The Minnesota Twins are second in the American League Wild Card standings. Although the team considered adding a second-half rental to the rotation, the Twins were unable to bring in a starting pitcher at the trade deadline. Minnesota’s lack of pitching depth makes Joe Ryan’s early exit today all the more concerning.
Ryan took the mound against the Cubs in Chicago. He allowed one hit and one earned run with zero walks and two strikeouts in two innings. However, he was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the third inning with right triceps tightness, according to a team report from MLB.com.
Facing the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ryan threw an 86 mph splitter and immediately motioned to the dugout seemingly calling for trainer Nick Paparesta. It was instantly apparent something had gone wrong for Ryan and after speaking with Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli, the 28-year-old hurler left the game.
After failing to land starting pitcher Erick Fedde at the trade deadline the Twins can ill afford to lose Ryan, who has been the team’s best starter this season. The fourth-year righty entered the day with a 7-7 record and a 3.59 ERA, 0.992 WHIP and 145 strikeouts in 133 innings. He’s up to 1.9 WAR in 22 starts so far this season for the Twins.
The Twins can’t afford to lose Joe Ryan to injury
Minnesota’s starters have pitched fairly well in 2024. The group is top three in baseball in WHIP and strikeouts. But the Twins’ rotation is middle of the road in ERA (19th), batting average against (11th) and WPA (15th).
Ryan and rookie Simeon Woods Richardson have led Minnesota’s starters this season. However, the rest of the rotation has been largely inconsistent and there are concerns about Woods Richardson’s workload as the 23-year-old is already up to 95.1 innings. The Twins don’t know if they’ll be able to count on him over the second half and into the postseason or if he’ll hit a wall as he enters unfamiliar usage territory.
It’s unknown at present if Ryan will miss a start. He left today’s game against Chicago with a 2-1 lead. Newcomer Trevor Richards took his place. The Twins landed the relief pitcher in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays at the deadline. Richards fared well in his first two appearances for Minnesota, allowing zero hits and zero earned runs with three strikeouts in two innings.
But the stellar start to his Twins’ career fell apart today as Richards walked five batters and gave up a hit ultimately allowing three earned runs. The Twins would go on to lose an 8-2 blowout in Chicago.
Minnesota is 3.5 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central. The team is 13 games above .500 but after a hot start that had the Twins fired up they’ve gone just 9-8 since returning from the All-Star break.
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