Minnesota Twins win their 12th in a row, a victory over Milwaukee built on Joe Ryan’s pitching

MILWAUKEE – The Twins were without Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton on Friday. Harrison Bader remains sidelined. Willi Castro left in the second inning because of a knee injury.

As the injuries pile up, so do the wins.

Behind six scoreless innings from Joe Ryan, who has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past month, and a bullpen that refuses to give up runs, the Twins won their 12th game in a row with a 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.

The Twins matched the second-longest winning streak in team history, tying 12-game winning streaks from last year and 1980. The Twins had a 15-game winning streak from June 1-16 during their 1991 World Series championship season.

“You’re missing some really good players, but I think the story of this team is trusting every man can step up and play a big role,” Ryan Jeffers said after the Twins became the first team to carry a 12-game winning streak in consecutive seasons since Cleveland in 2016-17.

Dominant pitching has been the theme of the Twins’ winning streak, and they recorded a shutout in back-to-back games for the first time since the first two games of the 2023 season. Ryan, who has yielded one or zero runs in six of his past seven starts, gave up only two hits and one walk while striking out nine batters.

Three Twins relievers — Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Cole Sands — combined to strike out seven batters over three innings. The bullpen has allowed one earned run over its past 10 games — a 0.25 ERA in 35⅓ innings.

“When you start thinking about it instead of just experiencing it, it’s even more impressive,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s just gorgeous stuff.”

Ryan, granted an early lead, stranded two runners during a 30-pitch first inning, one of the few glimmers of hope he allowed the Brewers offense. Brice Turang hit a leadoff single and Ryan issued a two-out walk to Rhys Hoskins, just his sixth walk of the season.

With runners on the corners and two outs, Sal Frelick pulled a fastball to the warning track in right field. Ryan dropped to a knee on the mound when he saw Frelick’s swing, then applauded after Trevor Larnach secured the catch for the inning’s final out.

“I didn’t feel super awesome coming in, but I knew what my misses were,” said Ryan, referring to the location of his pitches. “I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t trying to leave anything over the middle.”

It didn’t take long before Ryan found a groove. He struck out six consecutive batters before he hit Christian Yelich with a pitch to begin the fourth inning. He pitched around it, aided by a sliding stop from third baseman Royce Lewis. Ryan, as demonstrative as any pitcher in the big leagues, walked over to Lewis after the play and tapped him on his chest.

“In the back of my mind, I think after the third inning probably, I was like, ‘All right, it’s over,’ ” Ryan said. “It felt good. The ball is coming out well, we’re playing good defense, making good plays at the right times.”

In the sixth inning, Turang smacked a hanging splitter to the warning track in center field. Ryan, again, dropped his glove when he saw the swing because he was upset with the pitch, then clapped from the mound after the catch.

Ryan, who lowered his season’s ERA to 2.42 through 52 innings, has allowed two runs over his past four starts while striking out 35 batters in 25 innings. He’s shown his dominance in previous seasons, but he has been at an ace level for the past month.

BOXSCORE: Twins 3, Milwaukee 0

MLB standings

“He’s picking up right where he left off last year,” Baldelli said. “Now we’re talking about two straight seasons of Joe pitching at quite an elite level. That’s pretty cool in a lot of different ways.”

The Twins took a 2-0 lead before Milwaukee had a chance to hit. Their first two batters reached base against Brewers rookie righthander Chad Patrick before Ty France lined an RBI single into right field. Castro struck out after he fouled a pitch off his right knee, exiting an inning later with a right knee contusion, but Kody Clemens drilled a two-out RBI single to center field.

In the second inning, the Twins loaded the bases with no outs after three consecutive singles. It turned into only one run when Jeffers grounded into a double play.

“We’ve been playing good,” Baldelli said, “but when you pitch the way we’ve been pitching, that’s what makes streaks of good baseball.”