Ryan, Twins battle elements in rare messy start vs. KC for ace

KANSAS CITY -- Joe Ryan’s second start of the season unraveled in a hurry as the cold, foggy, windy and rainy conditions at Kauffman Stadium battered the Twins’ ace and his defense from the first pitch onward.

The conditions were a big talking point postgame, and they clearly dictated the night in the Twins’ 13-9 loss to the Royals on Wednesday that took 3 hours and 36 minutes. Minnesota trailed by as many as 11 runs before a late rally against Kansas City’s bullpen in the rain got the tying run to the on-deck circle in a defeat that had a combined 22 runs on 24 hits and 14 walks.

Here’s a breakdown of Ryan’s outing that had little go right, but why it’s more likely the anomaly than what to expect going forward for the 2025 All-Star:

Velocity goes back down

Ryan’s velocity was a big talking point as the right-hander left Spring Training a couple ticks down from what he wanted after missing a little over two weeks with back tightness. He calmed those concerns by averaging 93.9 mph with his heater on Opening Day, but it dropped back down to 92.2 mph against Kansas City. The weather certainly played a factor, and the Royals took advantage with six of their nine hits off Ryan coming on the heater.

In fact, Ryan was down on his velo for every one of his six pitches -- from as little as 0.4 (knuckle curve) to as much as 2.6 mph (slider) -- as the 29-year-old didn’t finish the fifth inning for just the fifth time since the start of 2024.

“The velo being down, I’m going to contribute that a little bit to the fact that it was 40 degrees and rainy,” manager Derek Shelton said. “I mean, at one point I don’t even know if I could see Buck [in center field] with the fog rolling in.”

The grounds crew, which replaced the entire top layer of dirt in the infield during the game after long stoppages in the sixth and ninth innings, came out twice during Ryan’s outing to dump dry clay on the mound.

“It’s tough to get out there, and you don’t have a footing,” Ryan said. “… I mean, I could go down a whole list of things but I know it’s tough on defense as well. It’s always going to be tough. The rain is coming down … weak little hits here and there stack up, and it just makes it harder to hold onto the baseball, command the baseball, it’s a tough one.

“You’ve just got to do your best. … [Noah] Cameron on the other side, he did pretty well that whole way through it, and he had to deal with a [bad] mound as well. Obviously, it can be done.”

Miscues, miscues and more miscues

Just how thick the fog was became evident when Jac Caglianone ripped a Ryan offering to straightaway center in the second inning -- and the ball disappeared from view as it entered the low-hanging clouds. Byron Buxton lost sight of it as it one-hopped the wall, starting a three-run, two-out rally for Kansas City. That frame was capped on an RBI single by Maikel Garcia that deflected off the glove of shortstop Brooks Lee as he ran back into the soggy grass.

Then, Ryan should have escaped the third inning unscathed after working around a leadoff double, but Royce Lewis lost a popup in the mist and fog halfway between third base and home, resulting in a two-out run scoring from second base on a ball that traveled a Statcast-projected 52 feet.

“We had a couple [plays] we should have made that we didn’t make behind him and we can’t give away outs,” Shelton said. “We can’t give away outs defensively.”

As the rain picked up in the fourth, Ryan hit a batter and watched as Kyle Isbel laid down a bunt that stopped rolling in fair territory once it reached the muddy dirt -- loading the bases with nobody out. A visibly frustrated Ryan was able to finish his outing, though, by getting out of the jam with a sacrifice fly followed by a double play.

“… The entire field had Turface on it and third base was really, really wet,” Shelton said. “... I mean, [Anthony] Banda came off the mound in the eighth and was like, ‘That mound is terrible right now.’ And there’s nothing really they could do about it because it was just consistent rain.”