Games of May 16

A bullpen failure by the Red Wings.  Nik Turley is too good for AA.  Chris Paul delivers a walkoff.  Jaylin Davis hits three home runs.

LEHIGH VALLEY 9, ROCHESTER 5 IN ROCHESTER

Daniel Palka hit a three-run homer in a four-run third that put the Red Wings ahead 5-0.  Unfortunately, the IronPigs came back with a six-run fifth to go ahead 7-5 and led the rest of the way.  Jorge Alfaro had a three-run double and Dylan Cozens a two-run homer in the inning.  Rochester had only one hit after the third inning.  Ex-Twin Pedro Florimon was 1-for-3 with a walk and is batting .263.

Starter Adalberto Mejia was removed after three innings, leading to speculationt that he'll be coming back to the Twins' starting rotation.  He gave up no runs and just one hit.  The big fifth inning came off Nick Tepesch, who pitched 1.2 innings and allowed six runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks.  Zack Granite was 2-for-4 with a double and is batting .324.  Bengie Gonzalez was 2-for-4.  Palka was 1-for-4 and the home run was his sixth.  Engelb Vielma got his first AAA hit, going 1-for-3.

CHATTANOOGA 4, BIRMINGHAM 1 IN CHATTANOOGA

The Lookouts opened the first inning with four consecutive hits, producing a 2-0 lead.  They added two in the fourth on Nick Gordon's two-run homer.  The Barons scored their lone run in the sixth.  The win was Chattanooga's fourth in a row and their eighth consecutive home win.

Nik Turley, back from a brief stint in Rochester, continued his dominance of AA, striking out nine in four innings while giving up just one hit and one walk.  He threw 64 pitches.  There was no obvious reason for him to be pulled--my assumption is it was because he had pitched just six innings over three weeks in his call-up to AAA.  In 24.1 innings of AA, he has an ERA of 0.37 and has allowed 6 hits and 7 walks with 45 strikeouts.  Matt Tracy struck out four in four innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits and a walk.  Nick Burdi pitched a scoreless inning to lower his ERA to 0.61.  Gordon was 2-for-4 with a double as well as his third home run.  He is batting .322.  Edgar Corcino was 2-for-4 with a double and is batting .306.  LaMonte Wade was 1-for-4 and is batting .327.  Ryan Strausborger was 0-for-3 in his season debut.

FORT MYERS 5, CLEARWATER 2 IN FORT MYERS

The Miracle scored two in the first and the Threshers tied it with two in the fifth.  It remained 2-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.  Brian Navarreto reached on an error and was bunted to second.  An intentional walk and a wild pitch put men on second and third with one out.  A strikeout made it two down, but Chris Paul hit a three-run walkoff homer to win the game for Fort Myers.

David Fischer pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.  Alex Muren pitched two shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.93.  Nick Anderson struck out two in two shutout innings to drop his ERA to 1.10.  He has 16 strikeouts and just 2 walks in 16.1 innings.  Paul was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk in addition to the home run, which was his second.   He is batting .327.  Max Murphy was 2-for-4 with a double.

CEDAR RAPIDS 7, PEORIA 6 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

It was tied 3-3 after five and 4-4 after seven.  In the eighth, an RBI triple by Christian Cavaness gave the Kernels the lead and a two-run double by Lewin Diaz later in the inning made it 7-4.  The Chiefs started the ninth with two singles, a walk, and another single, cutting the lead to 7-5 and leaving the bases loaded with none out.  A ground out made it 7-6, but the next two batters struck out to end the game.

Tyler Beardsley pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Jaylin Davis was 3-for-4 with three home runs, his fifth, sixth, and seventh.  He had four RBIs.  Jermaine Palacios was 1-for-2 with a walk and is batting .326.

TODAY'S TILTS

10:15  Birmingham (Thaddius Lowry, 2-2, 6.56) at Chattanooga (Felix Jorge, 3-1, 3.45)
12:05  Peoria (Steven Farinaro, 1-2, 5.46) at Cedar Rapids (Sean Poppen (1-1, 2.29)
5:35  Clearwater (Cole Irvin, 3-3, 1.70) at Fort Myers (Lachlan Wells, 1-5, 4.22)
6:05  Lehigh Valley (Ricardo Pinto, 3-3, 5.35) at Rochester (David Hurlbut, 2-2, 1.59)