CLEVELAND -- Last weekend, Joe Ryan’s start against the Blue Jays ended with him walking off the mound at Target Field with athletic trainer Masa Abe after just nine pitches.
The end to his start against the Guardians on Saturday looked a lot more normal.
After getting Travis Bazzana to ground out to second baseman Luke Keaschall to end the sixth inning, Ryan jogged into the Twins’ first-base dugout, where he was greeted by a bevy of handshakes and high-fives from his teammates.
Nothing flashy or extremely noteworthy. Just a routine, normal exit from a game. And right now, the Twins will gladly take normal.
Ryan spent all of Saturday afternoon making that start against the Blue Jays look like a distant memory, as he allowed just one run across six innings of work in the Twins’ 2-1 win in extra innings.
Ryan’s strong start came on a day when the Twins' already thin pitching depth suffered a huge blow in the form of Taj Bradley being placed on the injured list with right pec inflammation.
The Twins are going to need to scramble to cover his spot in the rotation tomorrow, and Ryan’s strong start will make it a little easier to do, even though the bullpen wound up having to cover five innings.
After cruising through the beginning of his start with three no-hit innings, Ryan ran into trouble in the fourth inning when he allowed a one-out single to José Ramírez, who promptly stole second base and came around to score on a Kyle Manzardo single.
After Byron Buxton got things started with a leadoff home run, the Twins' offense failed to pick up a hit until Buxton came through again in the 11th inning with an RBI double to left field that gave Minnesota the lead.