Royals 11, Twins 2: Another Awful Experience, Royals Throttle Ryan and the Twins

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan 2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (62 pitches, 33 strikes (53%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Ryan (-.327), Thomas Hatch (-.119), Trevor Larnach (-.056)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

 

The Twins have been a Major League-worst 15-30 since the All-Star Break. The only bright spot in that time frame has been the shine on their All-Star starter Joe Ryan and his experience. Even the light from his four wins since the break has been dimmed by three rough losses to the Nationals, Athletics, and Blue Jays. With the Twins still looking for their first win in September, what kind of experience were Twins fans in for tonight as they faced a Kansas City squad still in the hunt for a wild card spot?

Rough From the Get-Go
The Royals sent righty Stephen Kolek to the mound in his third start since being acquired from the Padres at the trade deadline. Weak contact is his game, and the Twins obliged with nothing but weak grounders in the top of the first. Ryan took the mound having been sick for the majority of the week. By the end of the first inning most people involved with the Twins were also ill. 

Ryan came into the game riding a historic WHIP season, but he walked Mike Yastrzemski to start the game. Next man up was Maikel Garcia, and after starting Garcia off with a strike, Ryan threw strike two only to have the home plate umpire fail to identify a center-cut fastball as a strike. Ryan was visibly frustrated and eventually walked Garcia as well. Vinnie Pasquantino smoked a double over Matt Wallner's head to score Yastrzemski, and immediately Ryan and the Twins were reeling. Then the ageless Salvador Perez stepped to the plate, and one pitch later the score was 4-0 Royals.

Perez's homer was soul-crushing, but Ryan's third walk of the inning to Adam Frazier was just as painful because Nick Loftin split the gap in left-center to send Frazier all the way home from first to make it 5-0 before Ryan could get his team back into the dugout.

Byron Buxton is Still Amazing
The Twins offense has continued to flounder as the season winds to a close, but the Buck Truck continues to do everything that he can to keep Twins fans from tuning out completely. After James Outman doubled to lead off the top of the second inning, Buxton fell behind 0-2 before timing up a fastball for his seventh triple of the year to put the Twins on the board.

 

 

A Luke Keaschall groundout scored Buxton, and suddenly the Twins weren't completely out of it after all.

Completely Out of It
And then the Twins were completely out of it. Ryan labored through the second inning as well, allowing two runners to reach before escaping without surrendering a run. After two innings of work and only 62 pitches, Ryan's night was done, and the Thomas Hatch Experience began. 

Hatch retired Jac Caglianone to start the bottom of the third, but the fact that Caglianone's liner traveled at 115 mph should have been a warning sign. Loftin then singled and advanced to second on a groundout. With two outs, the floodgates of the Royals runs broke open yet again. Kyle Isbel doubled in Loftin. Yastrzemski walked. Then Garcia and Pasquantino both singled in a run of their own, to erase the Buxton momentum and expand the Royal lead back to 8-2.

While Kolek was quickly embarassing Twins hitters, the Royals kept abusing their former pitcher Hatch. This time Caglianone discovered that he could get a single up the third base line at 60 mph, and he then advanced to second base on a groundout. Hatch then helped make a memory for the Jensen family, as rookie Carter Jensen laced a double down the right field line for his first career MLB hit and RBI. 9-2 Royals, and the experience just kept getting worse for Twins fans.

It's a Bad Experience
The Brooks Kriske Experience was next up for Twins fans, as he came on to relieve Hatch in the bottom of the sixth. Turns out the night's experience was stuck on repeat. With one out, Kriske walked Adam Frazier, and then Caglianone singled again. Loftin doubled in Frazier, and advanced Caglianone to third. Jensen didn't wait long to notch his second RBI, this time with a groundout to score Caglianone to make it 11-2 Royals.

The Twins tried to make some noise off of Kolek in the top of the seventh, as Edouard Julien and Mickey Gasper led the inning off with a couple of singles. With two on and nobody out, Kolek struck out Brooks Lee and Outman to bring up Buxton as the Twins' last chance for hope on the evening.

After Kolek struck out Buxton, and embraced his HOF catcher on the way back to the dugout, one couldn't help but compare the trade deadlines of the Royals and Twins, and sigh. The two teams were virtually dead even at the All-Star break, and then couldn't have taken two more different trajectories since. The Royals ride the excitement of a playoff race to the end of the season, while the Twins have become the laughing stock of the major leagues. Tonight was just another night in September for many baseball fans, but what Twins fans experienced on September 6, 2025, no doubt left them seeking new experiences.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to avoid getting swept by a second AL Central opponent in a row in a Sunday matinee game. Twins RHP Bailey Ober (4-7, 5.23 ERA) looks to hold the tide against fellow giant RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-9, 4.54 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.

 

Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon...maybe?

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Hatch	64	0	0	0	66	130
Kriske	27	0	0	0	37	64
Topa	0	18	0	13	0	31
Adams	0	0	31	0	0	31
Funderburk	0	11	0	15	0	26
Tonkin	0	0	11	0	12	23
Cabrera	0	0	20	0	0	20
Sands	0	18	0	0	0	18

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[Permanent Twins Fan]

[ashbury]

Don't be deceived.  The Royals may have scored only eleven runs off the Twins' pitching staff, but that's because they were permitted only eight innings to try. 

Just one of those funny little quirks about the sport of baseball that make us love it even if there can be no possible rational explanation for the discrepancy.

[Parfigliano]

Big time beat down.

[T.O.]

sat·ire | (/'sa?ti(?)r/) | noun
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, blah, blah, blah

My second cousin overheard the checker at the market saying she knew someone in the Twins organization that said they were going to fire ALL of the club house attendants and two or three of the bat boys/girls as the main cause of the poor level of play.

I'm glad they finally found the root of the problems. 

[mikelink45]

There was a question posed in this essay about whether we will win another game this season. It may have been in jest but do any of us really care if the team wins any more?  Does it matter?  

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Should we infer that Ryan’s illness was more about him losing his composure than anything physical? That would be totally understandable. Also, Rocco’s postgame comments… ooof. 

[thelanges5]

So apparently not only have we hit rock bottom, we’re gonna settle in there for the rest of the season. Why pitch Joe if he’s been sick this week?  
Hatch and Kriske were involved when the White Sox scored 12 and the Padres too. I know there’s better options than these two guys.

[Whitey333]

It's not going to get any better.  We still have Falvey and Baldelli running this sh... show

[IndyTwinsFan]

23 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

There was a question posed in this essay about whether we will win another game this season. It may have been in jest but do any of us really care if the team wins any more?  Does it matter?  

Doesn't matter at all to me anymore. 

[beterday]

I have been watching the Twins with the knowledge that we have no bullpen.  Me and my 12 year old grandson have as much chance as what Rocco has to choose from when the starters go down.  After the trade deadline, I watched Michael Tonkin come in to save a game and he was successful, but I know what Michael Tonkin is, I've seen this movie before.  The players they picked up - Kriske and Hatch - are not worse than, but certainly not better than, the leftovers from that deadline - Funderburke and Topa.  We are not rebuilding we are a place for minor league baseball players to find work for a couple months.  Are we afraid that putting some younger players out there will ruin them for any future.  What about the few major league players we have left?  Ryan wasn't sick from a physical cause, but from the mental anguish and disgust he feels for watching this.   We are getting a good look at what we have for next year and if we are discerning, we've got Buxton and Keaschall, and maybe Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee,(maybe not).  I think we are watching baseball history being made here.

[David HK]

17 minutes ago, beterday said:

I have been watching the Twins with the knowledge that we have no bullpen.  Me and my 12 year old grandson have as much chance as what Rocco has to choose from when the starters go down.  After the trade deadline, I watched Michael Tonkin come in to save a game and he was successful, but I know what Michael Tonkin is, I've seen this movie before.  The players they picked up - Kriske and Hatch - are not worse than, but certainly not better than, the leftovers from that deadline - Funderburke and Topa.  We are not rebuilding we are a place for minor league baseball players to find work for a couple months.  Are we afraid that putting some younger players out there will ruin them for any future.  What about the few major league players we have left?  Ryan wasn't sick from a physical cause, but from the mental anguish and disgust he feels for watching this.   We are getting a good look at what we have for next year and if we are discerning, we've got Buxton and Keaschall, and maybe Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee,(maybe not).  I think we are watching baseball history being made here.

Spot on comments.  I keep echoing Reusse from the other day, did they have to cut loose the WHOLE bullpen!?!?  The only guys we "kept" are the ones we couldn't unload to anyone, probably not even the Rockies.

 

[Mahoning]

When you have had two ignominious collapses in a row, doesn't somebody have to get fired? OK, last year it was Popkins. This year I think we pin it all on Ramon Borrego. But the message from Ownership is: Trust us. And the Yankees are coming to town.

[David HK]

I recently re-watched Major League just for the fun of it.  But holy moley, it's like the craven pohlad family are trying to copy the script.  They've not only trashed the team, but destroyed the good will of the people of the upper Midwest, who've lived and died with the Twinkies since '61. 

The most crucial step #1 is that family must go, and quickly.  Then the new owners have to clean house in the FO and field management.  There are some good coaches in that dugout, and Rocco is one of them, but he's long since passed his sell-by date as the head cheese.  But that fan good will, and season ticket sales, and TV revenue and the like are going to be a long time in recovering.  It may even be fatal by this point.

I made this reference in a post shortly after the "Dead" line- they're intentionally going to drive down interest and revenue, and what the heck, here come your 2027 Raleigh-Durham Twins.  🤮

[David HK]

8 minutes ago, Mahoning said:

When you have had two ignominious collapses in a row, doesn't somebody have to get fired? OK, last year it was Popkins. This year I think we pin it all on Ramon Borrego. But the message from Ownership is: Trust us. And the Yankees are coming to town.

Omg, that's right.  This is going to be like mid-70s Gophers vs. Ohio State.  I hope no pitchers will be actually physically killed... 😱

[h2oface]

What was the point of even pitching Ryan for a few more days? It’s not the playoffs or a race for a spot. No reason at all. Stupid. Give him a couple more days. 
Buxton is crazy to stick around this mess. 

[CRF]

Just brutal. A four game dusting by the ChiSox, and now KC continues the process. This must be some kind of cruel joke...only it isn't. The abyss just keeps getting deeper, with no end in sight. 

[I Never Bet On Sports]

This team has reached rock bottom and has started to dig....

Yet, I can't stop following, can't stop watching condensed games every morning, and have now transitioned to checking Tankathon as my first website of the day.

Second in draft lottery position. Could we close another 8 games with the WhiteSox in the next 20 and become 1st? That is all that's left for me this season.

[Coach Wheels]

5 hours ago, h2oface said:

What was the point of even pitching Ryan for a few more days? It’s not the playoffs or a race for a spot. No reason at all. Stupid. Give him a couple more days. 
Buxton is crazy to stick around this mess. 

Agree with this post. Saturday should have been Joe's last stsrt and Pablo should pitch once more and also be shut down. Whether you keep them.or trade them, not pitching is this awful month is best practice.

I'd also give Buxton the option of shutting it down. This is, in my opinion, his best year as a Twin and he doesn't need to risk injury in a month where 6 wins is being optimistic.

[Original_JB]

How soon before we start to hear rumors that there is a lawsuit against the Pohlads by the new "limited partners", suing to keep their names private?

[rv78]

6 hours ago, h2oface said:

What was the point of even pitching Ryan for a few more days? It’s not the playoffs or a race for a spot. No reason at all. Stupid. Give him a couple more days. 
Buxton is crazy to stick around this mess. 

Decisions like this are a direct correlation to Rocco's management skill and mentality. It is zero.

[rv78]

19 minutes ago, Coach Wheels said:

Agree with this post. Saturday should have been Joe's last stsrt and Pablo should pitch once more and also be shut down. Whether you keep them.or trade them, not pitching is this awful month is best practice.

I'd also give Buxton the option of shutting it down. This is, in my opinion, his best year as a Twin and he doesn't need to risk injury in a month where 6 wins is being optimistic.

Buck could be playing for incentives. I don't recall the conditions in his contract but I think he gets extra money of he reaches certain levels of plate appearances and such.

[Peter]

First off this is the best time to be a twins fan!!! Seriously-once they get good which they will everyone who hated/boycotted them will be back on the bandwagon-well F them!!! Once you get off you can’t get back on!!! Second they aren’t moving anywhere!!!! Next year will be way better!!! We got the top prospects coming up! It’s only going to get better!!! Just watch!!! Go twins!!!!

[DJL44]

What an absolute disaster year for Jose Miranda that he can't even get called up to play on this lousy team. Is his career over?

[DJL44]

comment deleted by poster

[D.C Twins]

31 minutes ago, Peter said:

First off this is the best time to be a twins fan!!! Seriously-once they get good which they will everyone who hated/boycotted them will be back on the bandwagon-well F them!!! Once you get off you can’t get back on!!! Second they aren’t moving anywhere!!!! Next year will be way better!!! We got the top prospects coming up! It’s only going to get better!!! Just watch!!! Go twins!!!!

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, I Never Bet On Sports said:

This team has reached rock bottom and has started to dig....

The only problem is they are digging the wrong way , the FO can't figure out which way is up ... 

All that trading at the deadline and they didn't acquire any players that were majors league ready ...

[1985Fan]

I wonder when the geniuses running this disaster will try different players? This when they’re supposed to give fans hope for the future. Why not give Preilepp a shot in the BP? That wouldn’t prevent him from competing for a spot in the rotation next year. Be good for him to get an idea of what it’s like facing major league hitters. Lee is not an everyday SS. He makes us appreciate Correa’s defense. Isn’t there an option in AAA? Lack of depth at a critical position is telling. 
This FO sells fans their supposedly excellent prospect ranking and pitching pipeline. I don’t see it. The pitching couldn’t be any worse and there’s no one at AAA worth calling up?! 
It looks like FO strategy is to tank hoping to get the number one pick next year. Thats all they have. Pathetic….

[T.O.]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

First off this is the best time to be a twins fan!!! Seriously-once they get good which they will everyone who hated/boycotted them will be back on the bandwagon-well F them!!! Once you get off you can’t get back on!!! Second they aren’t moving anywhere!!!! Next year will be way better!!! We got the top prospects coming up! It’s only going to get better!!! Just watch!!! Go twins!!!!

🙂🙃🙂

[T.O.]

56 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

What an absolute disaster year for Jose Miranda that he can't even get called up to play on this lousy team. Is his career over?

He used to be my favorite. 
His rookie year, 22, the two All Stars, Correa and Buxton went into a big slump and most of the team followed. It was Miranda that kept the offense going. The he over trained in the winter and came back injured. 
He had that hitting streak last year but fell apart again. It's like with Lewis and others. How can you be so good and then not for so long?