Twins beat Rays 4-2 behind strong start from Joe Ryan

TAMPA, FLA. – Joe Ryan has been one of the best pitchers in the majors for the past month, and all the reasons why were on display Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Ryan, pitching with an uptick in velocity on an 89-degree evening, quieted a hot Tampa Bay Rays lineup while permitting five hits and one run across six innings. It was one of those starts where Ryan was tested, dealing with multiple baserunners in three of the first four innings, but he never gave in as he led the Twins to a 4-2 victory.

Manager Rocco Baldelli lauded the way Ryan mixed his pitches against a Rays lineup that generally hits well against high fastballs. Ryan has a unique four-seam fastball, one of the best in the league, but he threw more splitters and sweepers than usual.

“It just shows adaptability,” Baldelli said. “That’s what the really good pitchers can do, just flip a switch.”

The Twins offense backed Ryan with an early lead, but he keeps looking like a pitcher who could earn a spot on an All-Star team. In five outings this month, Ryan posted a 1.86 ERA with 33 strikeouts and five walks in 29 innings. There are only four AL starters with a lower ERA in May.

Ryan survived in the first inning after he gave up a single, committed a balk when he reached for the PitchCom device in his cap while on the mound, and watched Willi Castro misjudge a fly ball that dropped in left field. With runners on the corners and one out, he simply induced an inning-ending double play.

“Without that third deck, the light in the sun is just right in your eyes,” Ryan said, referring to the Rays’ temporary home field. “It’s pretty hard to see. I don’t know if they should be allowed to wear those City Connect [uniforms] here, either. They just blended with that backdrop, and I really couldn’t see them.”

Even when Ryan had trouble reading hitters’ swings, he kept making quality pitches. Jonathan Aranda hit a leadoff double in the second inning, a shallow fly ball that dropped in left field and bounced out of play.

After a sacrifice bunt moved Aranda to third, Ryan escaped again. He struck out a batter, and, following a walk, Aranda was thrown out by shortstop Carlos Correa attempting to score on a double steal.

“The aggressiveness [the Rays] are bringing every inning, every baserunner they have, they’re kind of throwing some things out the window and going, ‘We’re coming right at you,’ ” Baldelli said. “They’re going to force us to make plays. And we made the plays.”

Ryan surrendered two hits in the fourth inning, including an RBI single to Aranda with the infield drawn in, but he retired his final seven batters. He has allowed one or zero earned runs in eight of his 11 outings this year.

“I came up with these guys, so they kind of know my game plan,” said Ryan, who was traded from the Rays to the Twins in 2021. “I don’t feel like I shied away from it too much. It’s a good four-seam for a reason.”

BOXSCORE: Twins 4, Tampa Bay 2

MLB standings

The Twins, who have won 17 of their last 21 games, stopped Tampa Bay’s six-game winning streak. They handed Ryan a one-run lead before he threw a pitch. Trevor Larnach lined a leadoff double into the right-field corner and later scored on a medium-depth sacrifice fly to left fielder Chandler Simpson.

In the second inning, Kody Clemens deposited a solo homer to center off Rays starter Taj Bradley, the ball flying into a small opening next to the batter’s eye where an apparent camera operator was sitting with a laptop. It was Clemens’ fifth homer in 50 at-bats since joining the club.

“He’s our Most Valuable Player, man,” Correa said of Clemens. “All he’s done ever since he came in is just hit and hit for power, which is exactly what we needed in this lineup.”

The Twins scored through an error in the sixth inning when Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe threw away a potential double-play grounder.

Correa hit a one-out double in the eighth, pointing at second-base umpire Derek Thomas when he slid ahead of a throw from left field, encouraging an emphatic safe call. Correa, who produced his third three-hit game of the season, scored on a two-out single from Ty France.

“The pitching staff has been lights out, the defense has been really solid and the hitting will come around,” Correa said.