Wednesday, April, 21st

Twins Talk
Twins 5 (10-4) Indians 1

• The Twins got back on the right track after losing Sunday to the Royals as they try to win their franchise best fifth straight series to start the season with a 5-1 victory over the Indians thanks to good Kevin Slowey pitching and taking advantage of some errors by Cleveland. Kevin Slowey got the start and had by far his best outing of the 2010 season. Slowey went eight innings and gave up a run on only five hits along with a season high nine strikeouts without a walk. With the one run allowed Slowey lowered his era on the year to 2.45 and improved his record to 2-1. Kevin Slowey in his last start had problems getting on the same page with Joe Mauer, but had no problems in this start as he showed the pitcher we got used to seeing the last couple years in that he will hit his spots and miss more bats than you would think out of a pitcher who does not have overpowering stuff. Brian Duensing then came on and pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure the win for the Twins and put them a win away from winning another series.

• To be all honest, Justin Masterson did a good job of handcuffing the Twins hitters as the Twins only had six hits. However, as the Twins have shown early is they are a very opportunistic offensive club as they took advantage of two Cleveland errors to score five runs and take five walks so that Masterson was out of there after only four innings. Those kind of performances used to be only out of New York and Boston, but the Twins have many professional hitters that will work the count and get the opposing pitchers pitch count up to get to the other teams bullpen early. Justin Morneau broke out of a 2-9 series against Kansas City in which he left a ton of guys on base. In this one Morneau went 2-3 with a walk along with his second double and his ninth rbi of the year. The only time he got out is when he hit a towering flyball to right field that I thought was going to be gone and it just did not carry at all. After the two hits Morneau is hitting .340 on the year. Denard Span and Orlando Hudson are doing their jobs at the top of the lineup as they got on base four out of their seven plate appearances. On the year Span's OBP is .385 and Hudson's is .381 which are both very good as they are getting on base and setting the table for guys like Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, and Kubel. If they keep that rate up they are going to score a ton of runs. Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young each contributed a base hit in the winning cause for the Twins.

• Tonight, the Twins continue their series with the Indians as the Twins send Francisco Liriano to the mound as he tries to build off his excellent last start. He will be opposed by fellow lefty David Huff for the Indians who is 1-1 with a very good 1.80 era in two starts. Gametime is at 7:10 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 4 (5-7) Pawtucket 3

• The Red Wings finished their series with Pawtucket on a high note as they got the victory last night 4-3 thanks to a Trevor Plouffe rbi single that scored Matt Tolbert with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. The hit capped off a comeback for the Red Wings who were trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Ryan Mullins got the start for the Wings and went five innings and gave up three runs on five hits along with three walks and three strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 6.75. Tim Lahey then came on and pitched two scoreless innings on only one hit along with three strikeouts to lower his era to 4.35. Rob Delaney then came on and pitched a scoreless 8th inning to pick up the victory and move his record to 2-1. With the scoreless inning it moved Delaney's era down to 2.84. Anthony Slama pitched a scoreless ninth although he did leave the bases loaded to pick up his fourth save of the year and bring his era down to 2.25 in the early season for the Red Wings.

• The Red Wings did not do a whole lot against Pawtucket pitching in this one, but did just enough as they scored four runs on six hits along with taking an unbelievable nine walks to pick up the victory. Jacque Jones led the offense going 1-2 at the plate with his third double before having to be pulled for a pinch runner in the fifth inning because of a leg injury so here is hoping it is nothing series and Jacque is back in the lineup very soon. With the one hit Jones is now hitting a very good .308. Brock Peterson went 1-3 at the plate with his fourth and fifth rbi's of the year. Plouffe, Brian Dinkelman, Dustin Martin, and Matt Tolbert added base hits in the winning cause for the Red Wings while Danny Valencia added his first stolen base of the year for the Wings.

• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a series with Buffalo as Jeff Manship is scheduled to pitch for Rochester. Gametime is at 5:35 at Frontier Field in Rochester.

New Britain Business

Richmond 4 New Britain 1 (3-9)

• The Rockcats continued their streak of having good starting pitching, but not scoring enough runs as they suffered their second consecutive loss to Richmond as the Cats wasted a good outing by starter Tyler Robertson in a 4-1 loss to Richmond. Tyler Robertson got the start for New Britain and was very good throwing five shutout innings, but received a no decision. Robertson went five innings and did not give up a run on only four hits along with a walk and four strikeouts to lower his era to 3.09. Spencer Steedly then came on and gave up two runs on one hit along with two walks and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 1.80 and drop his record to 1-1. Henry Arias then came on and gave up two runs on two hits along with two walks in an inning of work to raise his era to 4.50. Joe Testa finished the game for Rockcat pitchers going the last inning and not giving up a run on two hits along with a strikeout to lower his era to 13.50.

• The Rockcats could not get anything going offensively in this one as Richmond pitchers held New Britain to only one run on only four hits along with drawing one walk. The Rockcats were led offensively by backup catcher Alexander Soto who went 2-2 at the plate along with a walk to bring his average up to .222. Soto has not gotten much of a chance to play so far so hopefully this gets him some more playing time because he is a talented guy and all he needs is a chance. Ben Revere and Toby Gardenhire were the only other guys that were able to get into the hitting column as they each had one hit in the losing cause for the Rockcats.

• Tonight, the Rockcats finish off their series with Richmond and hope to avoid the three game sweep as Michael Mccardell gets the start for New Britain. Gametime is at 6:05pm in Richmond.

Fort Myers Minutes

Port Charlotte 7 Fort Myers 6 (3-8) 10 innings

• The Miracle suffered another heartbreaking loss last night to Charlotte as they blew a 6-4 lead going into the eighth inning as they would allow Charlotte to tie the game in the eighth and beat the Miracle in the tenth. Michael Tarsi got the start for the Miracle and honestly was not very good in this one as he gave up four runs on four hits along with four walks and a strikeout in only four innings of work to raise his era on the year to 5.14. Shooter Hunt then came on and had his most encouraging outing of the year for the Miracle. Hunt went three innings and did not give up a run on no hits and most importantly did not walk a batter along with six strikeouts to lower his era to 8.53. The outing by Hunt was the most noteworthy thing in the Twins organization probably all season so far as Shooter Hunt has the talent to possibly be a number one pitcher at the big league level if he can fix his wildness. I am really pulling for him as he is a really nice guy and he can change the future of the Twins if he can get the wildness under control and just throw the ball as he has that good of stuff. Michael Allen then came on and gave up three runs on three hits along with three walks and three strikeouts to raise his era to 8.44 along with picking up his first loss of the year and moving his record to 0-1. Billy Bulluck then came on and got the last two outs in the tenth inning and now his era is at 4.05.

• Offensively, the Miracle did an alright job as they were able to put up six runs which is more than they usually do on nine hits along with taking seven walks. Offensively, the Miracle were led by Chris Cates who went 2-5 at the plate with his first double of the year and drove in his first, second, and third runs of the year to bring his average up to .226. Yangervis Solarte went 2-4 at the plate with his third double of the year to bring his average up to .371. Ramon Santana went 2-5 at the plate with his third rbi to bring his average up to .225. Drew Thompson, Paul Kelly, and Evan Bigley each contributed a hit in the losing cause for Fort Myers.

• Tonight, the Miracle finish off their series with Port Charlotte as Bobby Lanigan is scheduled to pitch for Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6:05 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Quad Cities 5 Beloit 3 (7-6)

• The Snappers had their season high four game winning streak come to an end last night as they lost a tough 5-3 contest to Quad Cites in Beloit. Miguel Munoz got the start for Beloit and went only 3.2 innings and gave up two runs on five hits along with an unacceptable five walks and five strikeouts to raise his era to 1.98. Kane Holbrooks then came on and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings on only one hit along with a walk and three strikeouts. Dakota Watts then came in and was not very good. Watts pitched one inning and gave up three runs on three hits along with two walks and a strikeout to pick up the loss and drop his record to 0-1. With the three runs allowed it increased Watts era on the year to still a very good 2.79. Ben Tootle then came in and pitched a shutout inning of relief on one hit along with a strikeout and no walks as walks have been his undoing this year. With the no runs allowed Tootle's era is down to 11.57. Matt Tone then pitched the ninth inning and pitched a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout to lower his era to 4.50.

• Offensively, the Snappers continued their struggles offensively as they were only able to score two runs on four hits. The Snappers were led by Aaron Hicks who is 5-10 in his last three games after starting the season out 1-31. In this one Hicks went 2-4 with his second stolen base of the year to bring his average up to .146 on the year. That sounds bad but just a few days ago he was at .032 so it is a step in the right direction. Brian Dozier went 1-4 at the plate with his third rbi of the year. Steve Liddle went 1-4 with his fifth rbi of the year. Angel Morales went 0-2 with his sixth rbi of the year for the Snappers in a losing cause for Beloit.

• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Quad Cities as Brad Stillings is scheduled to pitch for Beloit. Gametime is at 6:30 in Beloit.