Make It Official! Twins 3, Blue Jays 2: Joe Ryan Gem Fuels Yet Another Twins Win

[Matt Braun]

It didn't have to be that dramatic at the end, though. 

Image courtesy of © John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Joe Ryan: 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
Home Runs: Carlos Santana (5)
Top 3 WPA: Joe Ryan (.366), Jhoan Duran (.140), Carlos Santana (.091)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The game started quickly. Instead of the usual back and forth—the rhythm of minor nothingness that defines the sport—Minnesota arrived primed to hit. Ryan Jeffers smoked a liner for the first out before Carlos Correa deposited a single into center field, and Willi Castro knocked a grounder in the same area; Toronto starter Yusei Kikuchi wondered why this team was so rude. Jose Miranda punched a single into right to score a run. Minnesota failed to plate another run, critically, when Castro bolted home on a stolen base and found Danny Jansen’s glove with the ball securely fashioned, but the match was off on the right foot: they possessed a lead. 

Joe Ryan probably appreciated that. Run support has eluded him. A plethora of quality outings, starts that otherwise would have seen a victory, have gone for naught; he claims just one win on the year. He started just as Joe Ryan should: with strikeouts and glove-finding fly balls.

Until Isiah Kiner-Falefa—apparently still upset at his curt Minnesota tenure—blasted his fourth career homer against the Twins. In 23 games. That’s a 28-a-year rate. He has 28 homers in his career.

Fortunately, another rarity occurred: following his hot streak and subsequent cold spell, Carlos Santana returned to the realm of effective hitting, blasting a solo homer to right field to break the tie. And, yes, the infamous sausage snuck through customs. 

So began what was expected before. The game became a dull seesaw, occasionally seeing men on base, just to watch them jog back to the dugout without a successful trip around the bases. Some threats were real; none fully materialized. A quick foray into the snack drawer threatened a two-inning fast forward. 

Ryan's excellent start eclipsed what turned into an eight-inning outing from Kukuchi, otherwise referred to as "dominant" if it occurred in a win. He needed just 97 pitches. 

As he has done for some time now, Rocco Baldelli decided to turn to Jhoan Durán in an earlier spot than expected: the 8th. Yet again, a top-of-the-order opportunity appeared, and Rocco struck immediately. Durán looked surprisingly mortal—he walked a guy, which is basically the worst teams can do against him these days—but coaxed a double play and forced Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to burn a few turf worms before walking off the mound with a spotless ERA. 

The plan made Griffin Jax the Stan Williams to Durán's Ron Perranoski (or perhaps the other way around) as he entered in the 9th. Justin Turner swung against his desire not to; Danny Jansen whiffed as if he forgot a fastball could sink. Chaos ensued. It's Griffin Jax, after all. Bo Bichette chopped a single into left, Cavan Biggio walked, and a previously-determined-to-be-unimportant-by-the-author RBI single by Max Kepler in the top half morphed into a crucial run when Santana booted the game-winning grounder. So it goes. With a game suddenly on the line, Toronto's Ernie Clement shot a ball off a fortunately angled Jax body part, sending the ball directly to Santana to scoop and end the game with ease.

 

Notes:

Carlos Santana's 306th career homer ties him for 150th all-time with Richie Sexson, Ruben Sierra, and Fred Lynn. 

Joe Ryan earned the 431st strikeout of his career, tying him with Tom Hall for 30th on the all-time Twins' list. 

Griffin Jax set a single-season career-high with his fifth save. The Twins are 15-4 in 2024 when he pitches.

Max Kepler is five RBIs away from passing Roy Smalley for 13th place on the all-time Twins leaderboard. 
Post-Game Interview:

 

 

What's Next:

The Twins and Blue Jays play the second game of their series on Saturday. Simeon Woods Richardson will face his old organization. Kevin Gausman goes for Toronto. First pitch is at 2:07 PM.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[BH67]

I woke up every day after Labor Day last season looking forward to a Twins victory. that evening. This spring is even better. Combined with physicists' discoveries that the Timberwolves have not been NBA champs in ANY parallel universe, this is truly uncharted territory for me.

Timely hitting throughout, great pitching from Ryan and Duran, and great perseverance from Jax to finish the win against the Jays' ace. Hoping for a similar result now on the hardwood.

[arby58]

They're finding ways to win. Santana hits a home run, Ryan goes seven, Correa gets two hits and scores two runs, and Kepler delivers a huge pinch hit. Nice to win without a contribution from Jeffers. That said, the bottom of the order when they go with the right-handed hitters was pretty anemic.

[DJL44]

Not bad for a #4 starter 😜

[David HK]

"Chaos ensued. It's Griffin Jax, after all." 😂

Truer words never spoken.  As soon as I saw him come in, I wondered where the H Stewart was, forgetting that he was the latest on the parade to the IL.  Heart started pounding like being pulled by that chain going up the first climb on the High Roller at Valley Fair.  Then, of course, the plunges, whirls, and loops, until finally, what Ol' Grif couldn't do with his arm, he managed to do with his @$$.  Whew!

This was made even sweeter by switching over to the White Sox game who took their 2nd in a row over the Clevelands!

Chicken for breakfast today here in dreary, rainy Hong Kong. 🐔

[Parfigliano]

I still say their catcher blocked a path to the plate on that out call.

[MMMordabito]

31 minutes ago, David HK said:

😂

This was made even sweeter by switching over to the White Sox game who took their 2nd in a row over the Clevelands.

🐔

[DocBauer]

Great game and a big win taking the first one of 3 on the road. Ryan was tremendous. After a tough inning...the 5th?...and then a couple really quick innings from Kikuchi where Ryan didn't get much recovery time...Rocco showed a ton of confidence sending Ryan out for the 7th. Boy did he respond!

What can you say about Kepler off the bench facing a LHP and coming through?

Big HR from Santana who still seems to have a little life left after a horrendous start to the season. But let's not forget Miranda is showing real life again with another big RBI. He's hitting .295 with a .799 OPS since they brought him back up, and looking decently solid at 3B as well. Next for him is to tap more in to HR power,  but that seems to be true for most of the club.

I liked using Duran for the 8th against the top 3 in the lineup. Jax had to battle, but I thought he looked good. He was ahead of everyone, just barely missed with a few pitches, and might have been squeezed on one potential strike. 

The Twins aren't 100% healthy, and aren't firing on all cylinders yet, but they are confident, solid, and performing as a good, overall TEAM.

My ONLY complaint might be Sands warming up so much he might be limited tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, VERY interested to see how SWR responds after his last performance, on the road, against a good team, and his former team. He's not the same pitcher the Jay's knew. But it's still a game against his former organization and a good team. Will he stay within himself?

Let's keep it rolling guys!

[LastOnePicked]

I thought it would take 3 months to come back from an 8 game deficit. Twins did it in 3 weeks.

I was wrong. I'd love to keep being wrong about this season.

[arby58]

With Miranda contributing and looking pretty solid, it gets you thinking: what do they do when Royce Lewis is ready to come back? They're both right handed hitters who seem best at 3B. Given that Jeffers is spending a lot of time at DH, it limits those options. It doesn't look like Santana is going anywhere, so 1B isn't really an option. Dare I say that maybe Lewis shifts over to 2B against left handed pitchers? I hate myself for even saying it, but . . . 

[Schmoeman5]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

I still say their catcher blocked a path to the plate on that out call.

The catchers whole body was in fair territory above the baseline.  Castro had a clear path to the plate.

[David HK]

3 hours ago, David HK said:

"Chaos ensued. It's Griffin Jax, after all." 😂

Truer words never spoken.  As soon as I saw him come in, I wondered where the H Stewart was, forgetting that he was the latest on the parade to the IL.  Heart started pounding like being pulled by that chain going up the first climb on the High Roller at Valley Fair.  Then, of course, the plunges, whirls, and loops, until finally, what Ol' Grif couldn't do with his arm, he managed to do with his @$$.  Whew!

This was made even sweeter by switching over to the White Sox game who took their 2nd in a row over the Clevelands!

Chicken for breakfast today here in dreary, rainy Hong Kong. 🐔

Heh... updating my little post-

Also sweet today:  Only a half a buck outta first place!  Plus-- Both Sonny Gray and Lance Lynn getting greased by the Brewers on successive days!  Off to the rugby now, with a song in my heart! 😅⚾👬

[Doctor Gast]

3 hours ago, David HK said:

Heh... updating my little post-

Also sweet today:  Only a half a buck outta first place!  Plus-- Both Sonny Gray and Lance Lynn getting greased by the Brewers on successive days!  Off to the rugby now, with a song in my heart! 😅⚾👬

Rugby! cool. What time did you watch the game in Hong Kong? & How's Hong Kong?

[Doctor Gast]

Great game by Ryan, Although it's nice to get served up meatballs to produce solo HRs. But what will win the close games is the grinding out ABs not striking out & get those clutch hits.

[Peter]

Nerve wracking game but huge win!!! Don’t put jax as our closer anymore!!! Let’s get series win today!!! Go twins!!!

[h2oface]

Fun read. I like your style, @Matt Braun. Ryan did go 104 pitches, 7 past the 97. Santana was lucky he didn't get charged with an error. Seemed pretty clear cut to me. Yes, there was a runner running past.... still. Jax sure is getting scary. Lady Luck was with him.

I don't understand why pitchers these days don't even try to be ready to field the ball after a pitch. A few do, but it is a rarity. I don't know that Jax even looked. Seemed he had turned around completely. Ryan finally got a W he has been deserving. 

Win streaks really spoil a fan. I like being spoiled.

[jmlease1]

Excellent game from Ryan, marred only by the IKF homer. But Ryan was really good and the Jays certainly have talent in that lineup, even if several of them have been struggling so far this season. The HR was frustrating because it's IKF, but overall Ryan has been doing a good job limiting HRs this season and I'm really impressed with how he's shrunk the free passes so far this season. He looks like he has more confidence in his off-speed pitches this year (I like that splitter a lot, and it's been very effective for him) and he's doing a good job mixing his pitches, which should let his fastball play up a bit.

Still need a little more from the RH hitters when we face a tough lefty like Kikuchi (who has been a monster this season) but we scraped through it.

Jax has wobbled a bit lately, but I think he'll be fine. Hopefully we can find some room to give him an extra night off here and there. Time for some other guys to step up. I loved seeing Duran come in for the 8th: he's an absolutely dominant reliever, and I hate it when those guys get turned into "9th inning guys". I'd much rather have Duran be the fireman and shut down the opposition's best hitters in the late innings than come in with a 3-run lead in the 9th to face 6-7-8.

Good start to the series. Keep it rolling, Twins!

[Otaknam]

10 hours ago, arby58 said:

With Miranda contributing and looking pretty solid, it gets you thinking: what do they do when Royce Lewis is ready to come back? They're both right handed hitters who seem best at 3B. Given that Jeffers is spending a lot of time at DH, it limits those options. It doesn't look like Santana is going anywhere, so 1B isn't really an option. Dare I say that maybe Lewis shifts over to 2B against left handed pitchers? I hate myself for even saying it, but . . . 

As long as they don’t do another failed experiment and put Lewis in the outfield. Miranda might find himself back in AAA because of his lack of versatility.

[stringer bell]

3 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

As long as they don’t do another failed experiment and put Lewis in the outfield. Miranda might find himself back in AAA because of his lack of versatility.

Disagree. Miranda can play first and third and he's a RH hitter. At this point, he's better and more valuable to the team than either Austin Martin or Alex Kirilloff (two of my favorite players BTW). He and Larnach have earned spots on the active roster for now, even if all the position players are healthy. The versatility of Willi Castro makes it more than possible to keep Miranda instead of either Martin or Kirilloff.

Lewis is on another level than Miranda IMHO. Put him at third and let him play. I'd love to see Royce be in the lineup 95% of the time after his return.

[Fat Calvin]

I'd like to see Miranda getting some reps at 1st base.  That could be his home next year.

[stringer bell]

Major league players should be able to make the play that Santana missed in the ninth inning. Not fair to Jax to call that a hit. Things evened out with the deflection that ended the game.

[Linus]

6 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Major league players should be able to make the play that Santana missed in the ninth inning. Not fair to Jax to call that a hit. Things evened out with the deflection that ended the game.

Yea he has had a couple misplays in big spots for a guy that is supposed to be good with the glove. 

[JD-TWINS]

12 hours ago, BH67 said:

I woke up every day after Labor Day last season looking forward to a Twins victory. that evening. This spring is even better. Combined with physicists' discoveries that the Timberwolves have not been NBA champs in ANY parallel universe, this is truly uncharted territory for me.

Timely hitting throughout, great pitching from Ryan and Duran, and great perseverance from Jax to finish the win against the Jays' ace. Hoping for a similar result now on the hardwood.

I like Christian, but inexplicably dropping a probable strike 3 didn’t do Jax any favors!!

[madtowntwin]

The comments on the bullpen above furthers thoughts I'm sure a lot of us are having....ls it time to push the reset button on Varland's development - at least for this season again. The performance of a couple of our un-named left handers and the already frequent use of a few of the righties leads one to ponder. The un-named lefties may be the ones requiring further grooming at their trade. Louie was a bulldog out of the pen last season. His velocity was up and taking the mound in the later innings did not seem to phase him. How much would the Twins have had to cough up in salary to replace his performance in free agency. Just thinking. - Just saying....

[JD-TWINS]

18 minutes ago, Linus said:

Yea he has had a couple misplays in big spots for a guy that is supposed to be good with the glove. 

If you see the replay he’s trying to grab the ball but more focused on getting to first base quickly…….had Biggio at 2B all day I would think? Either way, that ball can’t get through the infield - to me, that negates his WPA and that value should go to Kepler!……..don’t really care about WPA but that play was weak.

[JD-TWINS]

Another 2 out - RBI from Max……he’s up to six now, at a minimum, since coming off IL…….he’s gotta be the MVP of this run!

Bunch of contributors, obviously! I’m just jazzed that after his 1-20 start that he’s capable of this level of play.

[LambchoP]

I think Miranda has earned an everyday spot on the team. When Lewis comes back maybe that pushes Miranda to first base. I wouldn't mind that, he's got way more offensive upside than Santana or Kiriloff which is what you need from the 1b position.

[DJL44]

11 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

I thought it would take 3 months to come back from an 8 game deficit. Twins did it in 3 weeks.

I was wrong. I'd love to keep being wrong about this season.

Also wrong here and would love to keep being wrong. Give some credit to Rocco, some teams would have fallen apart with a start like that.

[Jeff K]

26 minutes ago, madtowntwin said:

The comments on the bullpen above furthers thoughts I'm sure a lot of us are having....ls it time to push the reset button on Varland's development - at least for this season again. The performance of a couple of our un-named left handers and the already frequent use of a few of the righties leads one to ponder. The un-named lefties may be the ones requiring further grooming at their trade. Louie was a bulldog out of the pen last season. His velocity was up and taking the mound in the later innings did not seem to phase him. How much would the Twins have had to cough up in salary to replace his performance in free agency. Just thinking. - Just saying....

I've been wondering the same and prefer to see Varland in late inning relief roles.  Unfortunately, I think the answer is that we still need depth in starting pitching.  Our 5 are going great, but we all know that injuries, or regression will demonstrate that another starter is needed.  Right now, that's Varland.

[DJL44]

30 minutes ago, madtowntwin said:

The comments on the bullpen above furthers thoughts I'm sure a lot of us are having....ls it time to push the reset button on Varland's development - at least for this season again. The performance of a couple of our un-named left handers and the already frequent use of a few of the righties leads one to ponder. The un-named lefties may be the ones requiring further grooming at their trade. Louie was a bulldog out of the pen last season. His velocity was up and taking the mound in the later innings did not seem to phase him. How much would the Twins have had to cough up in salary to replace his performance in free agency. Just thinking. - Just saying....

It has to be hard for Varland. As a starter, he's not good enough to make the rotation but he's too valuable as depth to convert him to relief and keep him in the big leagues. I hope they're not wasting his best innings of his career in AAA.