Minor Details: Games of 6/18

Indianapolis 7, Rochester 5 in Rochester (Game 1).  The Indians scored four in the sixth to break a 3-3 tie.  Chase Lambin had three hits.  Trevor Plouffe doubled and homered.  Steve Holm had two doubles.  Dustin Martin doubled and singled.  Mike Hollimon had two hits.  Eric Hacker pitched five innings, allowing five runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks.  Chuck James threw two shutout innings.  The Red Wings made three errors.

Rochester 12, Indianapolis 7 in Rochester (Game 2).  The Red Wings scored five in the second and ten in the first four innings.  Trevor Plouffe doubled, tripled, and homered, scoring three times and driving in three.  Steve Holm singled and homered.  Brian Dinkelman and Steve Singleton each had two hits.  Jeff Bailey hit a three-run homer.  Cole DeVries got the win with 3.1 innings of relief, giving up a run on five hits, walking none, and striking out three.

New Britain 2, Reading 1 in Reading.  Dennis Suarez got the win with six shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk.  Deolis Guerra struck out five in two shutout innings, giving up just one hit and walking none.  Bruce Pugh came in with the tying run on second and struck out the only man he faced for the save.  Deibinson Romero had two doubles.  Chris Parmelee and Yangervis Solarte each had two hits, with Solarte raising his average to .320.  Evan Bigley hit a home run.

FSL All-star Game.  North 5, South 3.  Danny Rams struck out in his only at-bat.  Dakota Watts retired both men he faced, striking out one.

Beloit 7, Burlington 4 in Burlington.  The Snappers scored all their runs in the second inning.  Michael Gonzales had four hits to raise his average to .307.  Wang-wei Lin and Jairo Perez each had two hits, with Perez raising his average to .342.  Andrew Achter pitched seven strong innings, giving up a run on four hits and two walks.  Michael Tonkin worked a scoreless ninth for the save.

DSL Twins 3, Reds 1.  The Twins scored single runs in the third, fourth, and seventh.  They had only four hits in the game.  Jose Jimenez pitched the first three innings, giving up a run on three hits and a walk.  Javier Vargas struck out four in two shutout innings to get the win.  Edgar Martinez struck out three in three shutout innings, and Francisco Nunez pitched a perfect ninth to get the save.

Game 69: Padres at Mauers

Back in game log 35, I made the statement "when the major leaguers on this team outnumber the minor leaguers, they might grab my interest again." In fairness, the scrubs started playing pretty well the last couple of weeks. It seemed for a little while there that I was marveling at the sheer wretchedness of that night's lineup every night, only to have them score a buttload of runs for our suddenly-rock-solid starting pitching staff.

That's all well and good, but now that things are gradually swinging back to "Minnesota Twins" rather than "Minnesota Red Wings", I'm finding myself genuinely excited by the team. Sure, we still have one too many players on the team named "Butera", and Jim Hoey is inexplicably still employed by a major league ballclub, but Tolbert is back to his rightful position as backup utility infielder! Dusty Hughes is elsewhere! Joe Mauer played in a major league game last night.

For all our pessimism earlier this season, we were still invested in just about every game. It looks like the Twins are ready to reward us.

Scott "All Star" Baker vs. Tim "Don't Look At My Record, Either" Stauffer

I expect Baker to have a very good game today, as he builds towards his All-Star resume (in vain, of course). I do not expect the same for his counterpart.

Minor Details: Games of 6/17

Rochester 7, Indianapolis 4 in Rochester.  The Red Wings scored two in the first and five in the sixth.  Aaron Bates had two doubles and a single to raise his average to .359.  Chase Lambin was 2-for-2 and was hit by the pitch twice.  Andrew Baldwin got the win, giving up a run on five hits and two walks in six innings.  Anthony Slama got the last out to get a save.

New Britain 6, Reading 0 in Reading.  A three-run fourth was the big inning for the Rock Cats.  Brett Jacobson pitched a nine-inning complete game, striking out eight while giving up just three hits and a walk.  Mark Dolenc had three hits.  Nate Hanson and Deibinson Romero each singled and doubled.

Ft. Myers.  No games scheduled.

Burlington 5, Beloit 4 in Burlington (11 innings).  The Snappers led 4-1 after four but never scored again.  Tony Thompson led off the eleventh with a walk-off homer.  Kyle Knudson singled and doubled.  Wang-wei Lin and Jairo Perez each had two hits, with Perez raising his average to .333.  Pat Dean had another solid outing, giving up two runs on five hits in six innings, striking out six and walking none.  Blayne Weller came in to start the eleventh and took the loss.

DSL Rockies 6, Twins 0 at Rockies.  The Twins had only one hit, a single by Dubal Baez to lead off the sixth inning.  Junior Subero struck out five in four innings, giving up only an unearned run on one hit while walking none to take a tough loss.  Jose Abreu struck out four in three innings, but gave up two runs on three hits, also walking none.