MINNEAPOLIS -- Joe Ryan and the Twins would obviously prefer that Ryan not have gotten sick this week. Ideally, he would have stayed on turn to make his scheduled start Tuesday night against the Dodgers.
But the consolation prize is not too bad.
After being scratched from a Tuesday night start at Target Field, the Twins’ ace will instead pitch in the Wednesday series finale in a marquee matchup against Shohei Ohtani. It’s not often that the eyes of the baseball world are on downtown Minneapolis, but they will be Wednesday night.
“You’re going to see two of the best pitchers in baseball go at it tomorrow,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said.
The Twins scratched Ryan on Monday, a day before he was scheduled to pitch, due to lingering effects of an illness he first felt over the weekend in Arizona. He said Tuesday that he’s improving with medication.
“During the outing, I just didn't feel super great,” Ryan said, “and then I was not really sure what was going on and then the next day, I was just like, ‘I don’t know.’ I progressively started feeling worse over the last couple of days and then I just had really bad night sweats and was waking up in the middle of the night.”
It won’t be the first time for Ryan facing a superstar at home. Just before the All-Star break last year, he started against the Pirates’ Paul Skenes, allowing one run in five innings as the Twins won 2-1.
The move with Ryan has other effects on the Twins’ rotation. Kendry Rojas got the start in his place Tuesday, with Austin Voth available as a bulk option behind him. Minnesota bumped previously scheduled Wednesday starter Connor Prielipp and has not yet announced its starters for the weekend against Colorado.
There’s a good chance Prielipp will be pushed back beyond Friday’s series opener, because the Twins are looking for every opportunity to give him extra days of rest in his rookie season. They could start Taj Bradley on five days’ rest on Friday, pushing Prielipp to Saturday. That would allow for Prielipp to get an extra day before his next start as well.