The E-Twins are in the playoffs!
GAMES OF AUGUST 27
ROCHESTER 5, SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE 4 IN SCRANTON (11 INNINGS)
The Red Wings lost a 4-0 lead but pulled it out in the eleventh on a walk, a single, a wild pitch, an intentional walk, and an accidental walk. Nick Greenwood had a no-hitter for 6.2 innings before giving up a double and a two-run homer. His line is seven innings, two runs, two hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Jake Reed pitched two shutout innings to drop his ERA to 1.29. Adam Brett Walker II was 2-for-4. Byron Buxton was 2-for-6 with a home run (his eleventh) and is batting .324. Mitch Garver was 1-for-5 with a home run and is batting .333. Rochester remains 3.5 games out of the wild card spot with nine games to play. Their elimination number is seven.
CHATTANOOGA 3, MISSISSIPPI 1 IN CHATTANOOGA
Edgar Corcino's two-run triple in the fourth gave the Lookouts all the runs they would need. Stephen Gonsalves pitched 5.2 scoreless innings before being removed due to pitch count. He gave up five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Over his last five starts (32.2 innings) he has allowed one earned run on thirteen hits and eleven walks with thirty-six strikeouts. For the season in Chattanooga his ERA is 1.64 with a 1.04 WHIP and 84 strikeouts in 71.1 innings. One wonders why he's still in AA. Zach Granite was 0-for-4 and is now batting .300. The Lookouts now lead Montgomery by one game for the last playoff spot.
JUPITER 3, FORT MYERS 0 IN JUPITER
The Hammerheads scored single runs in the first, second, and fifth. All three runs came off Sam Clay, who struck out six but allowed seven hits and three walks. Brad Hartong was 2-for-3. The Miracle had only five hits, all singles. Fort Myers dropped to three games back and their elimination number is six.
CEDAR RAPIDS 7, CLINTON 2 IN CLINTON
Luis Arraez had a two-run double and later scored to make it 4-0 in the second. The Kernels cruised from there. Sam Gibbons pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and no walks with two strikeouts. Arraez was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. He is batting .351, and one wonders why he has been in low A all year. Brandon Lopez was also 3-for-4 with two doubles. Travis Blankenhorn was 3-for-5 with a triple and is batting .348. Zander Weil was 2-for-5. Nelson Molina was 0-for-5 and is batting .305. Cedar Rapids now leads Burlington by five games and has a magic number of four.
ELIZABETHTON 1, GREENEVILLE 0 IN GREENEVILLE
A walk, two singles, and a sacrifice fly plated the game's only run in the fifth. Tyler Wells pitched six shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks with three strikeouts. In his last three starts, Wells has pitched 18.1 innings and given up no runs on seven hits and five walks with twenty-three strikeouts. His ERA has dropped by over two runs to 3.23. Colton Davis pitched two shutout innings and has an ERA of 1.89 with a WHIP of 0.89 and 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. Patrick McGuff pitched a perfect inning and has an ERA of 1.42 with 33 strikeouts in 25.1 innings. Alex Kirilloff was 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .310. The Twins had only four hits, all singles. Elizabethton leads Greeneville by five games and has a magic number of one.
GCL RED SOX 4, GCL TWINS 1 AT RED SOX
The Red Sox scored three in the first and never lost the lead. Taylor Clemensia pitched just 1.2 innings, giving up three unearned runs on four hits and two walks with one strikeout. Moises Gomez pitched 6.1 innings of relief and gave up one run on four hits and no walks with two strikeouts. His ERA is now 0.83 in 32.2 innings. Aaron Whitefield was 2-for-2 and is batting .310, but he left the game in the third inning due to an injury. The GCL Twins are a game back and have an elimination number of four.
DSL TWINS 4, DSL ORIOLES 2 0 AT TWINS
The Twins got one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and one in the seventh. Four pitchers combined on the shutout, with Melvi Acosta going four innings and giving up three hits and no walks with two strikeouts and Carlos Suniaga going three innings and giving up one hit and no walks with two strikeouts. Jorge Parra was 2-for-3 with a double. Juan Martinez was 2-for-4 with a double. Yeltsin Encarnacion and Yeremi De La Cruz were each 2-for-4. The DSL Twins close out their season 36-34, fifth in the DSL South, 11.5 games behind the DSL Mariners1.
GAMES OF AUGUST 28
SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE 3, ROCHESTER 1 IN ROCHESTER
A two-run sixth put the RailRiders up 3-1 and that's where the score stayed. Ex-Twin Chris Parmelee homered and drove in the go-ahead run with a single. Jason Wheeler pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts. D. J. Baxendale pitched two shutout innings and now has an ERA of 1.19, a WHIP of 1.09, and 34 strikeouts with 8 walks in 30.1 AAA innings. John Ryan Murphy was 3-for-4. Adam Brett Walker II was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Byron Buxton was 1-for-5 and is batting .320. The loss drops the Red Wings to 4.5 games out of first. Their elimination number is five.
MISSISSIPPI 5, CHATTANOOGA 4 IN CHATTANOOGA
The Lookouts had led 4-0 after five, but the Braves closed to 4-3 after eight and Ozzie Albies hit a two-run triple with two out in the ninth to put them up 5-4. Zach Granite led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but he was caught stealing second and the next two batters went out, which was, in the words of Lookouts broadcaster Larry Ward, "a pretty anti-frickin'-climactic way for the game to end". Aaron Slegers pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Zach Granite was 3-for-5 with a double and is batting .303. Chattanooga leads Montgomery by a half game for the last playoff spot.
FORT MYERS 5, JUPITER 1 IN JUPITER
Leading 2-1, the Miracle put together a three-run eighth to take control of the game. Keaton Steele pitched six innings, giving up an unearned run on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Trey Vavra and Brad Hartong were each 2-for-4. Tanner English was 2-for-5. Fort Myers pulled back to within two games of Jupiter. Their elimination number is six.
CEDAR RAPIDS 4, CLINTON 1 IN CLINTON
The Kernels scored single runs in the second, fifth, seventh, and eighth and never trailed. Brady Anderson pitched six shutout innings, giving up four hits and no walks with four strikeouts. His ERA is now 1.24 with a 1.07 WHIP in 29 innings. Nelson Molina was 3-for-4 with a home run (his second) and a double and is batting .311. Jaylin Davis was 2-for-4 with a home run, his seventh. Luis Arraez was 0-for-4 and is batting .348. Travis Blankenhorn was 0-for-4 and is batting .329. Cedar Rapids leads Burlington by 5.5 games for the last playoff spot and their magic number is three.
ELIZABETHTON 8, GREENEVILLE 7 IN GREENEVILLE
The E-Twins clinched a playoff spot by scoring two runs in the ninth. The Twins had trailed 2-0 and 3-1, led 4-3 and 6-4, and then trailed 7-6 going to the ninth. Ryan Mason pitched just 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks with one strikeout. Quin Grogan struck out five in three shutout innings. Amaurys Minier was 2-for-5 with a home run, his tenth. Ariel Montesino was 2-for-5 with a triple. Mitchell Kranson was 2-for-5. Alex Kirilloff was 0-for-4 and is batting .306. Over his last ten games, Kirilloff is batting .125 (4-for-32). The Twins are one game behind Johnson City for first place in the division.
TODAY'S TILTS
11:00 GCL Rays at GCL Twins
5:30 Fort Myers (Luke Westphal, 2-0, 2.79) at Palm Beach (Derian Gonzalez, 0-2, 1.00)
6:00 Elizabethton (Clark Beeker, 0-0, 1.80) at Greeneville (Guadalupe Chavez, 0-0, 0.00)
6:05 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Brady Lail, 6-5, 4.79) at Rochester (Tyler Duffey, 0-0, 1.72)
6:15 Mississippi (Michael Mader, 0-2, 0.90) at Chattanooga (TBA)
6:30 Cedar Rapids (Eduardo Del Rosario, 5-2, 3.81) at Clinton (Nick Wells, 1-7, 5.30)