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May 5, 2025: Outage/Outrage

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I mentioned recently I was on a bidness trip. It was actually a vendor's conference for something interesting they might have coming online relatively soon. Anyway, we were out to dinner, and I forget how it came up, but one of the main contacts we're dealing with expressed his and his family's love for a certain dick baseball player that's been exiled in Japan for the last few years because no MLB team will sign him. I later told my boss the despite the potential millions in revenue we could get, we need to cut off all contact with them immediately. She disagreed.

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of May 4

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ST. PAUL SAINTS 3, COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 2 IN COLUMBUS (10 INNINGS)

Finally able to get a game in, the Saints decided to play a little extra to make it worth their while.  Petey Halpin singles home a run in the second and Will Brennan homered in the third to make it 2-0 Columbus.  But our own Will, Will Holland, homered in the fifth to get St. Paul on the board and Mike Ford singled home a run in the sixth to tie it 2-2.  It stayed there until the tenth, when a sacrifice fly plated Manfred Man Anthony Prato.  Columbus was retired in order in the bottom of the inning and the good guys won.  Columbus has twelve hits, but stranded thirteen and went 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.

Batters:  Ryan Fitzgerald was 2-for-4.  Will Holland hit a home run.

Pitchers:  Zebby Matthews struck out five in four innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks.  Michael Tonkin (remember him?) struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Darren McCaughan pitched three shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out two.  Brady Feigl struck out two in a perfect ninth.

Opponents:  Johnathan Rodriguez was 4-for-5 with a double.  Will Brennan was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third) and a walk.  Kody Huff was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a run.  Petey Halpin was 2-for-5 with an RBI.  Parker Messick struck out nine in five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks.  Zak Kent struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Stats:  Anthony Prato is batting .340 with an OPS of .941.  Ryan Fitzgerald is batting .330 with an OPS of .931.  Carson McCusker is batting .319 with an OPS of .991.  Will Holland has an OPS of 1.000.  Jeferson Morales has an OPS of .858.  Mike Ford has an OPS of .824.  Darren McCaughan and Brady Feigl each has an ERA of zero.  Zebby Matthews has an ERA of 2.30.

Record:  St. Paul is 15-14, in fourth place, three games behind Memphis.

FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS 6, WICHITA WIND SURGE 1 IN FRISCO

Keyber Rodriguez singled home a run in the first and tripled one home in the third to give Frisco a 2-0 lead.  Rubel Cespedes had an RBI single to get Wichita on the board.  It was all Frisco from there, however, as they got two in the sixth and Luis Mieses hit a two-run single in the eighth.  As Mr. Jinx used to say, "I hate those Mieses to pieces!"

Batters:  Tyler Dearden was 2-for-3.  Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitchers:  Christian MacLeod pitched three innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out one.  John Stankiewicz struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings.

Opponents:  Keyber Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs, and a run.  Luis Mieses was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Sebastian Walcott was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Florencio Serrano pitched three perfect innings, striking out one.  Ryan Lobus struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Larson Kindreich pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Stats:  Tyler Dearden is batting .327 with an OPS of .858.  Kyler Fedco has an OPS of .989.  Aaron Sabato has an OPS of .876.  Mike Paredes has an ERA of 0.77.  Christian MacLeod has an ERA of 2.00.  John Stankiewicz has an ERA of 3.18.  Angel Macuare has an ERA of 3.27.

Record:  Wichita is 15-12, tied for second with Arkansas, one game behind Northwest Arkansas.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 9, SOUTH BEND CUBS 1 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

Carter Trice put the Cubs ahead in a trice, delivering a first-inning RBI single.  Kaelen Culpepper homered in the third to tie it 1-1 and Kevin Maitan doubled home a run in the fourth to give Cedar Rapids the lead.  The Kernels then scored five in the fifth on six singles to take control of the game.  Jose Salas hit a two-run double in the eighth.

Batters:  Khadim Diaw was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.  Nate Baez was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run.  Kaelen Culpepper was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second) and two runs.

Pitchers:  Jeremy Lee pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out four.  Spencer Bengard pitched four shutout innings, giving up four hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opponents:  Carter Trice was 2-for-3 with an RBI.  Ivan Brethowr was 2-for-4.  Reginald Preciado was 2-for-4.  South Bend doesn't win much, but they have some players with cool names.

Stats:  Jose Salas is batting .400 with an OPS of 1.000.  Nate Baez is batting .351 with an OPS of .988.  Kaelen Culpepper is batting .345 with an OPS of .932.  Kevin Maitan is batting .316 with an OPS of .922.  Kyle DeBarge has an OPS of .910.  Danny De Andrade has an OPS of .826.  Khadim Diaw has an OPS of .807.  Spencer Bengard has an ERA of 3.45.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 17-9, in second place, one game behind Quad Cities.

TAMPA TARPONS 12, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 4 IN TAMPA

It started well.  Fort Myers took a 4-0 lead in the second on two-run homers by Miguel Briceno and Jefferson Valladares.  But Tampa matched them with a four-run third, took the lead with two in the fourth, added one more in the fifth, and put the game out of reach with a five-run seventh.  Each team made four errors, but Fort Myers went 2-for-17 with men in scoring position.  Twins Baseball!

Batters:  Jay Thomason was 2-for-5 with two doubles and a run.  Miguel Briceno was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk.  Jefferson Valladares was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Pitchers:  Starter Dylan Questad struck out five in three innings, but allowed four runs on six hits and a walk.  Xavier Kolhasser struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Owen Cobb was 3-for-4 with a double, three runs, and two RBIs.  Engelth Urena was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run.  Marshall Toole was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs.  Juan Matheus was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Dillon Lewis was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Cade Austin pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.

Stats:  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .989.  Zander Sechrist has an ERA of 2.50.  Kade Bragg has an ERA of 3.00.  Dylan Questad has an ERA of 3.38.

Record:  Fort Myers is 14-13, in fourth place, one game behind Clearwater, Dunedin, and Lakeland.

TODAY'S TILT

11:00  FCL Twins at FCL Pirates

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 5

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Chief Bender (1884)
Bob Cerv (1926)
Bing Russell (1926)
Red Robbins (1928)
Jose Pagan (1935)
Tommy Helms (1941)
John Donaldson (1943)
Larry Hisle (1947)
Joe Angel (1948)
Ron Oester (1956)
Charles Nagy (1967)
Hideki Irabu (1969)
Mike Redmond (1971)

Better known for his role as Deputy Clem Foster on “Bonanza”, outfielder Bing Russell played minor league baseball from 1948-1949.  He is the father of actor (and minor league player) Kurt Russell and the grandfather of major league player Matt Franco.

Spencer “Red” Robbins was a minor league player for fourteen years.  He then spent many years in the Twins’ organization, most of them as a scout (1963-1986).

Joe Angel was a broadcaster for the Twins from 1984-1986.

Today we also salute Colby Mayo, Eddie Mayo, Jackie Mayo, and Mayo Smith.  Sadly, there has never been a major league ballplayer named "Cinco".  However, baseball-reference.com says that Johnny Cueto's nickname is Cinco.

 We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Rhubarb_Runner.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 5 →

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of May 3

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ST. PAUL SAINTS AT COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (2)

Both games were canceled due to rain.

FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS 5, WICHITA WIND SURGE 2 IN FRISCO

Aaron Zavala led off the bottom of the first with a home run and Frisco led the rest of the way.  They scored two in the second and one in the third to build a 4-1 lead.  Ben Ross homered to give Wichita a run in the fourth and Jorel Ortega homered in the ninth.  It was the second home run of the season for each.  Ricky Castro pitched 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk and striking out one.  Michael Martinez struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  Jarret Whorff struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 8, SOUTH BEND CUBS 3 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

RBI singles by Gabriel Gonzalez in the first and Kyle DeBarge in the second gave Cedar Rapids a 2-0 lead.  South Bend got one back in the third, but Cedar Rapids scored three in the fourth and got a two-run single from Gonzalez in the fifth to go up 7-1.  Kaelen Culpepper was 4-for-5 with two runs.  Gonzalez was 3-for-4 with four RBIs.  Danny De Andrade was 2-for-5 with a triple, a double, a run, and an RBI.  Jose Olivares struck out six in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and four walks.  Logan Whitaker pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Paulshawn Pasqualotto struck out two and walked two in two shutout innings.

TAMPA TARPONS 12, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 5 IN TAMPA

A pair of bases-loaded walks gave Fort Myers a 2-0 lead in the top of the third.  Owen Cobb homered in the bottom of the third to put Tampa on the board, and Dillon Lewis hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run fifth that put Tampa in the lead to stay.  Fort Myers never got closer than two runs after that.  Maddux Houghton was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Dasan Hill pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk, but then was removed due to injury.  We could not quickly find out any details.

FCL TWINS 4, FCL RED SOX 3 AT RED SOX (7 INNINGS)

The Twins scored all of their runs in the sixth to overcome a 1-0 deficit in the 2025 debut of the FCL.  The runs came on a grand slam by Eduardo Beltre.  The Red Sox came back with two in the seventh and had the tying run on third when the game ended.  It does not appear to have been a rain-shortened game--perhaps seven-inning games are a thing in the FCL this year.  Joel Garcia struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Mitch Mueller struck out four in four innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 4

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Jack Tobin (1892)
John Tsitouris (1936)
Rene Lachemann (1945)
Ken Oberkfell (1956)
Rick Leach (1957)
Tim Tschida (1960)
Eddie Perez (1968)
Joe Borowski (1971)
Miguel Cairo (1974)
Ben Grieve (1976)
Jason Michaels (1976)
Ryan Jorgensen (1979)
Matt Tolbert (1982)
Kevin Slowey (1984)

 St. Paul native Tim Tschida was a major league umpire from 1986-2012.

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Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of May 2

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ST. PAUL SAINTS 6, COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 4 IN COLUMBUS (GAME 1–5 INNINGS)

Jeferson Morales hit a two-run homer in the first.  It was 3-1 after two, but Columbus got three in the third to take a 4-3 lead.  Not to worry, though, as Mike Ford led off the fourth with a homer to tie it.  Morales struck again in the fifth, again leading off the inning with a home run, and Anthony Prato had an RBI single for an insurance run.  Rain came in the top of the sixth, and the game was over with a Saints win.

Batters:  Mike Ford was 2-for-2 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, and two runs.  Jeferson Morales was 2-for-3 with two home runs (his third and fourth) and three RBIs.

Pitchers:  Marco Raya pitched three innings, allowing four runs on three hits and five walks.  Travis Adams struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up three hits.

Opponents:  Petey Halpin was 2-for-3 with a run.

Stats:  Anthony Prato is batting .362 with an OPS of .987.  Will Holland is batting .333.  Carson McCusker is batting .326 with an OPS of 1.023.  Ryan Fitzgerald is batting .326 with an OPS of .938.  Jeferson Morales has an OPS of .866.  Mike Ford has an OPS of .824.  Travis Adams has an ERA of 2.82.

Record:  St. Paul is 14-14, tied for fifth with Louisville, 3.5 games behind Memphis.

ST. PAUL SAINTS AT COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (GAME 2)

Rained out.  Will be made up tomorrow.

FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS 3, WICHITA WIND SURGE 2 IN FRISCO

Abimelec Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the third to give Frisco a 2-0 lead.  Noah Cardenas singled home a run in the fourth to get Wichita on the board, but Frisco got the run back in the fifth.  Jake Rucker singled home a run in the sixth to again cut the margin to one.  Wichita had the bases loaded with one out, but a line drive double play ended the inning.  They would again get a man into scoring position with one out in the eighth, but a pair of fly outs ended the inning.  Wichita had thirteen hits, but only two runs.  They stranded ten and went 2-for-9 with men in scoring position.  Twins baseball!

Batters:  Ben Ross was 3-for-4 with a double.  Ricardo Olivar was 3-for-5.  Kala’i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a run.

Pitchers:  Connor Prielipp pitched 2.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk.  Aaron Rozek struck out five in 4.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks.  Cody Laweryson struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Alejandro Osuna was 2-for-3 with an RBI.  Cameron Cauley was 2-for-3.  Abimelec Ortiz hit a home run, his fourth.

Stats:  Ricardo Olivar is batting .354 with an OPS of .913.  Kyler Fedco is batting .313 with an OPS of 1.043.  Tyler Dearden is batting .304 with an OPS of .830.  Aaron Sabato has an OPS of .934.  Noah Cardenas has an OPS of .829.  Tanner Schobel has an OPS of .809.

Record:  Wichita is 15-10, in second place, a half game behind Arkansas.

SOUTH BEND CUBS 8, CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 4 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

South Bend scored two in the first and two in the second to take a 4-0 lead.  Kyle DeBarge hit a two-run homer in the third to cut the lead in half.  But South Bend added two more in the fifth and one in the seventh to go up 7-2.  An error gave Cedar Rapids two in the eighth, but that was as close as they could come.

Batters:  Khadim Diaw was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Nate Baez was 2-for-4.  Gabriel Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a run.  Kyle DeBarge hit a two-run homer, his fourth.

Pitchers:  Tanner Hall struck out three in 1.2 innings, but allowed four runs on four hits and three walks.  Samuel Perez pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, striking out one and walking three.

Opponents:  Ariel Armas was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Jefferson Rojas was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.  Reivaj Garcia was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.

Stats:  Nate Baez is batting .353 with an OPS of .997.  Kevin Maitan is batting .334 with an OPS of .939.  Kyle DeBarge has an OPS of .894.  Kyle Hess has an OPS of .829.  Kaelen Culpepper has an OPS of .820.  Danny De Andrade has an OPS of .811.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 15-9, in second place, 1.5 games behind Quad Cities.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 9, TAMPA TARPONS 2 IN TAMPA

It was scoreless through two, but Fort Myers scored either one or two runs in each of innings three through eight.  

Batters:  Daniel Pena was 3-for-5 with a run.  Yohander Martinez was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, and an RBI.  Jose Salas was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Jay Thomason was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a run, and an RBI.  Maddux Houghton was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Pitchers:  Jakob Hall pitched 4.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out three.  Tyler Stasiowski struck out six in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opponents:  Marshall Toole was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Josue Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with two doubles.

Stats:  Jose Salas is batting .444 with an OPS of 1.254.  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .994.  Ivran Romero has an ERA of 0.87.

Record:  Fort Myers is 14-11, tied for first with Dunedin.

TODAY’S TILTS

9:00  FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox
11:00  Fort Myers (Dasan Hill, 0-0, 1.69) at Tampa (Greysen Carter, 0-2, 5.74)

1:05  St. Paul (Darren McCaughan, 1-0, 0.00, and Zebby Matthews, 2-1, 1.93) at Columbus (Parker Messick, 1-1, 3.32 and TBD)
6:35  South Bend (Ryan Gallagher, 0-0, 4.50) at Cedar Rapids (Jose Olivares, 0-0, 0.00)
7:05  Wichita (Ricky Castro, 0-1, 6.28) at Frisco (Mitch Bratt, 1-1, 2.62)

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.