Twins 2, Mariners 0: Twins Shut Out Mariners to End Losing Streak

[Sherry Cerny]

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K (93 pitches, 61 strikes (59%))
Home Runs: Kody Clemens (9)
Top 3 WPA: Joe Ryan (.350); Willi Castro (.125); Louis Varland (.094)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins pitching staff has been dismal throughout the month. It seems like in every game, there is a situation where a pitcher struggles and runs up their pitch count in some untenable way, or serves up meatballs and watches opponents feast, giving the offense a Herculean task trying to pull out a win. 

Joe Ryan started Wednesday night against Seattle, though, and although he needed 41 pitches to get through the first two innings, he seemed mostly in control. His appearance in the third was much quicker and better, getting out with only 10 pitches and no Mariners runs. This was the first time this series that the pitching staff has kept the Mariners from scoring in the first three innings. 

All things being equal, the Mariners also kept the Twins from making any progress at all. Seattle has been exceptional of late. Everything about the Mariners has been firing on all cylinders this season. Since 2022, they have continued to be a postseason threat, and until Houston’s most recent run, they were first in the American League West. They still look like a team who can hang around in that race

The Twins, who climbed the standings in May and were able to stay above .500 for three weeks, are more of an enigma. All the parts are there, it seems, but if the pitching is great, they don’t get runs. If the pitching is off and giving up a lot of runs, they get runs, but not enough to win.

Ryan has been the closest thing to a steady presence in the run prevention corps this month, and that continued Wednesday. The only issue was his high pitch count. He saw 93 pitches by the sixth inning, but he also struck out Cal Raleigh three times, which is half the battle against Seattle. Raleigh is a menace at the plate against the Twins. He’s had a home run against the Twins in the past five games the two teams have played, and entered Wednesday night on a torrid streak overall. 

Ryan gave up a hit to Randy Arozarena in the fourth, but Christian Vázquez cut down Arozarena on a steal attempt. That nipped the biggest threat the Mariners might have mounted all night in the bud. An error by Ty France put Luke Raley on first base, but Ryan shut down the inning by striking out Donovan Solano. Ryan was exactly what the Twins needed him to be Wednesday night: a stopper.

The game remained scoreless, until Byron Buxton happened. Buxton got his first hit of the night in the bottom of the sixth, and continued to take large leads during Trevor Larnach’s at-bat, putting pressure on Mariners pitcher George Kirby. When Larnach hit a might-have-been double-play ball to the right side, Buxton was already in motion, landing safely at second despite the groundout.  

Buxton was feeling extra spicy tonight on the bases, and kept Kirby on his toes throughout Willi Castro’s at-bat. The mental games paid off. On the ninth pitch, Castro pulled a grounder between first and second that scored Buxton, giving the Twins the first run of the night, 1-0. The inning ended with a groundout from Carlos Correa, but the Twins had all the runs they'd need.

Louis Varland stepped in to relieve Ryan in the seventh inning, and kept anxiety and stress to a minimum. He walked Arozarena, but struck out Raley, and the remaining batters fell victim to the Twins' defense to end the inning. The Twins would have another chance at the bottom of the seventh inning to get some insurance, in hopes of securing a win.

Both Matt Wallner and Ty France struck out to start the bottom of the inning, but Kody Clemens stepped up to the plate and gave the team exactly what they needed. Clemens knocked a two-out, oppo-taco blast to left-center to give the Twins another run, for a 2-0 lead.

Griffin Jax dispensed with the Mariners on nine pitches in the eighth inning. In the ninth, Jhoan Duran came back out for his first save opportunity since June 8. He locked it down as though it was still an everyday thing, including a strikeout of former teammate Jorge Polanco.

What's Next
The Twins finish out the long four-game series with Seattle Thursday, a getaway game before heading back into a divisional series with the red-hot Detroit Tigers. Simeon Woods-Richardson (2-4; 5.06 ERA) will be taking the mound against Emerson Hancock (3-3; 5.43 ERA) at 12:10PM CST. 

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[David HK]

Good job, boys!  Nice to break that streak.

On  the other hand, the White Sox won, too, so they're still right on our tails...

[Vanimal46]

 

World Series is back on the table 

[mnfireman]

Only took a real MLB pitcher to shake off the errors and bleeders to end the forever losing streak...

[Blyleven2011]

The pitching saved the day , Duran finally capitilizes on the opportunity for his first save since June 8th , a few blown saves and losses in between  ...

Was an intense game , but the twins managed a win scoring just 2 runs  ...

Defense alittle sloppy with a couple of errors ...

Clemens is earning his keep again  ...

[Sjoski]

44 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

World Series is back on the table 

You mean tickets right?

[terrydactyls]

Ryan struck out Raleigh three times?  I thought Twins' pitchers weren't allowed to face the batting order a third time?  Has Rocco's extension btought on a change of philosophy or did he not know what inning it was?

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

 

World Series is back on the table 

Let's see if they can get to a .500 record before printing the playoff tickets.

[knothole61]

As Lao Tzu wrote quite some time ago: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." GoTwins...

Great job Ryan against a dangerous lineup...Cal who?

[USAFChief]

It’s a miracle! Praise God Almighty, it’s a miracle!

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

 

World Series is back on the table 

World Series was never off the table. 

They have one every year. No, no, it's true! Really. Every year. Two teams. 

[GNess]

Joe Ryan is legit.

[Doctor Wu]

7 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Was an intense game , but the twins managed a win scoring just 2 runs  ...

And only 4 hits! Yikes, You are correct: our pitching saved us in this game. 

[Doctor Wu]

7 hours ago, David HK said:

White Sox won, too, so they're still right on our tails...

That is a downright frightening observation!

[Peter]

Huge much needed win!!! Time to go on winning streak and get over .500 by all star break!

[Doctor Gast]

7 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

The pitching saved the day , Duran finally capitilizes on the opportunity for his first save since June 8th , a few blown saves and losses in between  ...

Was an intense game , but the twins managed a win scoring just 2 runs  ...

Defense alittle sloppy with a couple of errors ...

Clemens is earning his keep again  ...

Ryan was the anchor for a boat gone adrift. Like you said the defense was a little sloppy, but the pitching didn't unravel. That's what we needed, along with Buxton's aggressive baserunning & clutch hitting by Castro & Clemens. Just enough balanced effort for the win. Hope it's enough to stabilize the pitching staff & playing good baseball.

[Fezig]

8 hours ago, David HK said:

Good job, boys!  Nice to break that streak.

On  the other hand, the White Sox won, too, so they're still right on our tails...

If, and most likely when, the Pale Hose overtake the Twins will there be enough revolt to get rid of the manager? Nah. I'm sure it's just a bump in the road.

[DJL44]

6 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Great job Ryan against a dangerous lineup...Cal who?

Joe Ryan would be a deserving All-Star. He's tied for 6th in bWAR among all pitchers.

[CRF]

At least we've got ONE good starting pitcher going for us right now. Can we clone him?

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.

[jmlease1]

Excellent job by Ryan. Cal Raleigh had been on such a trail of destruction against the Twins that I was basically in a "just walk that guy!" mode, but Ryan wasn't scared. Pretty impressive K-ing him 3 times!

Bullpen did the job too, though it definitely highlighted who was trusted and who was not in a close game. Sands has clearly fallen out of favor (not unreasonably based on recent performance) and Topa isn't trusted in higher leverage situations right now either. Considering how badly this team needed a win, I can't really complain about going for it that way.

Not much offense, but Seattle has pitching too. Tonight was a gain where you didn't need much and they scratched 2 across. I have some concerns that Clemens is a streaky all or nothing guy at the plate, but he's doing enough to make a difference, at least until Keaschall gets back.

We've been losing in every possible way recently. Hopefully, this starts a run where things fall the other way for a while. Much more fun watching a game like this.

[chinmusic]

6 hours ago, USAFChief said:

World Series was never off the table. 

They have one every year. No, no, it's true! Really. Every year. Two teams.

Except 1994, when the Expos would've won😀

[karcherd]

Clemens has been a pleasant surprise and has had his moments.  And he should stay on the team, but when everyone is healthy he needs to be a bench piece.  He can provide a key hit and some good defense but he should be not starting ahead of Lee, Lewis or Keaschall when everyone is back..

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, Fezig said:

If, and most likely when, the Pale Hose overtake the Twins

 

9 hours ago, David HK said:

Good job, boys!  Nice to break that streak.

On  the other hand, the White Sox won, too, so they're still right on our tails...

[Whitey333]

Nice win Twins.  It's sad when we get all giddy because they got their one win this week.  I hope this team can turn it around and go on a prolong win streak.  I just don't think they have the makeup to be a serios contender.  Injuries?  Just a sounding board to make excuses.  Losing Lopez hurts no doubt.  But he only plays once a week.  Lewis is showing not much at all.  Keashall looked good but definitely a small sample size.  Their pipeline as such sprung major leaks.  Their minor leagues isn't nearly as good as the hype.  Just look at some of the players we have on the major league team.  Many of them are not major leagues.  I'm hoping it works out my summer is always Twins.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, GNess said:

Joe Ryan is legit.

Wasn’t there an article on here earlier about using him as possible trade bait? Or maybe I just dreamt that.🤦‍♂️ He’s been one of the few bright spots in this dismal season.

[JD-TWINS]

10 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

The pitching saved the day , Duran finally capitilizes on the opportunity for his first save since June 8th , a few blown saves and losses in between  ...

Was an intense game , but the twins managed a win scoring just 2 runs  ...

Defense alittle sloppy with a couple of errors ...

Clemens is earning his keep again  ...

Clemens has paid off as a pretty nice find! Plays 3 positions as necessary and hitting with power in fairly limited opportunities. Apparently his bat speed is up this year and he said he couldn’t attribute to anything in particular a number of weeks ago when asked. I just saw replay of his opposite field HR on a spinner slider from last night and Plouffe’s comment was “…….,,,you gotta be some kind of strong to do that……” ………..not insinuating anything here but my mind did drift to Dad’s tendency to put PED’s to use. Wishing Kody good fortune going forward!

[jorgenswest]

8 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Ryan struck out Raleigh three times?  I thought Twins' pitchers weren't allowed to face the batting order a third time?  Has Rocco's extension btought on a change of philosophy or did he not know what inning it was?

You likely know this is a pen often repeated myth but for others

Ryan has faced the top of the line up for a third time in every start this year. He has no starts of 18 or fewer batters. He faced the top of the lineup a third time in every 2024 start other than the where he was pulled after 7 batters due to injury. Ober and Lopez have seen the top of the line up virtually every start short of rain or injury. Woods Richardson in 8 of 11 starts. Paddack every start this year.

[TwinsDr2021]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Joe Ryan would be a deserving All-Star. He's tied for 6th in bWAR among all pitchers.

In the American League - Tied for 4th in Wins, tied for 16th in Quality Starts, 9th in ERA, tied for 5th in K's, tied for 3rd in WAR and 3rd in WHIP. That should absolutely be deserving of being an ALL STAR, IMO.

[TwinsDr2021]

29 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

You likely know this is a pen often repeated myth but for others

Ryan has faced the top of the line up for a third time in every start this year. He has no starts of 18 or fewer batters. He faced the top of the lineup a third time in every 2024 start other than the where he was pulled after 7 batters due to injury. Ober and Lopez have seen the top of the line up virtually every start short of rain or injury. Woods Richardson in 8 of 11 starts. Paddack every start this year.

I agree with your comment, most Twins pitchers average facing 22-24 batters a game and have for years. The third time though is brought up here, TV and the radio and when I hear it I feel like the people talking about it are just saying because they heard something about it. IMO, the real problem with Twins pitchers and pitchers around the league is how many pitches it is taking them to get though innings. Maybe it is the philosophy that every batter needs to be struck out so it is taking more pitches to get outs? I mean even our best pitcher Joe Ryan isn't starting an inning when his pitch count is above 85, which means a bunch of starts he only goes 5, but on days he is more efficient, he goes longer, weird?

Can't remember if it was Sale or a different pitcher was asked about his innings and he said if he want to pitch deeper into games he said he would have to be more efficient with his pitches and worry less about striking out guys and worrying about making better pitches to get outs, the strike outs will come. He also something along the lines of I am not much good to the team pitching 4 or 5 innings and wearing out our pen. 

To me it just feels like minor league pitchers (maybe not the best of the best) are being taught that strike outs are king and not to worry about pitch count or about innings