Eddie Rosario played second base and went hitless. Miguel Sano was 1-for-4, a single that rocketed past the shortstop before he could react, and also did some nice baserunning (taking second when the left fielder bobble the ball, then advancing to third on a foul popup to the first baseman).
But the Twins top prospects weren't the real factors in the Thursday game.
Matt Koch -- the catcher on Wednesday night, the DH on Thursday -- hit his second three-run homer in as many days. He also doubled and singled. (If he's at all superstitious, and if he had any idea I was there for both games, he'd be sorry we're leaving town today.)
Wang-Lei Lin, an outfielder out of Taiwan, led off the game with a homer. Beloit hit three homers on the day, the other coming from outfielder Jonathan Goncalves. I wouldn't have thought that I'd see five homers from the Snappers and none from Sano or Rosario.
A couple of high draft picks from 2011 did most of the mound work Thursday. Matt Summers (4th rounder), one of the handful of righties on the Snappers staff, started. He was mediocre for the first three innings, then found a nice groove. He retired the last 11 men he faced. He walked a guy in the first inning, then picked him off, and walked nobody after that.
Summers seems to throw hard -- an appearance doubtless helped by throwing motion that hides the ball very well. He seems to throw from behind his head. He's generally regarded as a bullpen prospect, but he's been a rotation fixture for Beloit, doubtless to get innings.
His successor was Corey Williams (3rd rounder), a lefty whose future is also in relief. He threw two innings, allowing three hits, one a solo homer. I wrote this about him at the time of the draft.
A few other comments:
*Tyler Grimes, a shortstop taken in the fifth round last summer, had a rough couple of games at the plate during my visit -- three strikeouts on Wednesday as the DH, 0-for-4 Thursday -- but turned in a high-quality play defensively. He went deep into the hole and threw out the Quad Cities leadoff man. Very nice.
*Grimes, as noted, spent one game at DH, the next at shortstop, hitting ninth both games. Adam Bryant played Wednesday at short, Thursday at first.
* I plan to write more about Sano and Rosario for the Monday print column.
Ed, if you are superstitious, you might want to continue to avoid writing about the Twins, who have increased their win total by a whopping 20% in your absence. . .
ReplyDeleteThanks for the rundown on the Snapper games. You just missed the nine inning game Shibuya threw.
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