Minor Details: Games of May 7

ST. PAUL SAINTS 8, BUFFALO BISONS 7 IN ST. PAUL

Will Wagner hit a two-run single in the third to put Buffalo up 2-0.  Will Holland doubled home a run in the fourth and the Saints scored two in the fifth to go up 3-2.  The lead lasted until the next half-inning, when Joey Loperfido hit a two-run single to make it 4-3.  That lead also lasted until the next half-inning, when Edouard Julien hit a two-run single-plus-error to give St. Paul a 5-4 lead.  In the eighth, homers by Loperfido and Davis Schneider put Buffalo back in front 7-5.  Not to worry, because Mike Ford hit a three-run homer in the ninth to give the Saints a walkoff victory!

Batters:  Ryan Fitzgerald was 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, and two runs.  Mickey Gasper was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two runs.  Jeferson Morales was 2-for-4 with a run.  Edouard Julien was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Mike Ford was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer and two walks.

Pitchers:  Andrew Morris struck out six in five innings, giving up two unearned runs on eight hits and a walk.  Alex Speas pitched a scoreless inning, walking one.  Tyler Beede pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opponents:  Joey Loperfido was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a walk, two runs, and four RBIs.  Will Robertson was 3-for-4 with a walk.  Will Wagner was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Davis Schneider was 2-for-5 with a home run.  Tommy Nance struck out three in two perfect innings.

Stats:  Mickey Gasper is batting .421 with an OPS of 1.560.  Ryan Fitzgerald is batting .337 with an OPS of .976.  Carson McCusker is batting .333 with an OPS of 1.065.  Mike Ford has an OPS of .877.  Jeferson Morales has an OPS of .859.  Patrick Winkel has an OPS of .829.  Kody Funderburk has an ERA of 2.31.  Alex Speas has an ERA of 2.45.

Record:  St. Paul is 17-14, in third place, 1.5 games behind Nashville.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS 6, WICHITA WIND SURGE 5 IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS

Rubel Cespedes hit a two-run homer in the first and Wichita scored two in the second to take a 4-0 lead.  It stayed 4-0 through six, and it was looking good.  But Gavin Cross hit a two-run homer in the seventh and did it again in the ninth, tying the score.  A bases-loaded walk scored on for Wichita in the tenth, but Carter Jensen delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the tenth to walk it off for Northwest Arkansas.

Batters:  Tanner Schobel was 4-for-6 with a double, two runs, and an RBI.  Rubel Cespedes was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third), a double, two walks, and three RBIs.  Ben Ross was 2-for-5 with a walk and an RBI.  Kala'i Rosario was 2-for-6 with an RBI.

Pitchers:  Trent Baker struck out six and walked three in five shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Gavin Cross was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his second and third) and four RBIs.  Rudy Martin was 2-for-4 with a run.  Ben Sears struck out three and walked three in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.  Ryan Ramsey struck out five in five innings, giving up an unearned run on six hits and two walks.

Stats:  Tyler Dearden is batting .321 with an .843 OPS.  Kyler Fedco has an OPS of .968.  Aaron Sabato has an OPS of .914.  Rubel Cespedes has an OPS of .809.  Tanner Schobel has an OPS of .808.  Jarret Whorff has an ERA of 1.84.  Trent Baker has an ERA of 2.03.

Record:  Wichita is 15-14, in third place, three games behind Northwest Arkansas.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6, BELOIT SKY CARP 5 IN BELOIT

Danny De Andrade doubled home a run in the first and Cedar Rapids scored three in the second on three hit batsmen, two walks, and a wild pitch to go ahead 4-0.  Beloit scored two in the bottom of the second, but Cedar Rapids scored one in the third on three more walks and another hit batsman.  But Jay Beshears hit a two-run double in the third and homered in the fifth to tie it 5-5.  There was no more scoring until the eighth, when a walk, a passed ball, and a De Andrade RBI single produced the game-winner for Cedar Rapids.

Batters:  Danny De Andrade was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Kyle DeBarge was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Jaime Ferrer was 0-for-2 but was hit by pitches three times.

Pitchers:  Alejandro Hidalgo struck out four in three innings, but allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks.  Cole Percival pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.  Paulshawn Pasqualotto pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opponents:  Fenwick Trimble was 3-for-5 with a run.  Jay Beshears was 2-for-5 with a home run (his third), a double, and three RBIs.  Colby Shade hit a home run.  Gabe Bierman pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out two.  Jack Sellinger struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Stats:  Nate Baez is batting .333 with an OPS of .951.  Kaelen Culpepper is batting .328 with an OPS of .901.  Kyle DeBarge has an OPS of .879.  Kyle Hess has an OPS of .825.  Danny De Andrade has an OPS of .813.  Paulshawn Pasqualotto has an ERA of zero.  Cole Percival has an ERA of 2.08.  Wilker Reyes has an ERA of 2.30.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 19-9, in second place, one game behind Quad Cities.

DUNEDIN BLUE JAYS 7, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 3 IN FORT MYERS

Homers by Jean Joseph and Sam Shaw gave Dunedin a 3-1 lead in the third.  Yasser Mercedes hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to tie it 3-3.  But it was all Dunedin after that.  Joseph singled home a run in the fourth to make it 4-3.  It stayed close until the eighth, when Dunedin scored three more to put the game out of reach.

Batters:  Yasser Mercedes hit a two-run homer, his second.  Fort Myers had only two hits.

Pitchers:  Adrian Bohorquez struck out five in three innings, but allowed four runs on three hits and two walks.

Opponents:  Bryce Arnold was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Jean Joseph was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second) and three RBIs.  Sam Shaw was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a walk, and two runs.  Gage Stanifer struck out four and walked three in four shutout innings, not allowing a hit.

Stats:  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .979.  Cole Peschi has an ERA of 0.83.

Record:  Fort Myers is 15-14, tied for second with Clearwater, one game behind Dunedin and Lakeland.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:00  FCL Twins at FCL Orioles
6:05  Dunedin (TBD) at Fort Myers (Jakob Hall, 1-0, 4.80)
6:05  Cedar Rapids (Tanner Hall,1-1, 5.95) at Beloit (Karson Milbrandt, 0-1, 3.86)
6:37  Buffalo (TBD) at St. Paul (Cory Lewis, 1-2, 9.00)
7:05  Wichita (Connor Prielipp, 0-2, 4.73) at Northwest Arkansas (Ben Kudrna, 0-2, 5.23)

Happy Birthday–May 8

Dan Brouthers (1858)
Edd Roush (1893)
Turkey Stearnes (1901)
Mike Cuellar (1937)
Steve Braun (1948)
Dennis Leonard (1961)
Orestes Destrade (1962)
Todd Greene (1971)
John Maine (1981)
Adrian Gonzalez (1982)
Wily Peralta (1989)
Sean Gilmartin (1990)

I could not find out why Edd Roush's first name was spelled with two d's.  I did find out, however, that he had a twin brother whose name was Fred, not Fredd.

Outfielder Turkey Stearns was a star in the Negro Leagues from 1923-1940, posting a slugging percentage of .619.

Mike Cuellar pitched in AAA in the Twins’ organization in 1961.  He does not seem to have belonged to the Twins, however.  It may be that he was temporarily loaned to them, a practice which was not uncommon in the 1960s.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 8

2025 Game Log 37: Baltimore Orioles at Minnesota Twins

Charlie Morton
vs
Simeon Woods Richardson

Morton has a 9.36 ERA this year. I saw that and thought he must have only a few starts and got shelled in at least one. No, this is his sixth start of the season and he appeared in relief three times. He's allowed at least four earned runs in all five starts. He struck out ten Red Sox in his second start of the season and still surrendered five runs over five innings. The absolute lowest his ERA has been was 8.84. It went up after his latest appearance, a single inning in relief, where he allowed two runs in a losing effort.

Minor Details: Games of May 6

ST. PAUL SAINTS 6, BUFFALO BISONS 2 IN ST. PAUL

Carson McCusker hit a two-run homer in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie.  The Saints added three more in the eighth as McCusker and Mickey Gasper homered.  McCusker was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth) and three RBIs.  Gasper was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two runs.  David Festa struck out seven in 5.1 innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.  Travis Adams struck out four in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NATURALS 5, WICHITA WIND SURGE 4 IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS

Wichita led 4-2 after six, but Jac Caglianone hit a three-run homer in the seventh to give Northwest Arkansas the victory.  Aaron Sabato was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Darren Bowen pitched three innings, giving up two runs on one hit and four walks and striking out one.  Pierson Ohl pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

CEDAR RAPIDS 8, BELOIT SKY CARP 0 IN BELOIT

Cedar Rapids scored single runs in the first and third, then took control with a four-run fifth.  Brandon Winokur had a two-run single in the inning.  Winokur was 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs.  Danny De Andrade had three RBIs.  Chase Chaney struck out six in six shutout innings, giving up seven hits and no walks.  Samuel Perez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.  Jacob Wosinski pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 13, DUNEDIN BLUE JAYS 12 IN FORT MYERS (11 INNINGS)

Fort Myers led 6-0 after two, but by the top of the fifth it was 6-5 and after seven it was tied 9-9.  Each team scored one in the tenth.  Bryce Arnold hit a two-run homer in the top of the eleventh, but Fort Myers scored three in the bottom of the eleventh.  They had one hit, a single, but got two walks, an error, and a passed ball, with the deciding run scoring on a sacrifice fly.  Jay Thomason was 3-for-5 with a walk and three runs.  Yohander Martinez was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.  Dameury Pena was 2-for-3.  Poncho Ruiz was 2-for-5 with a double, a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.  Byron Chourio was 2-for-6 with a home run and three runs.  Ben Ross struck out four in three innings, giving up one run on one hit.  Hunter Hoopes pitched 1.2 perfect innings, striking out one.

FCL TWINS 7, FCL PIRATERS 3 AT TWINS

The Twins scored two in the third on three walks, a hit batsman, and a sacrifice fly to take a 4-3 lead.  They added two in the fourth and one in the fifth, scoring seven runs on three hits and ten walks.  Eduardo Beltre was 0-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs.  Miguel Cordero pitched 3.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and no walks, striking out three.  Ruddy Gomez struck out all four men he faced.  Will Armbruester struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:10  Cedar Rapids (Alejandro Hidalgo, 0-0, 6.00) at Beloit (Noble Meyer, 0-1, 5.28)
6:05  Dunedin (Trey Yesavage, 1-0, 2.31) at Fort Myers (Adrian Bohorquez, 0-1, 6.75)
6:37  Buffalo (Anders Tolhurst, 1-0, 5.95) at St. Paul (Andrew Morris, 0-1, 4.57)
7:05  Wichita (Trent Baker, 1-2, 2.49) at Northwest Arkansas (Kyle Wright, 0-0, 2.25)

May 7, 2025: Content

Whenever I see a person in public filming some performative video of themselves, likely for social media, my first instinct is to knock the phone out of their hands on the way by (I have never actually done this).

On a similar topic, I don't know how anyone can so casually record a video of themselves. I don't even like being in someone's picture.

2025 Game Log 36 – Orioles at Twins… PLUS Wolves vs. Warriors

Twins back at home after a so-so road trip where beating the Red Sox was nice, but losing three close games to the Guardians was a gut punch. Next up, the surprisingly mediocre Baltimore Orioles who stumble into town with a 13-20 record.

Pablo Lopez on the mound for the Twins with his second start after coming back from IR. He's pitched solidly this year but would be great to see Lopez be even more effective now that the weather is turning warmer. Cade Povich for the O's and after a rough start to the season, he may be turning things around.

Finally, Royce Lewis makes his 2025 debut tonight. Looks like a DH stint to start off. Hopefully Royce is a tonic for the ass bats Twins seem to still wield these days.

Looks like a glorious night for baseball with first pitch at 6:40.

ALSO...

Game one of the NBA Western Conference semis tonight at Target Center. Wolves against Warriors. We can use this as the game log. Tip-off scheduled for 8:30ish(?)