Twins lose to Tigers after Joe Ryan shelled for five runs in third inning

Just because a division is lousy doesn't mean it can't stage a torrid pennant race. The Twins are sure trying to create one.

Joe Ryan gave up a season-high six runs, the Twins didn't advance a runner as far as second base in the final five innings, and Detroit pulled away for the second night in a row in a 7-1 victory Friday at Target Field.

The Tigers improved to 29-39 on the season, which doesn't sound like much. Well, until you realize that the AL Central-leading Twins, who no longer have a winning record at 35-35, are only five games ahead of those fourth-place Tigers. Friday's loss was the Twins' fourth in a row to an AL Central foe, and their eighth in 12 intradivision meetings since May 1. Way to keep it, um, "interesting," right?

"It's a lot of thinking about if we're .500 or if we're going to lose first place. We're playing the teams in the same division and it's a lot going on in our heads," Donovan Solano theorized after his two-hit night. "I think the pressure is put on us to try to win because it's the same division, and it maybe causes a lot of things. We need to delete that and enjoy every single day of the game."

Ryan didn't enjoy his day much, considering it was the third consecutive loss for a pitcher who reeled off five straight wins to open the season. The righthander retired the final eight hitters he faced in his seven-inning start, didn't walk a batter, and faced more than four Tigers in an inning only once.

The exception, however, doomed him to his first loss to Detroit in six career starts.

"They got some weak hits, and then some big hits, strung those together. Definitely frustrating knowing [I] didn't really put the ball where I wanted in those spot," Ryan said. "Just frustrating to see those outcomes sometimes."

The third inning opened with four consecutive singles, though one was an infield hit and another a perfectly placed popup that landed just in front of center fielder Michael A. Taylor. Ryan recorded his first out on another popup, then gave up a sacrifice fly to Kerry Carpenter, putting the Tigers ahead 2-1.

Then came the night's biggest mistake: after four straight fastballs to get ahead of Javy Báez 1-2, Ryan went with a splitter on the inside corner. Báez turned on it and whistled it just inside the foul pole in left field, a three-run homer that made it a five-run inning.

"Tried to get that thing down," Ryan said. "Was feeling good with it and left it up."

Matt Vierling, who started all the trouble in the third, tacked on a solo home run in the fourth inning, and an upper-deck shot in the ninth off Josh Winder, surplus runs that the Twins never came close to matching.

That's because, facing a bullpen game against a Tigers pitching staff ravaged by injuries, the Twins reverted to the silent-offense virus that has afflicted them for most of the past six weeks. Byron Buxton went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and Carlos Correa's seven-game hitting streak ended.

Alex Kirilloff led off the second inning with his fourth home run of the season, and third to the opposite field. But the only other extra-base hit of the night for Minnesota came in the same inning — and came with an error by third base coach Tommy Watkins.

Donovan Solano followed Kirilloff's home run with a single off reliever Mason Englert. But two batters later, when Joey Gallo doubled to right field, Solano was waved home as he neared third base — then suddenly told to stop when right fielder Zach McKinstry's throw reached Báez at short with plenty of time to get him.

"A miscommunication. That's it. It's one of those things that happens a very small handful of times each year," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It looked like a standard second-and-third and see what the next hitter can do kind of situation. And obviously there was a miscommunication."

Báez waited a beat, then fired the ball to third baseman Jonathan Schoop, and Solano had no chance to get back. The next batter, Christian Vázquez, flew out, a ball that may have been a sacrifice fly, and the Twins' promising — and ultimately final — threat fizzled.