DENVER -- In a season defined by inconsistency for the Twins, Joe Ryan has been the polar opposite.
The anchor of the Twins’ rotation earned every bit of his first career All-Star nod as a result of that, and during perhaps the most critical stretch of the season -- in which his club is fighting to stay in a crowded American League postseason race and solidify its case as buyers for the fast-approaching Trade Deadline -- Ryan once again delivered.
In his first start of the second half, Ryan helped Minnesota avoid a costly sweep against the Rockies, firing seven innings of one-run ball in a 7-1 win on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field. It was an impressive follow up to Ryan’s scoreless performance in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Atlanta, where he punched out National League representatives Manny Machado and Kyle Tucker in a perfect fourth inning.
“He looked great,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He pitched the way he pitched in the All-Star Game, and he pitched the way he pitched before the All-Star Game. This is the way he pitches. Never surprised to see it, but he was absolutely on point all day long. Gave us a great chance to win with an outing like that. It was a heck of an outing.”
Ryan generated 18 whiffs, including 13 on his four-seam fastball, navigating the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field with ease. After giving up a solo home run to Mickey Moniak in the third inning, his lone blemish of the afternoon, Ryan retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced while registering a season-high-tying 11 strikeouts.
Neither Ryan nor Baldelli seemed particularly surprised by such a showing despite the environment that it took place in. Ryan remembered his only other career start at Coors Field on Sept. 29, 2023, in which he finished just shy of 200 strikeouts on the year and gave up six runs in the process -- “I was thinking, ‘Don’t do that [again],’” Ryan joked.
“He did everything that he would normally want to do,” Baldelli said. “And of course, sometimes the pitches don’t move quite the same way that you’re used to them moving. But it just shows you it really doesn’t matter too much with Joe.
“I think he can get Major League hitters out in any ballpark.”
That vote of confidence from Ryan’s skipper is validated with the 2.51 ERA he is sporting away from Target Field. But Ryan was quick to credit the Twins’ complete effort around him in making Sunday’s outcome possible.
“Everyone just played good baseball today,” Ryan said. “It was a little lighter environment, just playing free.”
It was a particularly triumphant day for Royce Lewis, who recorded his first career multihomer game (not including his two-homer game against the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series in ’23) with solo blasts in the fourth and the eighth.
He hit his first a Statcast-projected 451 feet to left-center field before pulling his second of the afternoon 411 feet to left. Lewis said it was even sweeter getting to show out in front of some of his family.
“I felt athletic,” Lewis said. “I just went up there and threw some approaches out of the window and just played the game like I was in Little League. See ball, hit ball, have fun doing it. And enjoyed playing in front of my family, which is what makes it more important for me. My grandparents were here to see that, my aunt was here, my cousins. It was cool.”
If the Twins are able to make a competitive second-half push, Lewis, like Ryan, will be a vital cog in that resurgence.
Baldelli has provided plenty of encouragement to Lewis throughout a season that has been mired with injuries and offensive struggles. He entered the day slashing .211/.276/.296, but a performance like Sunday’s could be the turning point if Lewis is able to regain his swing -- and therefore his elite offensive capability.
“It was beautiful,” Baldelli said. “He went up there, he impacted the ball well, stayed through the ball well. Watching the swings from the side, and especially from the backside, which we don’t always get a chance to see, I think he had his legs under him really good. He was whistling the bat, he hit those balls really well.
“He felt like himself in a lot of ways today. I don’t think he could’ve looked much better.”