Nationals 9, Twins 3: Twins and Ryan Embarrassed by the Nationals at Home

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Box Score

SP: Joe Ryan 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (83 pitches, 59 strikes (74%)
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Ryan (-.212), Byron Buxton (-.106), Harrison Bader (-.084)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
 

The Minnesota Twins looked to keep the home stand rolling them back to the .500 mark with another evening game against the woeful Washington Nationals. It was Bailey Ober jersey night, but Joe Ryan was the man on the mound for Twins and the packed Target Field hoped that it wouldn't be for the last time in a Minnesota jersey. Ryan (10-4, 2.59 ERA) came into Saturday's game boasting the best pitch in baseball, as his 4-Seam Fastball checks in with a 21 run value on the season. Standing opposed to the Joe Ryan Experience was southpaw Mitchell Parker (6-10, 4.91 ERA) and he had given up an encouraging 18 runs over 14.2 innings in July thus far. This game was there for the taking as the Twins looked to avoid a Seller's Summer, could Ryan and the Twins capitalize on the opportunity?

Ryan Gets Bit by Nats
Ryan looked the part through the first two innings, mowing through the Nationals lineup without much ado thanks to his fellow All-Star Byron Buxton and his amazing glove.

Parker unfortuneately also looked like an All-Star through the opening two frames, facing the minimum. The bottom of the Washington lineup came up in the top of the third, and Drew Millas scraped a single to left, and then the young catcher swiped second base. In an odd scene, Alex Call became the new ninth hitter when Jacob Young had to leave the game with an injury during a bunt attempt. Call took the change and punched another single through the left side of the infield to score Millas and make it 1-0 Nationals early.

The Twins managed to string together a Ty France single and a Christian Vazquez walk to put runners at first and second with only one out in the bottom of the third, but a couple of hard hit balls by Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa both found Washington gloves and the opportunity went by the wayside. When Luis Garcia Jr. came up to start the fourth inning, Ryan got ahead 0-2 with his great fastball, only to never throw it again in the at-bat. What Ryan did throw was a 2-2, thigh-high sinker, and Garcia took him deep to make it 2-0 Nationals.

Lewis Looks Alive Again, but He's About the Only One
With the Twins offense continuing to pressure the front office towards a fire sale, Royce Lewis continues to offer hope. With one out in the bottom of the fourth Lewis laced a double into the left field corner to put the pressure on Paker. Harrison Bader flailed weakly for a strike out, and Matt Wallner popped up weakly to snuff out yet another opportunity.

The bottom of the Nationals lineup bit Ryan and the Twins again, but the sleepwalking Twins played a vital role in their own demise as well. Ryan couldn't finish off Daylen Lile or Millas with two strikes, and both reached on singles by simply putting the ball in play. Ryan got Call to pop up to shallow right field, and that's when the Twins defense let their All-Star down. France and Willi Castro couldn't have wanted to get to the ball any less, leaving Brooks Lee in a position of lunging after travelling the furthest distance to the ball. Simply put, he missed it. Castro picked up the ball, and waited for Correa to get to second base for a force out opportunity. The ball sailed high, ripped off Correa's glove, and now the bases were loaded with nobody out. C.J. Abrams immediately cashed in on his opportunity in a big way, clearing the bases by rocketing a hanging slider into the right field corner to make it a 5-0 worst-case scenario midway through the game.

It Ain't Over Until...
Lately, it ain't over until the Twins get runners in scoring position. France and Lee led off the bottom of the fifth with singles to put runners in scoring position with less than two outs yet again. Vazquez (get used to him in the nine spot with Jeffers on the paternity list) failed to advance the runners, and then Buxton and Correa just missed their shots to once again leave the ducks on the pond. 

Finally the Twins broke through against Parker in the bottom of the sixth, with Castro doubling to start the inning. Lewis delivered yet again, singling home Castro to make it 5-1. Bader again continued to swing and miss, striking out with Lewis still at first. Wallner continued to make soft contact, popping out to keep Lewis still at first. Lucky France stayed locked in, and he doubled to the gap in left-center to score Lewis to sneak the Twins within three at 5-2.

It Ain't Over Until...Part 2
France's double chased Parker and brought on the league-worst Nationals bullpen and their 5.93 ERA. Luis Garcia uncorked a wild pitch into the Twins dugout to advance France to third, but Lee's liner that seemed destined to pull the Twins within two was snagged on a leaping catch by second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. to drive the latest stake into Twins fans' hearts. 

The Twins stuck with the Justin Topa experience for a second inning, and Alex Call immediately took advantage of that by belting his third homer of the year, a solo shot to make it a four-run lead at 6-2 yet again. That two run emotional swing exemplified the frustrations of the 2025 season in many ways. Topa took care of the rest of the seventh, but the momentum had successfully swung back Washington's way.

About the only thing worth noting from the last few innings included more bad news for the home team. Buxton left the game for some reason in the seventh inning, surrendering his at-bat to Trevor Larnach due to soreness in the side of his body that collided with the wall during that earlier amazing catch. Bader replaced Buxton in center, and immediately misplayed a deep fly ball to surrender an opening "double" to Garcia Jr. to start the eighth, and Josh Bell immediately greeted Kody Funderburk with a rope of a single to score Garcia Jr. and to make it 7-2 Nationals. A wild pitch and walk later, and suddenly the Nationals were back in scoring position with nobody out. After a fly out advanced Garcia Jr. to third, another wild pitch plated him to make it 8-2. Another single, a Correa error, and the bases were loaded. Lee made a great stop on a grounder up the middle to get at least an out, while the ninth run crossed the plate to make it 9-2.

The Twins scraped together a meaningless run in the eighth, and then went back to play dangerous baseball on the field. Triple-A hero Mickey Gasper came in to catch the ninth, and in his first catching action since his call up, Gasper whiffed on a Funderburk fastball and the ball almost shattered the home plate umpire's forearm. Gasper's face said all that needed to be said about the Twins' efforts on the field tonight. Embarrassment, even finely mustached, cannot be hidden.

What’s Next?
Luckily the Twins won't have long to stew about this one, as they look to avenge this loss and salvage a series win in game three on Sunday afternoon. The Twins will work an opener and piggyback situation, with Travis Adams (1-0, 6.00 ERA) getting the bulk of the work. The Nationals send out Bloomington's own, righty Jake Irvin (7-5, 4.81 ERA), in hopes of stealing a road series from the Twins. Hopefully many of his friends and family will be able to get to the ballgame. All hope isn't lost on the Twins' season just yet, but it's getting close. The trade deadline is only five days away, and the Twins are now four games under the .500 mark once again. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT. 

Postgame Interview

And in a reminder about what really matters in life...great job today after all Twins. Let's get the series tomorrow!

Bullpen Usage

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Jax	20	20	0	25	0	65
Funderburk	0	0	0	0	39	39
Coulombe	10	16	0	11	0	37
Varland	16	15	0	0	0	31
Durán	24	0	0	6	0	30
Topa	0	0	0	0	27	27
Stewart	12	0	0	0	0	12
Sands	0	0	0	0	0	0
Adams	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[tony&rodney]

Not too much to say. Washington was better.

[USAFChief]

"Parker unfortuneately also looked like an All-Star through the opening two frames, facing the minimum thanks to his fellow All-Star Byron Buxton and his amazing glove."

Huh?

[USAFChief]

As to this game, in a season filled with lowlights, tonight is a contender for lowest.

Dismal ABs, clownish defense, all the energy and enthusiasm of a wake, 

 

[USAFChief]

While I'm on a rant, fun fact:

It's July 26 and Matt Wallner has driven in 9 baserunners this season. 

Nine.

[thelanges5]

Only 3 teams worse than the Twins since June 1 - Nationals and Rockies are two of them. 
 

1-12 RISP, 8 LOB tonight; 0-5 RISP, 7 LOB last night. 2.3 run per game average in the past three. 

[Vanimal46]

[TheLeviathan]

This is the team some people want to keep everyone around and contend with?

[Steven Trefz]

30 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

"Parker unfortuneately also looked like an All-Star through the opening two frames, facing the minimum thanks to his fellow All-Star Byron Buxton and his amazing glove."

Huh?

oof...that is a copy and paste masterpiece on my part...nice catch

[mikelink45]

I guess Ryan is not the savior!  Now what.  This is really pathetic and unfortunately your readers have run out of things to say.

[Old Crow]

25 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

 

[Old Crow]

Just now, Old Crow said:

We just hit bottom.  Time to sell.

 

[RpR]

8 minutes ago, Old Crow said:

We just hit bottom.  Time to sell.

To find a new lower bottom?

Fantasy Island runs wild here.

[Parfigliano]

40 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

While I'm on a rant, fun fact:

It's July 26 and Matt Wallner has driven in 9 baserunners this season. 

Nine.

Hey it was 8 at the start of today..

[LastOnePicked]

21 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

This is the team some people want to keep everyone around and contend with?

Exactly this. This is a bottom-quartile MLB team. It's not a fluke. It's not a small sample size. It's like a busted shelf that needs replacing. It's never gonna hold a trophy unless you tear it down to the screws and start fresh.

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Steven Trefz said:

oof...that is a copy and paste masterpiece on my part...nice catch

The problem rests with me. I made a poor decision with that post and I apologize. 

Sincere thanks to you and all the game recap authors who do a great job and add a lot to this site.

 

[IndyTwinsFan]

34 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Exactly this. This is a bottom-quartile MLB team. It's not a fluke. It's not a small sample size. It's like a busted shelf that needs replacing. It's never gonna hold a trophy unless you tear it down to the screws and start fresh.

Not only did the competitive rebuild not work, it resulted in a team even worse than we started with.  Long past time to tear it down to the studs and try it that way.  I don't expect that to happen until the off-season. 

[Blyleven2011]

It was an embarrassing game and i had to step away from watching it ..

I walked outside to brush my dog , only my dog kirby didn't want to be brush , he wanted to chase gophers , I had more fun watching him dart around chasing those gophers than watching the game ....

Somehow , somewhere the nationals found a way to make the adjustments against Ryan and beat him , why can't our hitters find a way to make adjustments  ...

Yesterday  I was driving and tuned the pregame on with Rocco explaining the approach to making adjustments during every at bat  , it was a bunch of BS , if rocco was a used car salesman  , I wouldn't buy a car from him , he is so transparent that he is filled with  BS , he also might be brainwashed by this plan of the management  , he used to play ball and I'm sure he didn't play ball this way   ..  

[Wedman13]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

To find a new lower bottom?

Fantasy Island runs wild here.

Yes.   To bottom out and come  back.

[knothole61]

What an awful game.

Although I hated it at the time, I had no idea that the second inning, in-dugout interview of Zebby Matthews, during which the nearly 30 year-old Chris Paddack incessantly bombarded him with sunflower seeds, would mark the high point of the Twins' efforts on the night...but it did!

[Whitey333]

Not surprised by their lack of effort.  It's a staple with this team.  Friday they slept walked to a 1-0 game and got a win.  Saturday was similar to the series with the Rockies.  Remember that one?  We were understandably expecting a series sweep against the worst team in baseball.  We nearly got swept ourselves only winning one game.  This has been a joke of a team.

[Fred]

I hope nobody thinks standing pat before the trade deadline is an option. What's that old saying about doing the same thing over and over? So, there are two options, buy or sell unless you like how things have been going. Do you really think adding a 1/2 season rental will do much for the Twins? Me neither. So, can the front office find some top prospects that will help next year? Who stays and who goes? Stay tuned!

[CRF]

No energy at all. Looked like no one wanted to be there. Another listless performance. Wallner looks completely lost. Expected better from Ryan too. 

[shimrod]

On the bright side, I read recently the Twins have a favorable second half schedule. We'll get these tough series behind us and make a run at the playoffs.

[rv78]

The great Buxton leaving the game due to another injury. Left side soreness. Yeah, he's already played about as much as he can in 1 season.

[Riverbrian]

The Washington Nationals came to Target Field with 17 Pre-Arb players. 

The Twins are up to 12 with the addition of Gasper. 

The Nats are 42-62. 

The Twins are 50-54. 

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

No energy at all. Looked like no one wanted to be there. Another listless performance. Wallner looks completely lost. Expected better from Ryan too. 

The Minnesota twins have now turned into the ----

The Minnesota possums  , play dead at home and get killed on the road  ...

It's been a year long blunder dating back to August of last season  ... 

[Patzky]

10 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I guess Ryan is not the savior!  Now what.  This is really pathetic and unfortunately your readers have run out of things to say.

Bride was our only pitcher who could also bat and help himself 😜 

[Whitey333]

I give Ryan a break of sorts.  Even though it's against the lowly Nats he can't be expected to be on top of his game all the time.  Many of our other players are hardly ever on the top of their game.  Wallner looks lost.  It's almost an automatic strikeout or out with him.  Many a Twin player in the past has been demoted for not doing nearly as bad.  Correa had an awful game especially defensively.  If the official scorer wasn't as soft as the Twins hitters Carlos could have had two.  But the Twins announcers gush over him like he is some kind of god.  Oh please.  Why can't they be honest with fans.  We see what's going on.  We have too many veterans that don't care and are just going through the motions.  We have too many young players that are either stagnant or regressing.  There is stink on this team and organization.  It needs to be cleansed.

[DJL44]

This is how a team plays when nobody cares about winning. Keeping the expiring contract veterans would be toxic. At least rookies have something to play for besides their next contract. Playing for a contract means you're only going to do the things that show up in the stat sheet.