Friday Night Lights
Well, if nothing else, Jhonny
Peralta is making me look smart for taking a late-round flyer on him in a
couple of my fantasy baseball leagues. Fortunately, he’s having a tremendous
season. Unfortunately, he is a large factor in the Tigers’ dominance of the
Twins in 2011. On Friday night, he went 3-5 with a double, a home and four RBI,
as the Tigers beat the Twins for the 11th straight game. The Tigers
scored in each of the first three innings and in five of the first six innings.
Obviously that doesn’t transfer well into a stat line for Twins starter Brian Duensing. The lefty gave up seven runs on nine hits and a
walk in just 4.2 innings. Alex Burnett went the next 1.1 innings. Jose Mijares gave up just one hit over two shutout innings. And
Glen Perkins had another dominant inning.
Alexi Casilla and
Jim Thome each had two hits. Jason Kubel returned to the lineup and went 1-2 with two walks. Following
the game, the Twins announced that Scott Baker would be activated from the
Disabled List to start on Saturday. In a somewhat surprising move, Luke Hughes
was sent back to Rochester. I figured he would be the next player to be sent
down, but not at this time. I am surprised that they are going to stay with
just three bench options. However, with the uncertainty of how long Baker will
go, it may not be bad to have an extra arm for a couple of days, maybe until Denard Span gets back.
The Twins find themselves exactly where they
were on Tuesday. Remember, they lost the two doubleheader games to Cleveland to
fall seven games back in the AL Central. But they came back and won the last
two games to pull back to five games back. And now, they have lost two games to
Detroit to fall seven games back again.
I think it is safe to say that, to this
point, the 5-5 record on the twelve game home stand against
the AL Central is rather disappointing, but there are still two games
left. There are also still nine days before the trade deadline, so it will be interesting
to see how the Twins respond. As well as Joe Mauer
and Michael Cuddyer continue to hit (and Jason Kubel’s return), it will be hard for the Twins two score
runs if the top of the order doesn’t start getting on base. Ben Revere has just
one hit in his last 25 at bats. Casilla has had six
hits in his last three games, so that is a good start.
Minor
League Updates
Be sure to check
out Roger’s
Minor League Report at Twinkie Town later this morning.
Rochester Red Wings
Rochester 4, Indianapolis 5 (10 innings) - Kyle
Gibson returned home to Indianapolis and pitched in front of a couple hundred
family and friends. His struggles continued but in a different way this time.
He gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings. He also allowed a
career-high five batters and struck out just one. Kyle Waldrop came in and
struck out three in three scoreless innings. Jim Hoey
came in and gave up the winning run with two outs in the 10th.
Brandon Roberts went 2-5 with his fourth double. Brian Dinkelman
was 1-3 with a walk and his 19th double.
New
Britain Rock Cats
New Britain 6, Altoona 1 – Brian Dozier
continues to impress. The middle infielder went 3-4 with his ninth and tenth
doubles and his ninth stolen base. Chris Parmelee was
3-5. Joe Benson hit his seventh homer. Deibinson hit
his ninth homer of the year, his third in four games and his fourth in seven
games. Bobby Lanigan started and gave up one run on
five hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out four. Spencer Steedley threw a scoreless inning despite giving up two
hits. Deolis Guerra gave up two hits and struck out
two in two scoreless innings. Tyler Robertson pitched a scoreless inning.
Ft. Myers Miracle
The Miracle lost 9-0 to Clearwater. The game
was over almost before it started. Edgar Ibarra made a spot start. He gave up
six runs on eight hits and recorded just one out. Brad Stillings
went the next 3.2 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and three walks.
Clinton Dempster went the next 3.2 innings. He gave
up one run on five hits and a walk while striking out four. Ricky Bowen got the
final out. The Miracle had just two hits in the game, singles by Josmil Pinto and Anderson Hidalgo.
Beloit Snappers
The Snappers lost 5-2 to Great Lakes. Manuel Soliman gave up five runs on four hits and two walks. Three
of the hits were home runs. Sam Spangler and Ben Tootle each threw a scoreless
inning in relief. The Snappers managed just four hits in the game. Michael
Gonzales hit his 18th double.
Elizabethton Twins
At least the E-Twins had a close game this
time, although they still lost 5-4 to Princeton. Todd Van Steensel
started and gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings. Steven
Evans gave up one run on two hits in two innings. Matt Summers pitched another
1-2-3 inning. Tyler Koelling went 0-0 with four
walks. Rory Rhodes was 2-5. The E-Twins had just four hits and ten walks.
GCL Twins
The GCL Twins lost 5-0 to the Rays. Bobby O’Neill
gave up three runs (1 earned) on six hits in three innings. Mark Trau threw two scoreless innings. Tyler Herr gave up one
run on four hits in two innings. Matt Tomshaw gave up
an unearned run on three hits in two innings. The Twins had just three hits.
Jorge Polanco went 2-4 with his fourth double.
Any other questions on the
Twins minor leagues? E-mail
me, or leave
some Comments.