Monday's Thoughts

Baker, Twins lose to Tigers in pitchers duel

Despite having at least 8 runs in their 3 previous games, the Minnesota Twins couldn't get 1 player to cross home plate on Sunday. The worst part is that the loss came after Scott Baker pitched the best game of the year, and possibly of his career. He was nearly unhittable and only gave up 1 bad pitch to Marcus Thames, who put the ball over the fence in Left Field. In fact, besides Curtis Granderson's triple to lead off the bottom of the 4th. Baker only allowed 1 other base runner before the 7th which came on a walk from Carlos Guillen. He pitched an 8 inning, complete game, 1 run loss. That's got to be frustrating. The Twins collected 6 hits and didn't manage to score once, but the Tigers only had 3 hits and did score. Again, the lack of power hur the Twins. The hardest part to watch for me is seeing Nick Punto and his .207 average in the lineup. He only had 12 hits in the month of June and watched his average fall 28 points (.237-.209). The Twins need to address this issue at the deadline, and there is no excuse not to. We have the pieces to work out a trade for an imporvement (which wouldn't take much) at the hot corner. Terry Ryan needs to do something, and he has to do something soon. Nick Punto's bat has holes in it and the Twins can not afford to have him in the lineup anyore. Sure, he can be pretty impressive with his leather, but I'll take the drop off at defense for any improvement on offense.

• Boof Bonser (5-4, 4.65) and the Twins face Roger Clemens (1-3, 5.32) and the struggling Yankees. The Twins will have to rebound from a horrible offensive day to strike the future Hall of Famer early to not let him do what he's always done against the Twins, dominate. He's 16-13 in his career against the Twins, but don't let that record fool you, he has a 2.96 ERA and 231 K's in 35 games (all started) against the Twins.

Twins Minor League Affiliates

(AAA) Rochester Red Wings

Red Wings lost to Buffalo, 8-7.

Jose Morales got 4 hits and an RBI in the losing effort to the Indians AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. Jason Miller started the game and gave up 2 runs in 5 innings. Garrett Jones had a 3 run triple and a sac fly to bring his total RBI count to 4 on the game and 50 on the year. Bobby Korecky got the loss, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in 2.1 innings of work while blowing his 3rd save of the season. Ken Harvey played in his first game with Rochester since his injury early in the year and went 1-5 with a double.

(AA) New Britain Rock Cats

Rock Cats beat Reading, 10-9.

With the potential that the starters have at Ft. Myers, Brad Baker may have started his last game for the Rock Cats. He gave up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings while striking out 3. Brock Peterson went 3-5 with 6 RBI's and his 11th HR of the season. Matt Moses went 2-5, Garrett Guzman went 1-3 with 2 RBI's, and Trevor Plouffe continued to hit the ball well going 2-5 with a run and his 21st double of the season.

(High-A) Ft. Myers Miracle

Miracle lost to Lakeland, 3-2.

Despite having a respectable ERA of 3.59, Jay Rainville lost his 8th game of the season on Sunday. He gave up 3 runs in 6 innings. Angel Garcia went 3 innings with 6 K's to finish the game. Brian Dinkelman, Erik Lis, & Luis Ugueto all went 2-4. Rondell White started in Left Field on Sunday in just his second game of the season at Ft. Myers and went 1-2 before being replaced by Dwayne White.

(Low-A) Beloit Snappers

Snappers beat Clinton, 1-0.

A great pitchers duel between Beloit's Tyler Robertson and Clinton's Broc Coffman. Robertson prevailed with the win going 6 strong and giving up 4 hits and getting 9 K's. Wilson Ramos went 1-4 with a solo home run (his 5th). Outfielders Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee & Eli Tintor combined to go 0-9 with 3 K's. Rob Delaney continued his dominance with his 26th save of the season.

(Rookie) Elizabethton Twins

1st Game: Twins beat Bristol, 11-1.

Steve Hirschfeld went 5 perfect innings to get his first win of the season. Starling De Los Santos & Eric Santiago combined for 3 runs and 4 hits. Ben Petsch went 1-3 with a 3-run HR. Henry Sanchez went 1-3 with a run and an RBI.

2nd Game: Twins beat Bristol, 9-4.

Spencer Steedley gave up 2 runs over 5 innings to get his 1st win of the season. The mojority of the offense came off the bat of Ben Petsch for the 2nd straight game. He went 1-3 with a 3-run triple in the 1st inning. Henry Sanchez went 1-2 with 2 RBI's. He now has a hit in all 6 games he's played this season.

(Rookie) GCL Twins

Twins beat Reds, 5-3.

Santos Arias gave up 3 runs in 5 innings with 7 K's. Jose Acosta went 3 scoreless innings in his 4th relief appearance of the season. Ben Revere led off and went 1-5 with his 3rd stolen base of the season. 3rd Round pick, Angel Morales went 2-4 with a Triple and a run scored in his first action of the year.