Here are the game reports of the Twins and their minor league affiliates from Wednesday's games.

Wednesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Denard Span, Rochester Red Wings
Wednesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Yohan Pino, New Britain Rockcats

TWINS TALK

I think what I learned most from the last two days is that the Twins win games when I don't watch the games. I actually fell asleep during the 3rd inning of the Tuesday night game. How sad is that? And, of course, the Twins played during work hours yesterday. Hopefully that isn't some sort of strange truth because I just can't not watch the Twins!

Tuesday - Twins 11, Mariners 3 

• So, I fell asleep in the third inning of this game... but then I woke up just in time to see Jason Bartlett's 5th inning home run. But quickly I fell back asleep. I woke up when it was 6-1, and then just went to bed.

• Alexi Casilla, Jason Bartlett and Torii Hunter each had three hits. Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer and Mike Redmond each had two hits.

• Matt Garza was excellent through seven shutout innings. He came out for the 8th inning and didn't get an out and gave up three runs. Garza has been so good, and he picked up his first win in a long time.  

• Joe Nathan for the first time in eight games. That's ridiculous. I don't care if there wasn't a save situation. Put him into other situations.

Wednesday - Twins 6, Mariners 1 

• I happened to be able to watch the game from about the fourth inning through the eighth inning while sitting at the airport. Here are a few things I saw:

• Rondell White was way in front of an offspeed pitch from Jarrod Washburn and hit it over the left field fence for his first homer of the year. I realize that last week I said that the Twins should DFA him. Since then, Jason Kubel hurt his oblique and the team has no real options left. He obviously has a solid background, and it would be best for the Twins if he can play well down the stretch.

• Congratulations (Again!) to Tommy Watkins! Yesterday, I got to see his first big league hit, a single to center off Washburn. In his next at bat, he hit a ball very similarly but it hung up and was caught in center. Watkins later singled again.

• Jason Bartlett was 2-3 in the game. His second hit was a grounder to SS that he beat out. However, he stretched to get to the 1B bag and hobbled beyond the base, grasping his hamstring. Joe C is saying that he could wind up on the DL. If so, then what? Do the Twins call up Matt Tolbert? If so, who plays? Does Nick Punto become the starting SS until Bartlett is back? Maybe Alexi Casilla moves over there with Tolbert playing 2B? Or maybe they alternate, as they did at Rochester? Maybe Tommy Watkins gets more playing time. It should be interesting.

• We also found out that the Twins traded Ramon Ortiz (and the remaining $800,000 on his deal) to the Colorado Rockies for IF Matt Macri. When the Twins drafted him out of his Iowa high school in 2001, we essentially knew that he was going to Notre Dame. He did, and then the Rockies took him. After struggling to start his career, Macri was having a very good year at AA this year before moving up to AAA where he started out well. This is yet another great deal by Terry Ryan. Trading an unneeded part for someone that could provide the team with good value in the future.

• After fitting in with Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer in the not coming through category all day, Torii Hunter came up big with his 9th inning grand slam that put the game out of reach.

• What has been Scott Baker's biggest improvement? Well, in my mind it is that he has been able to overcome struggles much better. It seemed in the past that if anything would happen in a game, Baker would not respond well. It was a case of one mistake becoming another. Taking that to the next level, Baker was coming off of a rough outing and yesterday, he had another very solid start. It was actually good to see him in the dugout after being removed from the game. it was the first time I saw him react. He was not happy to be taken out of the game, and I don't blame him. I'm not saying it was the wrong decision, but it was good to see that Baker wanted to stay in the game.

• Joe Nathan pitched in back to back games. Pat Neshek looked great for the 1.1 innings he pitched. But he has been pitching so much! They keep talking about how he must have a tired arm, and yet he is pitching all the time!

• Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau - Did I mention that both looked completely clueless? I haven't seen so many bad swings since Torii Hunter, circa first half of 2006!

ROCHESTER REPORT
Wednesday - Red Wings 10, Buffalo 4 – The Red Wings got a chance to do something that many in the AL have enjoyed doing all season... hit off of Cliff Lee. The Indians' lefty who signed a $16 million deal in the offseason has not been doing well even back at AAA. In this game, he gave up four runs on four hits and five walks in five innings. Denard Span went 3-5 with his 16th double and four RBI. Darnell McDonald was 3-5 with three RBI. Glenn Williams went 2-5. Matt Tolbert was 1-3 with two walks and his 5th stolen base. Lew Ford was 1-3 with his 10th double and two walks. Jason Miller started and in four innings gave up a run on five hits. Julio DePaula improved to 11-5 with five innings. He gave up three runs on four hits. He struck out five.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Wednesday - Rockcats 2, New Hampshire 3 – I had a little "insider" help in this game. My cousin-in-law, Jason Bain, happened to be traveling in New England. Last night's trip left him in New Britain, Connecticut, and he was fortunate to be able to go to a Rockcats game. We talked a couple of times throughout the game. He said that the stadium is really nice. He was very impressed with the color scoreboard. Before the game, he asked me if I knew any of the Rockcats players. I told him to be sure to say Hi to David Winfree and Trevor Plouffe. Before the game, Jason said that he spent several minutes talking to Winfree. He was quite impressed saying that Winfree "is a very nice guy, a very smiley type." Winfree came through with a very good game. He went 3-4. Brock Peterson hit his 13th home runs. He said that Peterson just looks powerful and hit the ball real hard. He said that Garrett Guzman twisted his ankle and was replaced by Luke Hughes. While on the phone, Brandon Roberts made a catch with runners on 2nd and 3rd and made a very strong throw to the plate to get the runner for the 3rd out of the inning. Yohan Pino started and went eight innings. He gave up three runs on nine hits. He walked three and struck out six. I had told Jason before that Pino is known to top out at about 88 mph. He verified that as true, but he also pointed out that he throws a very good, slow curveball that was about about 67 mph. Great control with the ability to change speeds is a good thing. I also learned that the centerfield fence is 400 feet deep and the fences are 20 feet high all the way around the field. The home runs that Yohan Pino gave up to Dustin Majewski was an absolute blast. Then Jose Mijares came in and struck out two in a perfect inning. I got a phone call at that point saying that Mijares throws gas. He was hitting 93 mph. Other reports have told us that he definitely has the ability to look this dominant and then the next night he will look bad and give up a home run. When the game finished, Winfree came back to the dugout and looked up to Jason, who was in the first row behind the Rockcats dugout, and thanked him for coming to the game and such. Jason looked back into the dugout and Trevor Plouffe was there. Plouffe told Jason to say hi to me, which I thought was pretty cool. I got to hear that the traffic heading out of the stadium is pretty harsh. But all in all, I was told that it was just a great experience. Thanks to Jason Bain for the excellent and informative information!

FT MYERS MEMOS
Wednesday - Miracle 5, Tampa 2 – Jeff Manship improved to 7-3 with the Miracle by throwing six solid innings. He gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out five. Kyle Aselton, JP Martinez and Eddie Morlan each threw a shutout inning. Martinez struck out two. Morlan picked up his 17th save by striking out the side. He has been really good the last two weeks (since his 5 really bad outings in a row). Erik Lis went 2-5 with his 15th homer. A two-run shot in the 1st inning. Dustin Martin went 2-4 with his 13th steal. Juan Portes went 2-4 with his 22nd double. Eddie Ovalle went 2-4 as well.

 

BELOIT BITS
Wednesday - Snappers – No Game Scheduled.

 

E-TWINS REPORT
Wednesday - E-Twins 6, Kingsport 1 – David Bromberg improved to 8-0 with 5.1 innings of one run ball. He gave up four hits, walked three and struckout five. Spencer Steedley came in and went 2.2 innings, striking out four. Caleb Moore then struckout two in a perfect inning. Greg Yersich went 2-3. Ozzie Lewis was 2-4. Dan Lehmann went 1-2 with two walks. Deibinson Romero hit his 13th double.

 

GCL TWINS REPORT
Wednesday - GCL Twins 1, GCL Reds 6  – Andres Diaz played in his first game with the GCL Twins and went 2-3 with a walk. Angel Morales went 2-3 with his fifth double. Yangervis Solarte went 1-2 with two walks. Jeanfred Brito hit his third triple. Dan Berlind lost his second decision. In four innings, he gave up four runs (3 earned) on five hits and two walks. Rodney Gessmann gave up two runs (1 earned) on a hit and a walk. Mark Hamburger struckout three in two shutout innings. Lee Martin pitched a scoreless ninth.