Cubs 8, Twins 2: Joe Ryan Leaves Early, Lots of Things Fall Apart At Once

[Theodore Tollefson]

Start went crazy; the rubber match went snap. Now we have to find out who'll hold it down til Ryan gets back.

Image courtesy of David Banks

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (33 pitches, 22 strikes (66.7% strikes))
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Max Kepler .143, Matt Wallner .089, Carlos Santana .034, 
Bottom 3 WPA: Trevor Richards -.347, Willi Castro -.100, Austin Martin -.094

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Getting Runs Early 
Following Tuesday night’s 8-3 loss, the Twins bats determined to get on the board early in this one. Trevor Larnach drew a one-out walk in the top of the first, and two batters later, Matt Wallner drilled an RBI double to right-center to drive him in and put the Twins up 1-0.

That lead was shortlived, but the Twins offense continued to be a thorn in Cubs starter Javier Assad’s side. Carlos Santana and Max Kepler led off the second with back-to-back singles. With one out, Brooks Lee was up. He battled out a 12-pitch at-bat and managed an RBI groundout to score Santana and give the Twins back the lead again. 

The Joe Ryan Experience Makes a Sudden Stop
Joe Ryan had heavy expectations on him on Wednesday afternoon. He’d be making the Twins' last start before a four-game series against the Guardians at home, and he needed to do his part to ensure a win before a pivotal series for the American League Central takes place.

Ryan struck out Ian Happ on three quick pitches to begin the game. The next batter, Cubs first baseman and Minnesota native Michael Busch, would not make things so easy. On a 2-2 count, Ryan threw a 94.1 MPH fastball right down the middle for Busch, who crushed it for a solo home run to right-center field.

Ryan would have a quick 10-pitch, 1-2-3 second inning. But things turned for the worse in the third. After throwing only four pitches to Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ryan had a visit on the mound from Twins trainer Nick Paparesta. Whatever Ryan felt on the previous two pitches didn’t sit right with him, and Ryan removed himself from the game after facing only eight batters. He was diagnosed with triceps tightness, which could mean any number of things. Now, we wait.

Unexpected Bullpen Game
Trevor Richards was the first man out of the Twins bullpen following Ryan’s exit from the game. He came in inheriting a 1-2 count on Crow-Armstrong, threw two balls outside the strike zone, then allowed a base hit into right field to get one of the Cubs' deadliest baserunners on. 

Things would not get any easier for Richards, as his command of the strike zone was not there. He walked three batters in the bottom of the third, including a bases-loaded freebie to Seiya Suzuki that tied the game. Suzuki’s RBI walk was followed by a sacrifice fly from Isaac Parades that gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead.

Richards did not even make it out of the third inning after throwing 41 pitches, walking five batters, and having only 17 of those 41 pitches landed for strikes. 

Cole Sands came into the game to mop up Richards's mess, getting Dansby Swanson to ground out and keep the Twins out of further damage only trailing 4-2.

Sands would remain on for the fourth, and while his command of the strike zone was much better than Richards's, the results were just as bad. After Christian Bethancourt hit a one-out double, Happ drilled a 96.5 MPH fastball down and in for a two-run shot to extend the Cubs lead to 6-2. Fortunately, Sands would regain his composure and avert any further damage as he retired the final two batters.

Josh Winder threw only 10 pitches to get the Twins through the fifth without the deficit growing. He remained in the game for the bottom half of the sixth and was once again perfect, getting a groundout and two strikeouts on just 13 pitches. He did allow a hit in the seventh, but held Chicago scoreless for a third frame in a row. In the meantime, though, zeros piled up on the Twins' row of the scoreboard.

Caleb Thielbar was the Twins' last man out of the bullpen Wednesday, and things did not go well for him. The Cubs managed to get three hits and score two more insurance runs off him, all but securing their win with an 8-2 lead. 

Bats go Cold After Ryan's Exit 
While the Twins were able to get at least one base runner in each inning from the 4th to the 6th, they managed to leave each runner stranded. Kepler drew a walk in the fourth and was left behind, José Miranda had a two-out double in the fifth, but saw no help from Wallner who struck out swinging. Santana had his second hit of the game in the sixth, but was left stranded.
The trend continued into the seventh inning, as Lee had a leadoff single, but was out on a force out at second hit by Willi Castro.

Aside from Austin Martin getting hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth, the Twins combined to go 0-for-6 with no base runners in the last two innings, leaving five runners on base after Ryan's departure.

Other Notes
Ryan’s injury exit from the game was announced to be a right triceps injury. This was the first time all season Ryan left a game due to injury. More details are to come following the Twins postgame.

What’s Next? 
The Twins are off on Thursday but will return home for their biggest series of the summer against the Cleveland Guardians. They will play a doubleheader Friday against Cleveland with Bailey Ober and Louie Varland as their starters. The Twins have yet to announce who is starting which game. Game 1 starts at 4:10 p.m.

Postgame Interview 
Coming soon.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[cHawk]

Well that was an unmitigated disaster. Can we play the White Sox again?

[Peter]

Not worried at all!!! Enjoy day off-we will have full lineup and take series over Cleveland!!!

[gregens]

The Twins just put out a 9 inning display of a lackluster performance.   Someone needs to  put some fire into this team if they want to win.

[D.C Twins]

Nearly everyone on this site felt that Richardson was an irrelevant addition....

It turns out we could be all wrong.... likely not irrelevant but deleterious! 

SP gets thin if Ryan out for awhile. Hopefully Varland is back in form....

 

 

[Guest]

And to think, based on yesterday’s game thread Randy Dobnak pitching three innings was the worst thing in the world.

[Danchat]

I hate to be that guy who brings this topic up, but this is why the failure to make additions at the deadline is going to cost this team. Acquired a reliever who was DFA-able and he implodes when you need him. Didn't add another lefty so Thielbar is locked onto a roster spot despite how hittable he is. And if Ryan is hurt for a longer stretch of time, then it looks foolish to forego picking up a back-end starter. I wasn't asking for any of the top prospects to be moved, but they could have at least bolstered the depth in the pitching staff. Now it's time to lay in the bed they made.

Kudos to Winder for going 3 scoreless innings. It'd be great if he could have a Sands-like evolution from AAAA starter to MLB reliever. I think Varland can do that but now more than ever they need him for starting depth.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, cHawk said:

Well that was an unmitigated disaster. Can we play the White Sox again?

I bet López could do better against the Sox than the Cubs.

[Aggies7]

Is the coaching staff ever going to step in and figure out how to stop teams from running at will on the twins? The twins entered today with the 7th most SBs allowed per game. Add 4 on from today. It’s a huge problem and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. We don’t even make it close most of the time.

[thelanges5]

It has been posted on here before but this team has little to no margin for error. Certainly making things harder for themselves with the 7-13 start, lack of SP depth, and inability to keep Buck, Miranda, Lewis, and Correa on the field at the same time. 
 

This series was a groin shot. Prayers for Joe🙏🏻

[USAFChief]

5 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Is the coaching staff ever going to step in and figure out how to stop teams from running at will on the twins? The twins entered today with the 7th most SBs allowed per game. Add 4 on from today. It’s a huge problem and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. We don’t even make it close most of the time.

I don't think the Twins management cares much about stolen bases, on either side of the ball, so I'd imagine they won't. 

[Whitey333]

Perfect example as to why we need a better manager.  Yes Rocco cannot be blamed for Ryan's injury.  But his bullpen handling of it was brutal.  Leaving Richard's in so long to take a thumping was a clear indication he had no intention of playing to win the game.  What kind of a message doesit send to your team to leave Richard's out there getting hammered?  5 walks in one inning!!  Plus a couple of wild pitches.  The game was winnable until our great manager didn't care.  Don't say the bullpen needed a rest.  The team is off Thursday.  Plus the starting lineup was little league.  Rocco has many throw away games each year where he doesn't seem to care if they win or lose.  A blown opportunity to try to win with Cleveland perhaps losing two games today.  Not very impressive at all.

[chinmusic]

12 minutes ago, Danchat said:

I hate to be that guy who brings this topic up, but this is why the failure to make additions at the deadline is going to cost this team

I'm glad you did, because it's true. No safety net in the system in case of injury, and now they may have to pay the price. Ryan's early exit is the perfect case in point.

In other news, the Guardians might be in the process of dropping 2 to the D'backs...

[gregens]

2 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Perfect example as to why we need a better manager.  Yes Rocco cannot be blamed for Ryan's injury.  But his bullpen handling of it was brutal.  Leaving Richard's in so long to take a thumping was a clear indication he had no intention of playing to win the game.  What kind of a message doesit send to your team to leave Richard's out there getting hammered?  5 walks in one inning!!  Plus a couple of wild pitches.  The game was winnable until our great manager didn't care.  Don't say the bullpen needed a rest.  The team is off Thursday.  Plus the starting lineup was little league.  Rocco has many throw away games each year where he doesn't seem to care if they win or lose.  A blown opportunity to try to win with Cleveland perhaps losing two games today.  Not very impressive at all.

Nothing changes unless something changes.   The roster can't really change so the only thing that can change is.....     This is one of those fill in the blank questions we hated in school.

[Aggies7]

8 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Perfect example as to why we need a better manager.  Yes Rocco cannot be blamed for Ryan's injury.  But his bullpen handling of it was brutal.  Leaving Richard's in so long to take a thumping was a clear indication he had no intention of playing to win the game.  What kind of a message doesit send to your team to leave Richard's out there getting hammered?  5 walks in one inning!!  Plus a couple of wild pitches.  The game was winnable until our great manager didn't care.  Don't say the bullpen needed a rest.  The team is off Thursday.  Plus the starting lineup was little league.  Rocco has many throw away games each year where he doesn't seem to care if they win or lose.  A blown opportunity to try to win with Cleveland perhaps losing two games today.  Not very impressive at all.

If you had Winder available to go 3 innings, why would you toss in the new guy who was unlikely to go multiple innings?

edit: nevermind, I thought Richards had pitched on Monday but he hadn’t since Sunday. Although he’s not a longer relief type anyway

[Aggies7]

To be fair, most clubs are going to struggle when losing their #2 starter

[darwin22]

Spent the afternoon on the golf course and see that the Twins pretty much played as poorly as I did, which is quite depressing.

Got to believe, well at least hope, that after the unmitigated disaster of an outing that Richards had today he will be demoted/ DFA'ed.  He's not good and have no idea what Falvey saw in him.  Dobnak needs to be jettisoned back to SP also.  

Should those two things happen, is it reasonable to expect/hope that Topa ( 0.00 ERA over 6 IP since July 23rd) and Ronny Henriquez (2.51 ERA at SP since July 1st over 14.33 IP) get promoted to add bullpen depth?  IMO, I absolutely believe Topa and Henriquez have earned that opportunity.

Losers of all 5 this season against CLE, I'm not as optimistic as others facing them this weekend.  With our bats in hibernation the last few games and our bullpen leaking, I'd be pleased with a split.  Things tilt in a BAD direction if Ryan is out for any extended period.

[Matthew Trueblood]

6 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

If you had Winder available to go 3 innings, why would you toss in the new guy who was unlikely to go multiple innings?

edit: nevermind, I thought Richards had pitched on Monday but he hadn’t since Sunday. Although he’s not a longer relief type anyway

Ehh. Even granting the premise that Richards isn't a long-relief guy, you don't bring in your long relief guy (especially an injury-prone one like Winder) to replace the injured starter. You go to a short reliever who should be able to get hot in a hurry, and then you warm the long reliever to come in the following inning. I thought RB managed the miserable situation fine; sometimes it's just a bad situation and can't be ameliorated.

[tony&rodney]

Today was an ouch.

[gregens]

Ok, here's a positive.  Only in baseball can you take a beat down loss and gain a half game on the first place team!!

[mikelink45]

It isn't that we lost, it is the fact that our BP was exposed again and that we lost 2 of 3 to a bad cubs team.  Busch looks like a MN that we should have.  Richards looks like a RP we should not have.  Did anyone look at his era when we traded for him?

[USAFChief]

31 minutes ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Ehh. Even granting the premise that Richards isn't a long-relief guy, you don't bring in your long relief guy (especially an injury-prone one like Winder) to replace the injured starter. You go to a short reliever who should be able to get hot in a hurry, and then you warm the long reliever to come in the following inning. I thought RB managed the miserable situation fine; sometimes it's just a bad situation and can't be ameliorated.

He has as long as needed to warm up, right?

If Winder can't be used in a relief role, even when he has unlimited warm up time, why is he in the pen?

How long did he warm up for his eventual appearance?

I mean, it's a bad situation, I agree. But inserting a short reliever just seems an odd choice.

 

[USAFChief]

And why were both Buxton and Lewis out AGAIN??

[Aggies7]

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

He has as long as needed to warm up, right?

If Winder can't be used in a relief role, even when he has unlimited warm up time, why is he in the pen?

How long did he warm up for his eventual appearance?

 

It’s tough for any pitcher to go from spitting sunflower seeds and doing god knows what else in the BP in the third inning, to being pushed right in to the fire even if he’s got as much time as needed to get loose. Personally I would have used the long guy, maybe he can go 3 innings and get you to the 6th. Lord knows we’ve had plenty of 5 inning starts over the years. Regardless, he shouldn’t have been left in that long. 5 walks? Come on.

[singlesoverwalks]

Seems kind of passive-aggressive of Rocco to put in Richard's there. Like "Look what you made me do." "Oh, why don't I put in the reliever you got us at the trade deadline--ope! Didn't see THAT coming."

[Doctor Gast]

Not only would it have been nice to have some serious long relief here to put in some serious innings to take care of the bleeding but also some long relief could have possibly prevented it from happening. I have been preaching this for years but nobody listens. If Dobnak can't do it bring up Varland now. I really didn't want him to have be used strictly as a SP when we desperately need him in long relief but we might not have a choice. When the bleeding starts it sometimes hard to stop it.

[Schmoeman5]

J R Richard he's not. 

[Aggies7]

2 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

J R Richard he's not. 

He wasn’t even Little Richard today

[Schmoeman5]

Just now, Aggies7 said:

He wasn’t even Little Richard today

Tutti fruity

[South Dakota Tom]

So I get using Varland Friday with Ober as he’s 27th man.  Does Festa pitch Saturday then and SWR on Sunday?  Push Lopez back to Monday against the Royals….we still need a starter for Tuesday before getting back to regular rest (assuming, I guess, that Joe will miss a turn).  Votes?  Bullpen game seems like a stretch looking at the usage chart above.