Macri had an unbelievable game in this one going 4-5 with his 5th homerun and 3 rbi's to bring his total up to 19 on the season. He added his 10th and 11th doubles of the year. Hopefully, that is the beginning of a comeback for Matt Macri as he is only hitting .209 on the year. Dustin Martin bust out with 3 hits in the game to bring his average up to .260 on the year. Martin was doing really good and then went into a bad slump, but appears to have it going once again. Trevor Plouffe and David Winfree each had 2 hits in the game as Plouffe improved his average to .239 and Winfree improved his average to .284. Steve Tolleson, Jose Morales, Brock Peterson, and Drew Butera each added a hit in the winning cause.
- The pitching for the Wings was not as good as the hitting in this one as they gave up 8 runs on 12 hits, but still found a way to win the game. Jason Jones got the start in this one and in a word he was bad. Jones went 5 innings and gave up 7 runs on 10 hits along with 2 walks to bring his era up to 6.98 on the season. Jones really has not gotten the job done, but it is too soon for the Twins to give up on a pitcher with his background. In my opinion the Twins have 2 choices for Jones and that is one send him to the bullpen or two send him back to New Britain for more seasoning. I think for right now the best thing to do is for the Wings to put Jones in the bullpen and try Reid Santos back in the rotation after they receive Anthony Swarzak back from the Twins. Armando Gabino then came on and did much better going 3 innings and only giving up a run on 2 hits along with 2 walks to bring his era down to 3.16 on the year. Gabino has been very consistant in the bullpen for the Wings and it has been very unexpected. Juan Morillo had a really good outing pitching the last 2 innings to pick up his 3rd win of the year along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 3.22. When Morillo has games like this it shows the promise that he can be when he throws strikes so hopefully this will continue.
- The Wings have today off before they begin a series with Toledo in Toledo Thursday night.
New Britain Business
New Britain 7 Altoona 2
- The Rockcats got their 2nd straight victory with a very easy 7-2 victory over Altoona last night. The story of the game was the pitching of Jeff Manship as he picked up his 5th win of the year to go along with his 4 losses. Manship went 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs on 5 hits along with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts to lower his era down to 4.70 on the season. Jeff Manship has really turned it on as of late with 4 straight quality starts for the Rockcats. In those 4 starts Manship has an era of 2.24 in those starts. Manship got off to a rough start on the year, but right now he is the ace of the New Britain staff and is doing exactly what was expected out of him. It would not surprise me if he continues this if he may not get a promotion to Rochester sometime this summer. Yohan Pino then came on and pitched a clean inning in relief to lower his era down to 5.12 on the season. Closer Anthony Slama then came on in the 9th even though it was not a save situation. Slama needed a pressure less inning to get his confidence back. Slama did a good job pitching a clean ninth along with his 48th strikeout of the year. With the good inning Slama lowered his era to 2.81 on the year. A few more good outings by Slama will likely lead Slama to getting a promotion to Rochester sometime in the next month.
- The Rockcats continued their strong hitting as of late as they put on 7 runs on 11 hits. Whit Robbins continued his strong first half as he went 3-3 in this one with his 15th double of the year. Robbins is now hitting .348 on the year after the 3 hit game. Wilson Ramos, Juan Portes, and Yancarlos Ortiz each had 2 hits in this one. Ramos added his 9th double and 15th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .298. Portes had 2 hits to bring his average on the season to a very good .316 and Ortiz brought his average up to .205 on the season. Ramos has really turned it on since his return from the disabled list by hitting a very good .400 in the 9 games since his return from the disabled list.
- This morning the Rockcats continue their series with Altoona as Jay Rainville gets the start for New Britain.
Fort Myers Minutes
Fort Myers 4 Lakeland 0
Fort Myers 5 Lakeland 4
- The Miracle put their magic number to clinch the first half division title within striking distance as they swept a doubleheader from Lakeland by the scores of 4-0 and 5-4. The Miracle's magic number to clinch the first half title is down to 3 which means 3 wins or 2 wins and 1 Charlotte loss and the Miracle are division champs and return to the playoffs for the 2nd straight year. In the first game Twins pitcher Glen Perkins made his final rehab start and after pitching not so good in his first game by giving up 5 runs he was much better in this start. Perkins went 7 shutout innings on only 2 hits for the Miracle along with a walk and 4 strikeouts. Perkins will rejoin the Twins this weekend and pitch Tuesday against Pittsburgh. In the 2nd game Steve Hirschfeld got the start as he tries to gain arm strength as he tries to take Carlos Gutierrez' spot in the rotation with the Miracle. In this one Hirschfeld went 2.1 innings and gave up 3 runs and 4 hits along with 2 walks and 1 strikeout to bring his era up to 1.99. Santos Arias then came on and pitched 1.2 innings and gave up a run on 2 hits along with a walk to bring his era up to 2.67. Spencer Steedley then came on and pitched a shutout inning to lower his era to 0.65. Kyle Waldrop pitched 2 innings to pick up his 3rd win of the year for the Miracle. Waldrop has really improved as the season has gone on and that makes sense since he missed all of last year due to injuries.
- The Miracle continued their struggles offensively, but are being saved by the good pitching staff. In the first game the Miracle only got 6 hits in the game and were led by Mark Dolenc and Danny Lehman who each had 2 hits. Dolenc brought his average up to .277 and Lehman brought his average up to .300 on the year. Evan Bigley hit his first homerun in a Miracle uniform in the game and drove in his 9th run of the year. Nick Romero also added a hit in the game. In the second game Steve Singelton and Evan Bigley led the attack as they each had 2 hits. Singelton added 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 22 on the season. Hopefully, this is the start of a comeback by Singelton who has really struggled with the bat this season which is a surprise because he is too good of a hitter for that. Bigley added his 3rd double and his 10th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .289. Ben Revere added his 7th double of the year to bring his average up to a very good .322 on the year. Chris Parmalee added his 6th homerun and added his 29th and 30th rbi's on the year.
- Tonight, the Miracle continue their march to a division championship as they finish their series with Lakeland. Deolis Guerra is the scheduled starter for the Miracle.
Beloit Beat
Wisconsin 3 Beloit 1
- The Snappers had their 2 game winning streak come to an end last night after a tough 3-1 loss to Wisconsin. Brad Tippett got the start for the Snappers and was very good once again. In this start he went 6 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits along with a walk and a very good 9 strikeouts. With the 1 run Tippett lowered his era to a very good 3.16. Bruce Pugh then came on and pitched 1 inning of relief and gave up a run on 2 hits along with a walk and a strikeout. After giving up the run Pugh's era is 4.28 on the year. Steve Blevins then came on and pitched a clean 8th inning along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 4.30 on the season.
- The Snappers continued their recent streak of leaving many runners on base as they got 11 hits, but were only able to push across 1 run. The Snappers left 7 runners on base in the game. James Beresford and Jon Waltenbury led the attack with 3 hits apiece in this one. Beresford continued his very solid first half by bring his average up to a very good .304. Waltenbury brought his average up to .259. Juan Richardson added 2 hits in this one to bring hsi average up to .278 on the year. Ozzie Lewis, Alex Soto, and Angel Morales added a hit in the losing cause.
- The Snappers begin a series with Burlington tonight as Michael Allen gets the start for Beloit.
It has been a busy couple of days for me so I haven't been able to get my prospect list going, but I will be bringing that list too you. Hopefully, tommorrow I will be getting back to it with Players 40-31 if not more so check it out.
