When Joe Ryan turned his head to watch the flight of Josh Naylor's soaring fly ball to right field in the seventh inning, it was the only time he didn't look in complete control Sunday.
Ryan, locked in a pitcher's duel with Cleveland's Triston McKenzie for most of the afternoon at Target Field, faced the minimum number of batters until he issued a seven-pitch walk to José Ramírez with two outs in the seventh.
Two pitches later and Ryan's outing came to an abrupt end. Naylor hit an RBI double off the top of the right field wall to deliver the game's first run, and the Twins couldn't rally late in a 2-1 loss to the Guardians in their series finale.
The Twins, who stranded runners on the corners in the bottom of the ninth inning, split the four-game weekend series and remain 3½ games ahead of last year's division winner.
"We didn't have that many competitive at-bats today overall," said manager Rocco Baldelli after the Twins mustered five hits and struck out 16 times.
As well as Ryan pitched — he gave up two hits and one walk in 6⅔ innings — McKenzie was a little better. McKenzie, the 25-year-old righthander who was sidelined for the first two months of the season because of a teres major strain, struck out 10 in five scoreless innings in his season debut.
It was the second time the Twins lost a game this season when their pitchers allowed three or fewer hits. They have never lost three such games in a season in club history.
"I hadn't really seen a slider like his before," Kyle Farmer said of McKenzie. "That's the best I've seen him in a while."