Twins Minor League Report (5/14): Walk-offs, Four Saints Homers, and Pierson Ohl Tying Career Highs

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SAINTS SENTINEL 
St. Paul 13, Omaha 7
Box Score
The Saints are back home for the week facing off against the Kansas City Royals Triple-A affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers. On the mound to start the series for St. Paul was Caleb Boushley, making his third outing since being sent back down by the Twins on May 2. 

But the story of the game was the Saints' offense in the back-and-forth battle of offense as they rallied together 13 runs for the second time this season. The spark plug for their offense was third baseman Diego A. Castillo, who had his second four-hit game of the season, going 4-for-4 with three singles, a double, and a walk. 

“I think I made the adjustments I needed to to be on time,” said Castillo. “I’m more on time right now, I can see the ball better and I feel it was a blessed day too. It’s good being on this team, they never stop fighting every at-bat, every inning, every pitch, it’s really fun.” 

On the mound, Boushley was perfect through the first three innings retiring the minimum on 40 pitches. While he cruised through three, everything changed for Boushley in the top of the fourth. Storm Chasers left fielder John Rave hit a ball to left field that just barely stayed fair for a double. Boushley then walked into a nightmare giving up five straight hits as the Storm Chasers rallied for six runs of three singles and back-to-back home runs from first baseman Davin Mann and second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald, taking a 6-3 lead with no outs. 

Boushley and the Saints lineup recovered retiring the bottom third of the Storm Chasers lineup to escape the fourth without further damage. He went back out on the mound in the fifth and retired the minimum on 11 pitches ending his day on a better note. 

After the game, Boushley spoke on what happened with his pitches in the fourth after cruising through the first three innings. 

“I was filling up the zone and able to get some early contact in the first three innings,” Boushley said. “In the fourth, the first four hits were good pitches and they were pitches where I wanted to throw them. And that’s baseball sometimes where you beat a guy and they still find a hole. And then the two home runs were just first-pitch ambushes, and again, that’s just baseball and you have to tip your cap.”

Fortunately, the best was yet to come from the Saints lineup as they entered the bottom of the sixth still down 6-5. Catcher Chris Williams lead off the inning with a missile of a home run to center field to get the game tied up at 6. Two batters later, right fielder Anthony Prato drew a walk, stole second and third base, and was driven in by Castillo to break the tie and have the Saints back in the lead at 7-6. But they didn’t stop there without some insurance runs as shortstop Michael Helman had an RBI single to give the Saints a 8-6 lead into the seventh. 

Williams spoke after the game and said the success in his plate discipline has been the result of the work he’s been putting in over the last week. 

“I was hitting a little bit of a slump before and I was just chasing pitches, not aggressive with pitches in the zone,” said Williams. “Talking with a few coaches, I just tried to simplify it, attack the heater, adjust to the off-speed pitches. It was just basic stuff I felt like I got away from.”  

Even with the lead back in their favor, the Storm Chasers still posed a threat in the top of the seventh, as Saints’ centerfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. barely missed a highlight reel catch in center that turned into a triple by Omaha right fielder Tyler Gentry. Omaha got a run back but not before Jorge Alacal was brought in to tamper the threat and keep the game at 8-7. Left fielder Alex Isola lead off the bottom of the seventh with a solo shot to get the Saints back up by two runs. 

Then in the bottom of the eighth the Saints batted around to rally for four more runs most of which came off a 3-run shot to left-center from shortstop Michael Helman. The other Diego Castillo came on for the ninth to rack up the last three outs and give the Saints a win on the homestand. 

After the game, Saints manager Toby Gardenhire and hitting coach Shawn Schlecter spoke on the resilience of their offense rallying back for the win. 

“It was a good game,” Gardenhire said. “We swung our bats well, we stayed after it. That was one of our best offensive games we had, we got some homers which was nice and it was nice to win on game one of the series.”

“After taking a three-run lead, they punched back for us to continue to have quality at-bats and make sure we’re competing in the box and gave our team a chance to win every single at-bat,” said Schlecter. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 6, Tulsa 3
Box Score
The Wind Surge have been off to a slow start to the season but Pierson Ohl dominated to start their six-game road series in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Tuesday night. 

Tanner Schobel got the scoring going early for the Wind Surge in the top of the first hitting an RBI single that scored Emmanuel Rodriguez and Kala’i Rosario to put them up 2-0.

Ohl was locked into a pitcher’s duel against Orlando Ortiz-Mayr of the Drilles through the first five innings of the game. But in the top of the sixth, the Wind Surge were able to muster together three runs off of an RBI double from shortstop Ben Ross, and later a two-RBI single from Rosario to extend their lead to 5-0 and all but solidify their victory. 

Ohl took advantage of his three-run lead shutting down the Drillers' offense for one more inning. He ended his outing tying a career-high in strikeouts with 10 and had six shutout innings allowing only four hits and one walk on 74 pitches, 54 of which landed for strikes. 

The Wind Surge would go on to win the game 6-3 and improve their record to 14-19.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 5, F/10
Box Score
The Cedar Rapids Kernels had a lower-scoring affair compared to the other Twins affiliates on Tuesday night. They battled back and forth against the Quad Cities River Bandits with both teams scoring a run each in the first inning.

During the bottom of the second, the Kernels rallied back to take the lead off of RBI singles from left fielder Agustin Ruiz and catcher Ricardo Olivar to put Cedar Rapids up 4-1. However, the River Bandits rallied back for three more of their own in the top of the fourth to tie the game up at four runs a piece. 

Both teams would tally on one more run a piece, but the River Bandits' fifth run of the game came in the top of the ninth, and they calmed a Kernels rally in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extras. 

Fortunately, the game wouldn’t have to go past the 10th as the Kernels rallied a walk-off game-winning double from center fielder Jay Harry to win the game 6-5. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Ft. Myers 11, Lakeland 8
Box Score

The Mighty Mussels had a slugfest on the road in Lakeland following a bad start to the game where they were down 5-0 after the first inning. 

Charlee Soto had the shortest outing of his professional career so far on Tuesday night. He never made it out of the first inning as the Flying Tigers tallied five runs in the bottom of the first off Soto, allowing five hits, including a two-run home run to designated hitter Luis Santana. Soto threw 35 pitches, with 20 of them landing for strikes. 

The Mighty Mussels would begin to chip away at the Flying Tigers lead in the top of the fourth thanks to a three-run home run from left fielder Kyle Hess, his first home run in pro-ball in his first game with the Twins organization, to cut the Flying Tigers lead by half, at 6-3. Ft. Myers would add a run each in the fifth and sixth innings, but the game-winning rally would come in the seventh.  

Mighty Mussels second baseman Payton Eeles and right field Byron Chourio lead the inning off with back-to-back home runs and take a 7-6 lead. A few walks, singles, and wild pitches later they were able to extend the lead by four runs and secure their 11-8 victory.

As the Mighty Mussels offense battled back for the victory, 22-year-old Spencer Bengard held things down on the mound following his relief of Soto. Bengard threw 5 1/3 innings gave up five hits and three walks, but only allowed one run and struck out five on 85 pitches. 

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Pierson Ohl (Wichita) - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K
Hitter of the Day – Diego A. Castillo (St. Paul)  - 4-for-4, 3 R, 2B, 2 RBI (16), BB

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 prospects performed today:

#3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - (2-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K) 
#7 - Austin Martin (Minnesota) - ( 1-for-2, 2B)
#9 - Charlee Soto (Ft. Myers) - 0.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K 
#10 - Brandon Winokur (Ft. Myers) - (2-for-4, 2B, 2 SB (9))
#11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - (3-for-5, 1 R, 3H, 2 SB (5), 2 RBI (15))
#12 - Luke Keaschalll (Cedar Rapids) - (0-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB, K)
#13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - (1-for-4, 1 R, 1 H, 2 RBI (20), BB, 3 K)
#15 - Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - (0-for-5)
#16 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - (1-for-5, HR (6) RBI (17), 2 K) 
#19 - Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - (1-for-5, 2 RBI (13) 2 K)
 

WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
The Saints will play their second game at home against Omaha with Louie Varland on the mound. The game starts at 6:37 p.m. CT
The Wind Surge will have their second game against Tulsa as Zebby Mathews makes his second start for Wichita. The first pitch is at noon central time.
Kernels will play another game at home against the Quad Cities River Bandits. The first pitch is set for noon central time, with Andrew Morris on the mound. 
Ft. Myers will have Paulshawn Pasqualotto on the mound for a 5:30 start against the Flying Tigers on Wednesday. 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games. 

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!