Twins All-Star Joe Ryan surrenders 6 home runs in start vs. Guardians, the AL’s worst home-run hitting team
The Cleveland Guardians entered Monday with 94 home runs, the fewest in the American League. They’re not in the basement any more.
Minnesota Twins starter Joe Ryan surrendered six home runs to the Guardians in just four innings Monday in a 13-4 Cleveland win. The collapse by the two-time All-Star placed the Twins (49-52) further behind the Guardians (53-48) in the AL Central and AL wild-card races.
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The effort put Ryan in dubious company. The six home runs are the most allowed by a pitcher in a single game in Twins history. And it ties Ryan for the most allowed in a single game in baseball’s modern era, placing him alongside 10 other pitchers dating back to 1932, according to Stat Muse.
Five different Guardians got in on the home-run action. Rhys Hoskins and Petey Halpin hit two each off of Ryan. Travis Bazzana and Brayan Rocchio hit one each off the Minnesota starter. Patrick Bailey added a late insurance home run off of reliever Kody Funderburk for Cleveland’s seventh of the game.
Halpin’s first home run was the first of his career in his 40th MLB game.
The two-run blast was Cleveland’s third of the day and extended its second-inning lead to 5-2.
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Halpin’s second home run in the fourth inning was the sixth and final allowed by Ryan.
Ryan was pulled at the end of the frame, having allowed eight runs, all of them earned. The effort inflated Ryan’s ERA from 2.85 in 110 1/3 innings to 3.38 in 114 1/3. His home run tally for the season spiked from 10 to 16.
How did this happen?
So what went wrong for Ryan, who was a member of his second straight All-Star team just last week?
“Still trying to figure it out,” Ryan said postgame, per The Athletic. “It seemed like they tried a very accurate game plan. Guys that haven’t hit fastballs this year are hitting them over their head, out. …
“They put really good swings on the ball and did the damage they did. I don’t want to take credit away from that. But yeah, definitely sucks. Not the way you want to start a series.”
Ryan, 30, has largely been a steady pitcher throughout his MLB career and entered Monday with a 3.65 career ERA in his fifth full MLB season. But he appears prone to the occasional blowup.
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Per Twins beat reporter Aaron Gleeman, Ryan has allowed five-plus home runs in a single game three times. There are only two other such games in franchise history.
Ryan and the Twins will have to hope this is just a blip on the radar and that he can settle back down to All-Star form for the stretch run of the season.
As for the Guardians? They’re now in a three-way tie (Rays, Blue Jays) for second-to-last in the AL with 101 home runs, comfortably ahead of the last-place Red Sox (95).
