Twins 6, Red Sox 0: A Shutout for Joe Ryan and a BIG Win for the Twins

[Sherry Cerny]

The Twins and Red Sox finished their four-game series on Thursday afternoon after an electric ten-inning win on Wednesday night. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton got things going early, and Joe Ryan did something no Twins pitcher had done in five years. The feeling in the stadium was electric and the energy carried the players through the game.

Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker, USA Today

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K (112 pitches, 83 strikes (74.1%))
Home Runs:  Carlos Correa (10), Byron Buxton 2 (13)
Top 3 WPA: Joe Ryan (.197), Byron Buxton (.132), Carlos Correa (.086),
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins...and Buck...are Back?
The Twins were still feeling the fire from Wednesday night when Thursday's game against the Red Sox began. The Twins started the first inning mashing baseballs giving the Twins a 2-0 lead. Carlos Correa, who has found his groove again, started out in the first inning getting the Twins on the board with a solo home run, Two batters later another solo home run was hit by Byron Buxton - the second longest home run of his career (466 feet). 

Red Sox "bulk" pitcher Brandon Walter had a difficult time keeping the Twins from manufacturing runs, something they have desperately needed to do as of late. A single from Ryan Jeffers started out the second inning followed by a double from Willi Castro and another double from Michael A. Taylor brought home both Jeffers and Castro, giving the Twins a 4-0 lead. 

The second inning was strategically different than anticipated. Donovan Solano pinch hit for Edouard Julien against the lefty, and Kyle Farmer pinch hit for Alex Kirilloff. Julien has a wOBA of .127 against lefties.

The weirdness of the second inning continued when the Twins had two on. With one out, Michael A. Taylor took off for third base (stolen base attempt). Farmer's fly ball to deep center was caught on the warning track. Taylor was thinking stolen base, so he slid headfirst into third base, looked up to see the fly out, and did not retouch third base before retreating back to second allowing Rafael Devers to force an out, ending the inning. 

Buxton had a day. Hitting his 12th and 13th home runs of the season, he also hit two of his three longest home runs today (466ft and 465ft). The longest one he ever hit was off of Liam Hendricks for 496 feet. Buxton certainly has struggled through some stretches this season in the DH position, some fans even calling for him to return to the IL until he is “better”. His second home run of the day gave the Twins a 5-0 lead over the Red Sox.

A Complete Game Shutout for Joe Ryan
The pitching from the club has kept them afloat much of the season.  Joe Ryan put on a clinic from the mound. After his last appearance, Ryan seemed to have gathered himself. 

Ryan only threw 33 pitches through the first five innings, didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning, and didn’t allow a single run, against the Red Sox line-up. Ryan has been working on his splitter with pitching coach, Pete Maki, and he used it often in this one.

Ryan’s ability to control the lineup gave the manager the confidence to keep him in the game. It was Ryan's first complete game and shut out of his career and the first complete game shutout for the Twins in the past five seasons!

The most pitches that Ryan has thrown in a game this season was 107. In Thursday’s game he threw 112, struck out nine batters, three of those batters struck out swinging back to back in the fifth inning.  

Ending on a High Note
The rest of the game was a cake-walk for the Twins, something that gave the club and the fans a lot to cheer about. The fifth inning started out with a lead off walk from Farmer, who advanced with every at-bat from his teammates keeping the pressure on the Red Sox. He eventually made it to third base. Royce Lewis stepped up to the plate and blooped a ball to centerfield that dropped right in between the three outfielders to drive in Farmer and give the Twins the 6-0 lead. 

The score stayed at 6-0 throughout the remainder of the game, giving the Twins the win and the series tie. They also returned to .500 before starting their road trip with the Tigers. 

What’s Next? 
Tomorrow the Twins start a series in Detroit against the Tigers starting with Kenta Maeda taking the mound. The Twins didn’t fare very well last weekend against the Tigers losing the series (3-1), hopefully the Twins can take a series from the Tigers. 
Friday 6:40 pm: RHP Kenta Maeda (0-4 9.00 ERA) vs. LHP Joey Wentz (1-7, 6.82 ERA)
Saturday 7:15 pm: RHP Pablo Lopez (3-4, 3.40 ERA) vs. RHP Reese Olson (0-2, 5.59 ERA)
Sunday 1:40 pm: RHP Bailey Ober (4-4, 2.83 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-5, 4.00 ERA)

Postgame Interviews

 

 

BULLPEN CHART 

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	TOT
Headrick	0	0	41	0	0	41
Morán	11	13	0	17	0	41
Balazovic	40	0	0	0	0	40
Durán	0	0	0	32	0	32
De León	0	25	0	0	0	25
Jax	0	10	0	8	0	18
Pagán	0	17	0	0	0	17
Ortega	0	0	16	0	0	16
Stewart	0	0	0	15	0	15

 

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[UK Twin]

Well that was fun! First of all I'm going to assume the pinch hitting changes were pre-planned before the game so Julien and AK were aware. Ryan - best start of his MLB career. Just in total control all game. Saved the bullpen as well which is important. And boy did Buck CRUSH those pitches. Pretty cool to be be the first to hit 2 460+ bombs in one game in the Statcast era. 

[wsnydes]

Baseball Gods, I thank you for the return of Buxton's bat and the enjoyment felt during the first Twins pitcher CG in a millennium.  May we continue to be worthy of such bliss.

Amen

[Matt Braun]

Gotta love a game that can speak for itself. Go Twins!

[Gary_Wayne_Guy]

Bring Louisa to every game.   Handing Dad every baseball was adorable.

 

Good job Dad for rolling with it

[David Maro]

Need to show up in Detroit this weekend and sweep the Tigers. It doesn't get easier after that with Atlanta and Baltimore. It's time you know what or get off pot. Can't look like good 1 game and out of sorts the next. Putting the ball in play and not relying on the long ball is how to play the game. Nice to see Ryan go the distance.

 

[USAFChief]

Nice job Mr Ryan, nice job.

[jmlease1]

Love me some Joe Ryan. He was masterful today, and it was fun to watch.

Really nice win today. Hopefully this is the team getting back on track and we'll see this continue. Offense and pitching showed up at the same time, and that was great. Can't say it's a bad thing at all for the bullpen to get a day off.

[MMMordabito]

Ryan should be going to the ASG after that performance. He's in the top 10 in most of the pitching stats in that AL.

[jorgenswest]

The ace of the staff.

[Jocko87]

2 hours ago, UK Twin said:

Well that was fun! First of all I'm going to assume the pinch hitting changes were pre-planned before the game so Julien and AK were aware. Ryan - best start of his MLB career. Just in total control all game. Saved the bullpen as well which is important. And boy did Buck CRUSH those pitches. Pretty cool to be be the first to hit 2 460+ bombs in one game in the Statcast era. 

Being pre-planned somehow doesn’t make it better. I said what I needed to say in the game thread except this. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We will see if it catches on. 

Almost equally surprising was the complete game. I would have been just fine with a Pagan 9th but I love this. Maybe a little message to Sonny from Rocco in there too. 

[mikelink45]

A complete game shut out. I am beside myself with happiness

[D.C Twins]

Established stars actually playing like stars (Correa and Buck)

Blossoming stars playing like stars (Lewis and Ryan)

Now THIS is the kind of formula we need for sustained success.

We Shall See

[Blyleven2011]

Hot day at the park  but well worth the atmosphere  ....

Twins jump out early against opener  , twins hitters faced 3 different pitchers and only struck 5 times and only made 24 outs because they didn't have to bat in the both of the ninth  , HOW often has that happened  ...

I think this is also our first win against an opener  ...

[Beast]

That’s one of the most therapeutic games that possible.

Fantastic pitching performance.  Correa and Buxton both going yard.  That’s how you halt the free fall and energize an apathetic fanbase.

Hopefully they can use this as a springboard and it’s a not a blip on the radar.

[joemama]

Great game, but I'm not a fan of the quick pinch-hitting for Julien and Kirillof.  The bench is immediately thin.  Obviously didn't cause any issues today but just seems like a risky practice.

[wornsmooth]

Personal observations. (Doesn't mean they have any validity!)

Were the Twins hitters the last two games more aggressive at the plate? It seemed to me that they, as a group, went up to bat with the attitude 'if it looks like something I can hit...swing at it'. We had balls put in play with low pitch counts, rather than the 'work the count' type of approach. Much easier to hit if every time you look up the count isn't 1-2, or 0-2. A first pitch down the middle is just as good to swing at as waiting to see if it shows up again after taking 2 strikes.

Looks like a bit more aggression on the base paths. An off the glove single to center scores a runner (Lewis?) from first. Thats old time LA Dodger baseball. (they used to win a lot of pennants). Cool beans. 

Love Ryan's ability to throw strikes. Ya give up a homer or two, but not with two guys you already walked on base.

It was a fun game.

[Mortimerkenny21]

Props to the whole team today for playing like some real pros today. A huge congrats to Joe Ryan, he should be proud that's an amazing feat! Great job to Jeffers calling and catching. And thanks Rocco for believing in your all star pitcher and letting him go a few pitches extra to let him finish the game. What a game!  

[DocBauer]

Read the box score. Saw about 3 1/2 innings during lunch, and read the OP. From all of that, a few observations, though I know I'll get pushback on my last point:

1] Tremdous game from Ryan. Just masterful and maybe his best performance yet. Really enjoyed the breakdown during the game regarding his usuall pitch usage vs today. He, and Jeffers, and I assume the staff, knew what was working and stuck with it. That's PITCHING. I refuse to annoit any sort of ACE status for Ryan in his 2nd season, but he IS a legitimate top of the rotation arm. Kuddos!

2] I wasn't crazy about PH so early in the game. It worked out, but could have come back to bite later in the game if things turned. Was Rocco just really certain the Sox were going to ride Walter? If so, good instincts. 

3] Despite battling his heel problem, Correa is playing as good defensively as I've ever seen him. The last week plus he's actually starting to look like the hitter we know he usually is. And that's pretty damn important for this team to move forward.

4] Buxton is a streaky hitter. Buxton is a veritable MONSTER when remotely healthy and in a groove. He's shown it before, and showed it again today. IF he's a full time DH going forward, he might continue to be a streaky hitter. But a generally healthy Buxton is a legitimate 25-28 doubles hitter with 32-35 HR power who will still leg out a triple or 4-6 and steal a few key bases when his knees are having a good day. His being a full time DH doesn't limit the lineup if he can remain mostly healthy. 

It DOES mean a deeper examination of the roster going forward and where everyone fits, mostly a permanent or semi-permanent answer at CF. But that's a different discussion for a different day.

But the Twins had some pretty damn good lineups when they had Davis, Winfield, Cruz, and even Thome briefly as a full time DH. It's not Buxton at DH that is the issue, as long ad he's relatively healthy to be what he can be. It's how the REST of the lineup and position player roster is constructed that needs to be addressed. 

[stringer bell]

In order to have a complete game in this era, with this manager and pitching coach, a lot of boxes have to be checked. 1) No one in the bullpen needs to work. 2) Is the team safely ahead? 3) Is the pitch count under control? 4) Are the opponents starting to hit the starter? All the boxes were checked and Ryan was able to get both a complete game and shutout. Congratulations Joe!

[Fatbat]

Its all downhill from here. Lol 

[jimbo92107]

Joe Ryan: Hey Jeffers, stand over there, I wanna try out some pitches.

9 inning, 112 pitches, 9 ks and 3 hits later...

Jeffers: Yeah, those looked pretty good.

Pretty good day for Buxton, too. Guess I'll cancel that Amazon order for his rocking chair... :-)

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Great job Joe Ryan! Nice to have something like this on your resume. I feel like this was owed to him today after being pulled from the no hitter last year. 

[jkcarew]

Complete game is one thing...but complete game shutout is something else again. They’ve never been ‘easy’ or ‘common’.

Verlander has 9; Kershaw 15; Santana and Radke both had 10.

Congrats, Joe!

[ashbury]

Shutouts are by definition "complete game shutouts."

This important information was passed along unsolicited by an MLB official scorer so I take it more seriously than some distinctions.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

3 hours ago, jimbo92107 said:

9 inning, 112 pitches, 9 ks, no walks and 3 hits later...

Fixed yet post! 😀

[Mark G]

A complete game.  

Only 5 K's by the offense.

In the same game!!

Has anyone done a temperature check in hell recently?  🫣

[Doctor Wu]

Once again, Ryan steps up, and this time in a BIG way. Thank you again to Tampa Bay for that present! Of course we had to give up 2 months of Nelson Cruz to get him, but man, that ranks as a steal at this point. Meanwhile, let's score some  runs for Maeda too!

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Props to Ryan. Big time performance. Much needed win and keeps the 'pen fresh heading into a big series against Detroit. Nice to see the offense get some early runs. Buxton and Kepler starting to heat up.

[Peter]

Fantastic!!! Massive home runs by C4 and buxton and complete game shutout by Ryan!!! Let’s hope this is the spark 🧨 twins need rest of season and have winning road trip with payback sweep of Detroit this weekend!!