Sonny Gray supplies another fine start as Twins shut out Royals

When Sonny Gray gave up his first hit in the third inning Wednesday, his first thought was, "Dang."

His bid for a no-hitter was no longer viable, which meant he'd have to come up with his best public relations spin-zone when facing fellow starter Joe Ryan after the game. Ryan put up seven no-hit innings in the Twins' victory Tuesday against the Royals. Gray allowed three in his seven innings the next day as the Royals once again fell, this time 4-0 in front of an announced crowd of 14,927 at Target Field.

Ryan struck out nine batters and walked two, while Gray had eight Ks and walked one. But Gray threw slightly more than 70% of his pitches for strikes to Ryan's 68%.

"I was still messing with him in there. I was trying to one-up him," Gray said with a laugh. "… I told him I'm more efficient than he is, and he walks too many guys. So yeah, I definitely wanted to do my part there because I don't think I could have sat and listened to him."

Ryan, though, offered his own rebuttal to Gray's claims.

"I don't know, I think with his experience and the fact that he's been an All-Star and stuff, you would expect a little bit more out of him to probably go nine there, even with our pitch count what it is right now," Ryan said dryly, tongue firmly planted in cheek. "So yeah, interesting with a veteran presence that he has, you just always expect a CG [complete game]. But it's fine."

Ribbing aside between the rookie and the seasoned pro, the Twins have now gone up two games to none in this three-game series against the 57-86 Royals. And that has helped lift the Twins above .500 to a 71-70 record, though they are still five games behind the AL Central-leading Guardians and one game back of the White Sox.

Gray (8-4, 2.91 ERA) and Ryan (11-8, 3.83 ERA) have been the Twins' best starters all season and will hopefully motivate the rest of the rotation to keep the competitive fire lit, especially with a huge series at Cleveland starting Friday.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said not only has the solid starting pitching recently given the Twins two consecutive victories, but it also takes some of the pressure off the bullpen and position players. The rest of the team can concentrate on their jobs when they have so much confidence in the starters.

"It's also good in the starting pitcher realm for everyone to see those guys throw the ball like that," Baldelli said. "I'm sure every guy following is going to want to do just what these two guys did the last couple of days."

Caleb Thielbar and Jorge Lopez pitched the final two innings and surrendered just a hit apiece to preserve the shutout. Offensively, the Twins took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Jose Miranda grounded into a double play that still drove in the first run. Gary Sanchez later smacked a two-RBI double. Gio Urshela's sacrifice fly in the seventh gave the Twins' their fourth run. But the Twins did lose their top hitter, Luis Arraez, to left hamstring tightness after the first inning. An MRI didn't reveal substantial damage, but he will likely sit out Thursday's game.

This was ultimately a pitching duel, though, albeit between two guys on the same team throwing on different nights. And while 26-year-old Ryan can lord his (arguably) slightly better game over 32-year-old Gray, at the end of the day, it's all respect and love between the duo.

In the clubhouse after Wednesday's game, Ryan pulled out a yellow No. 54 Oakland A's jersey from his locker, Gray's name emblazoned on the back. When Ryan was a teen in his native Bay Area, he looked up to Gray, just starting out with the Athletics.

"I'm kind of stoked, so I've got to get him to sign it," Ryan said, "because he's been one of my favorite pitchers for a long time. So it's cool to get to compete with him that way.

"Getting to go seven last night again and then having him do the same thing. Yeah, it was awesome."