Joe Ryan delivers gem as Twins blank Royals 4-0 to end losing streak at three

KANSAS CITY, MO. – When the Twins needed a pick-me-up, reeling after a couple of late-inning meltdowns during a three-game losing streak, it was Joe Ryan who came to their rescue.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise Ryan played the starring role Wednesday night. Historically, he has always pitched well against the Kansas City Royals, owning a 1.30 ERA in nine career starts when facing his division rival.

Ryan gave the Twins their strongest start of the season, permitting two baserunners across seven innings in a 4-0 victory at Kauffman Stadium. Matt Wallner and Ty France added their first homers of the season.

“His fastball was electric,” second baseman Edouard Julien said. “He’s good, man. Before the year started, I was telling people, I think he’s a dark-horse candidate to be Cy Young. He’s that good.”

The Twins expect their rotation to be a strength this season, but it has taken a couple of turns through the rotation to show up. One day after Pablo López exited a start with a mild hamstring strain, which is expected to send López to the 15-day injured list, Ryan showed how he plans to fill the void.

Ryan, who owns a 7-0 career record against the Royals, retired his final 11 batters. He drew motivation, he said, from watching López pitch Tuesday.

“It was super fun to watch,” Ryan said. “I was feeding off that energy and what he was doing out there. He threw the ball fantastic.”

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Ryan, who missed the last two months of the 2024 season because of a shoulder injury, pounded the strike zone. He threw a first-pitch strike to 16 of his 22 batters. He was efficient, throwing more than 13 pitches in only one of his seven innings.

He hasn’t walked a batter in 17 innings this year.

“Even if he’s behind [in the count], he just throws a fastball and they still can’t hit it,” Julien said. “It’s a hard at-bat against him. Especially when you talk to guys on second base, and they’re like: It’s an invisible fastball. That’s how it feels.”

When Ryan gave up a one-out single in the third inning, he proceeded to induce two ground balls. Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. blooped a leadoff double down the right-field line in the fourth inning, but Witt was doubled off second base when he attempted to steal third as Salvador Perez lined out to center.

It was the sixth time in Ryan’s career he completed at least seven scoreless innings in a start. It might not have come at a better time.

“We had reasonable discussions in the dugout of him even going back out there” for the eighth inning, manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The only thing that stopped that today was the fact that he’s only thrown five innings [maximum] with his spring being slightly abbreviated.”

BOXSCORE: Twins 4, Kansas City 0

MLB standings

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, their first lead since Sunday, after Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach drew eight-pitch walks against Royals righthander Seth Lugo. With two outs, Julien ended another eight-pitch at-bat with a line-drive single to right field.

Lugo throws nine different pitches, but Julien anticipated seeing a curveball.

“I figured after my first two swings on the curveball that he wanted to get me out on a curveball because I wasn’t taking good swings on it,” said Julien, who struck out on a curveball in the second inning, too. “He left one over the middle, and that’s when I got it.”

Correa scored from second base as Royals right fielder Hunter Renfroe opted to throw behind Larnach, inducing a rundown on the basepaths for the final out of the inning. In a microcosm of the season, even on good plays for the Twins, something went wrong.

The Twins made another baserunning mistake to end the fifth inning. Christian Vázquez hit a two-out double to left field, then was picked off second base when Lugo was in a 2-1 count to Wallner.

Lugo surrendered another run during a two-out rally in the sixth inning. Correa dropped a double down the left-field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch. The Royals opted to intentionally walk Larnach when he was in a 3-1 count, and France followed with an RBI single to right field in a two-strike count.

France said it was “a little more personal” after the intentional walk, even if it was in a 3-1 count.

“It’s like a slap in the face instead of a jab,” said France, smiling.

Wallner opened the eighth inning with a solo homer off lefty reliever Sam Long, bashing a slider that carried a few feet over the right-field wall. In the ninth, France lifted a low slider from Royals reliever Chris Stratton into the Twins bullpen beyond the left-field wall.