Neal: Twins’ Joe Ryan isn’t an All-Star, even if he deserves to be

On the official play-by-play from Sunday’s Twins game, there was a moment in the top of the fifth inning that is described as an “injury delay.”

It was not in fact an injury delay. It was Twins manager Rocco Baldelli dealing with the next layer of should-be All-Star Joe Ryan.

Baldelli, along with trainer Nick Paparesta, went to the mound after Chandler Simpson lined out to Byron Buxton to center because it came on a 79.9-mile-per-hour splitter that they didn’t know Ryan had.

“Which is about 8 miles an hour off of what he normally would do,” Baldelli said. “And his delivery looked different.”

Ryan tried to give them the thumbs up before they reached the mound. Simpson is one of the fastest players in baseball. Ryan thought he might bunt. So, he improvised a pitch.

“I’m like, if I can disrupt his timing at all, why not?” said Ryan, who claimed he did the same thing earlier this season.

During his explanation to Baldelli, Ryan mentioned that former pitcher Zack Greinke does it.

Rocco’s reply: “You know who else does it? Joe Ryan. So that‘s really it. He was fine.”

That was one moment in an interesting afternoon that ended with a Justin Topa-induced 7-5 loss to Tampa Bay in 10 innings.

Ryan learned after the game that, for now, he’s not on the American League All-Star team for the July 15 game in Atlanta.

There were other moments when Ryan had to work harder with his normal assortment of pitches. He gave up a leadoff homer to Taylor Walls in the third, gave up another run in the fourth and then ended up having to strand two runners that inning to get out of trouble.

With a man on in the sixth, Ryan fell behind Jonathan Aranda 2-0 before being charged with a pitch clock violation. Ryan battled back with two strikes before getting Aranda to fly out. Then Jake Mangum grounded out to end the inning.

Christian Vázquez, who has caught Ryan in 12 of his 18 starts this season, threw out two Rays attempting to steal. In six innings, Ryan gave up two runs on six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.

For the season, Ryan (8-4) is eighth in the AL in ERA (2.76) and third in WHIP (0.89). He entered Sunday in the top 10 in WAR, according to Baseball Reference. Good enough to make a case for him to join Buxton in Atlanta.

Buxton, by the way, was named as a reserve on the same day that Lynx guard Courtney Williams was named as a reserve for the WNBA All-Star Game. Two 31-year-old Georgia natives — their hometowns of Baxley and Folkston separated by roughly 75 miles — are All-Stars.

Ryan sounded as if he would like to be part of the festivities. I believe Ryan is one of the six or seven best starters in the AL and should go. He does as much with a good but not great fastball and strong repertoire as anyone with his skillset.

“It’s not based on stats, so it is what it is,” Ryan said, suggesting that the league requiring every team to be represented factors in. “They will make their decisions.”

Jhoan Duran, 5-3 with a 1.56 ERA and 13 saves, also has a case to be made. He has not given up a home run this season and his ERA+ of 270 means he’s operating over 2 ½ times better than average. He is one of the five best relievers in the AL.

So, yes, I’m suggesting that the Twins have three players worthy of being sent to the Midsummer’s Classic.

But should they have three? At 43-47, the Twins have not made themselves an attraction this year. They won the series against Tampa Bay but needed a sweep before the mighty Chicago Cubs visit Tuesday.

Any realistic chances of being a playoff contender or how they approach the July 31 trade deadline rests on the next three-plus weeks, when they have winnable series wrapped around meetings with the Cubs and Dodgers.

It’s hard to see a team below .500 have three players appointed to the All-Star Game, even if their stats support it. Detroit, with the best record in baseball at 57-34, has three starters and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal on the team.

Ryan or Duran still could be named this week as players, inevitably, drop out for various reasons.

“It’s beyond me,” Ryan said. “I’ve got no control over that. Just trying to win games.”

On Sunday, Ryan put the Twins in a position to win, inventing a pitch along the way. More will be required from him as the Twins believe they can be a playoff team.

As for All-Star recognition, this might not be Ryan’s year.