Twins 7, Blue Jays 4: Joe Ryan and the Twins Overpower Blue Jays to Even the Series

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan - 7.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (91 pitches, 65 strikes (71%)
Home Runs: Brooks Lee (2), Trevor Larnach (1)
Top 3 WPA (via FanGraphs): Larnach (0.17), Josh Bell (0.12), Lee (0.11)

Win Probability Chart (via BaseballSavant) 

Joe Ryan looked to lead the Twins back into their winning ways against the suddenly red-hot bats of the Toronto Blue Jays. Standing in their way was yet another lefty, this time Eric Lauer who has started and opened in his two appearances thus far in 2026. With Royce Lewis again on the shelf, Ryan Kreidler made his Minnesota debut at third base, and Andrew Morris and his passport also made the trip up to Canada to replace the injured Cody Laweryson. 

Ryan Rocked in the First, but Keeps on Slinging
The Blue Jays started Saturday's game the way they finished Friday's, by ripping the cover off of the ball. Ryan walked the leadoff man George Springer, then got ahead of Daulton Varsho 1-2 before Varsho took a high fastball yard for an early 2-0 Blue Jay lead. Visions of Joe's Kansas City start began to emerge, but the ace of the Twins staff dug in and took charge from there. Ryan only allowed two more baserunners through six innings on 79 total pitches. 

Lauer Starts Strong, but Gives Up the Ghost in the Third
Lauer cruised through the Twins lineup through the first two innings, surrendering only a two-out walk in the second. His day began to unravel when the much-maligned but recently encouraging Brooks Lee stepped to the plate to lead off the top of the third. Lee pulled an 0-1 center-cut fastball to the seats in left for his second home run in as many days, and to put the Twins on the board.

After Kreidler grounded out in his first Twin at-bat, Byron Buxton kept the rally going with a swinging bunt, and he advanced to second on a single from Austin Martin. Luke Keaschall worked a walk on a full count, and Ryan Jeffers didn't have to work to walk when four straight pitches missed the zone to tie the game at 2-2. Josh Bell found himself right where the Twins want him with the bases loaded and a chance to punish left-handed pitching. While Bell didn't destroy the ball, the results sure punished Lauer and the Blue Jays as Varsho couldn't reach is high fly ball to mid-center and then he wished that he hadn't gotten as close as he did!

With the Twins now in the lead at 4-2, Trevor Larnach looked to reward his skipper for putting him in the lineup against a lefty. Trevor likes 90 mph center cut fastballs no matter who throws them. Consider us all rewarded.

Finishing it Off
Kreidler wasn't able to collect his first hit as a Twin, but he sure got his first web gem. As Ryan was attempting to complete the seventh, Nathan Lukes crushed a ball into the hole at short. Brand new third baseman Kreidler said, "I play here now."

After Ryan collected his congratulatory hugs in the dugout after dominating the Blue Jays through the seventh, the Twins turned to a bullpen that more than struggled on Friday night. Kody Funderburk got the first call out of the bullpen, and he allowed an Ernie Clement single and an Andres Gimenez walk to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Three batters and some teeth gnashing by Twins fans later, Toronto returned to their dugout without scoring a run and the game remained squarely in Minnesota's hands at 7-2.

Cole Sands came in for the ninth and slammed the door shut. Unfortunately, Jesus Sanchez didn't get the memo, as he took Sands deep for a two-run blast to inch the home team closer at 7-4. That was as close as they would come, as Sands took down the next three Blue Jays, and the visiting squad leveled the series at one game apiece!

What’s Next?
The Twins look to take their first road series of the season when they tackle Toronto in a Sunday matinee. Twins righty Taj Bradley (2-0, 1.08 ERA) looks to continue his blazing start to the season. The Blue Jays counter with veteran Hall of Famer-in waiting, righty Max Scherzer (1-1, 3.38 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 12:37pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews!

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Banda	0	21	0	36	0	57
Sands	12	9	0	0	22	43
Rogers	12	0	0	30	0	42
Funderburk	0	20	0	0	17	37
Topa	14	10	0	12	0	36
Acton	0	0	35	0	0	35
Orze	19	0	14	0	0	33
Morris	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

 

 

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[ashbury]

Larnach at a literal loss for words for the first 10 seconds of the post-game interview.  Baseball's a game of emotion.

[Peter]

The bullpen!!!😳😬but big time home runs by Lee and larnach was huge!!! Great bounce back win!!! Let’s get win tomorrow and take series!!! As always let’s go Twins!!!

[Patzky]

9 minutes ago, Peter said:

The bullpen!!!😳😬but big time home runs by Lee and larnach was huge!!! Great bounce back win!!! Let’s get win tomorrow and take series!!! As always let’s go Twins!!!

Reverse psychology 😉

[bunsen82]

Larnach with a great hit,  Lee seems to have suddenly woke up.  

In 14 games Bell now has 12 runs and 12 RBI's.  He started out at 5 each and I didn't think he could keep up the pace and he just keeps racking up the counting stats.  

[Doctor Gast]

Last year, many were very down on INFer Martin, learning the OF &  trying to get his old swing back. Even though he should have been left at 2B but he's doing fine in the OF. This year he's doing his job of getting base with a .500 OBP. 

[ashbury]

45 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Reverse psychology 😉

No it wasn't.

Psych!  It was.

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Last year, many were very down on INFer Martin, learning the OF &  trying to get his old swing back. Even though he should have been left at 2B but he's doing fine in the OF. This year he's doing his job of getting base with a .500 OBP. 

Martin’s going to have to wear the three CS for a while, but that OBP is pretty doggone impressive. If the Twins would have had challenges remaining last night, I’m pretty sure he would have had another walk and one less K. The last pitch looked low and away to me. 

[chinmusic]

58 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Larnach at a literal loss for words for the first 10 seconds of the post-game interview.

Yeah, but his bat had something to say in the 3rd. That baseball was crushed!

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Great win! 

Nice to see Lee's bat coming to life a bit. He's going to need to keep it up if he wants to keep Culpepper in St Paul. 

I'd like to see Buxton and Keaschall get going here, too. 

Let's get after Max tomorrow! Go Twins!

[GopherMike]

Ryan seemed genuinely confused at the sight of someone playing defense

[Doctor Gast]

21 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Martin’s going to have to wear the three CS for a while, but that OBP is pretty doggone impressive. If the Twins would have had challenges remaining last night, I’m pretty sure he would have had another walk and one less K. The last pitch looked low and away to me. 

It's really tough to steal off a LHP but he wanted to try anyway. If he got on with RHPs he'd have a bunch of SBs to add to his resume'.

[ashbury]

20 minutes ago, chinmusic said:

Yeah, but his bat had something to say in the 3rd. That baseball was crushed!

Well yes, but I think the article may have covered this point to some degree.  😁

[GopherMike]

Plate discipline has been great so far this year. 8th in OBP coming into the game despite being 19th in average. For a team that doesn't have a lot of fantastic hitters, it's causing the offensive sum of its parts to be much more.

Love to see it.

[Wedman13]

36 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Last year, many were very down on INFer Martin, learning the OF &  trying to get his old swing back. Even though he should have been left at 2B but he's doing fine in the OF. This year he's doing his job of getting base with a .500 OBP. 

Which wont continue of course but I love the speed and contact.  Poor defending sloths that hit .201 do not win at baseball.  1999 and advanced stats skewed  us.  Fun to watch.

[Jacksson]

Great debut for Kreidler.  0 for 4 with a strikeout and a GIDP.

All Sands had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then serves up a GOPHER BALL to take it down to a 3 run lead.

All Funderburk had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then walks the second batter he faces  to make it possible to take it to a ONE RUN game with one swing of the bat. 

Buxton leads off against a lefty and ONLY manages a 1 - 5.

Keaschall, Martin and Caratini  go 0 for 8 with a LHP starting pitcher BUT do manage 4 walks between them.

Meanwhile Outman remains batting .000 for the 2026 season !!

Another Lucky win thanks to Toronto's failure to execute.

 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Nice bounce back win. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Jacksson said:

Great debut for Kreidler.  0 for 4 with a strikeout and a GIDP.

All Sands had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then serves up a GOPHER BALL to take it down to a 3 run lead.

All Funderburk had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then walks the second batter he faces  to make it possible to take it to a ONE RUN game with one swing of the bat. 

Buxton leads off against a lefty and ONLY manages a 1 - 5.

Keaschall, Martin and Caratini  go 0 for 8 with a LHP starting pitcher BUT do manage 4 walks between them.

Meanwhile Outman remains batting .000 for the 2026 season !!

Another Lucky win thanks to Toronto's failure to execute.

 

Don't be so cheerful. Try a different bottle of whiskey, just one ounce per game which means only 162 shots per year.

Also, Ryan Kreidler gets credit for turning two batted balls into outs today that nobody else on the team could have done. Does that make him 2-6?

As far as luck goes, we are all lucky.

[Jack Pine]

1 hour ago, Jacksson said:

Great debut for Kreidler.  0 for 4 with a strikeout and a GIDP.

All Sands had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then serves up a GOPHER BALL to take it down to a 3 run lead.

All Funderburk had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then walks the second batter he faces  to make it possible to take it to a ONE RUN game with one swing of the bat. 

Buxton leads off against a lefty and ONLY manages a 1 - 5.

Keaschall, Martin and Caratini  go 0 for 8 with a LHP starting pitcher BUT do manage 4 walks between them.

Meanwhile Outman remains batting .000 for the 2026 season !!

Another Lucky win thanks to Toronto's failure to execute.

 

Sounds like your spouse burned the toast this morning.

[jmlease1]

Excellent start by Joe Ryan. Love seeing him complete 7, keep us from needing too many outs from the bullpen. Toronto has a talented lineup (even if some guys might be scrabbling a bit), so holding them to 2 runs over 7 is a very fine outing.

When the Twins lineup is working the walks, they're putting runs on the board. Nice to see them string together 6 more free passes (and then back them up with some power). Larnach has been very effective so far this season, and maybe getting a couple of big blasts will get Lee on a bit of a run. Martin is doing a great job of getting himself on base, and making a case to see him leading off.

Didn't love seeing Sands make it harder on himself by giving up the dinger, but there was enough room for error that I'm guessing he was challenging hitters a bit more than he might have?

Would love to see Taj win the duel and the series tomorrow. Hopefully the team won't treat getaway day as a time to take an early nap...

[stringer bell]

I remain unconvinced about the Twins’ bullpen. Depending on who is in the field, the fielding is somewhere between a bother and a fatal flaw. They have starters and a half-decent lineup. There is something to build on. 

[h2oface]

Has anyone looked at Kreidler‘s history? Yes, a fine defensive play today, kudos, but he has NEVER hit in the Bigs, and he is 28. Hasn’t hit in St. Paul either. This is the depth? The Saints hitting averages are overall pathetic so far. 
 

6 hits go a long way when bunched together. 8-7. Pinch me. 
 

[jmlease1]

3 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Has anyone looked at Kreidler‘s history? Yes, a fine defensive play today, kudos, but he has NEVER hit in the Bigs, and he is 28. Hasn’t hit in St. Paul either. This is the depth? The Saints hitting averages are overall pathetic so far. 

I think we're all aware of Kreidler's history. He's clearly here for defense, and I'm betting the Twins aren't expecting Lewis to miss a lot of time either, so he probably won't be here long. (he's also a guy they can drop back from the 40-man if they need to with little risk of him getting grabbed right now) There is depth at AAA, but they're clearly not looking to bring up Culpepper unless they think it's a position where he won't be going back down. The rest of the depth is really in the OF, or did you expect that the Twins had AAA depth 3 deep at every position?

[RpR]

19 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Has anyone looked at Kreidler‘s history? Yes, a fine defensive play today, kudos, but he has NEVER hit in the Bigs, and he is 28. Hasn’t hit in St. Paul either. This is the depth? The Saints hitting averages are overall pathetic so far. 
 

6 hits go a long way when bunched together. 8-7. Pinch me. 
 

His defense is the only reason it was not a close game.

Twins need defense BADLY, and they know it.

Lewis is a very poor fielder whose bat is here today and gone tomorrow.

[Blyleven2011]

I got to be honest  , never thought the twins would be a 500 team starting out the season  , twice they have been over 500 by 1 game ...

Keep it up  , maybe tom was right that the twins can be better than everyone expected ...

Nice 7 run inning and that's all we needed for the win ...

[jmlease1]

2 hours ago, RpR said:

Lewis is a very poor fielder whose bat is here today and gone tomorrow.

Is he? Or is he off to a poor start defensively, in part because we have sub-par play at 1B? Because he was just fine at 3B last season (and showed out well in 2023).

But sure, write off his defense after 100 innings in 2026.

[knothole61]

3 hours ago, RpR said:

His defense is the only reason it was not a close game.

Twins need defense BADLY, and they know it.

Lewis is a very poor fielder whose bat is here today and gone tomorrow.

Well put...

[knothole61]

5 hours ago, Jacksson said:

Great debut for Kreidler.  0 for 4 with a strikeout and a GIDP.

All Sands had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then serves up a GOPHER BALL to take it down to a 3 run lead.

All Funderburk had to do was get 3 outs with a 5 RUN LEAD.  Instead he gives up a single to the first batter he faces and then walks the second batter he faces  to make it possible to take it to a ONE RUN game with one swing of the bat. 

Buxton leads off against a lefty and ONLY manages a 1 - 5.

Keaschall, Martin and Caratini  go 0 for 8 with a LHP starting pitcher BUT do manage 4 walks between them.

Meanwhile Outman remains batting .000 for the 2026 season !!

Another Lucky win thanks to Toronto's failure to execute.

 

Jack, I think they won it today with their power..

[knothole61]

6 hours ago, chinmusic said:

Yeah, but his bat had something to say in the 3rd. That baseball was crushed!

With Larnach, and Wallner as well, when they hit 'em they stay hit...lots of power there.

[arby58]

10 hours ago, Jacksson said:

Another Lucky win thanks to Toronto's failure to execute.

As Seneca pointed out "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Ryan goes 7 against a good hitting team,Kreidler makes a great defensive play, Larnach hits a three-run HR off a lefthanded  pitcher, and the Twins score 7 runs. Their glass was far more full than empty.