Joe Ryan shelled as Twins fall to Royals 11-2 for sixth consecutive loss

Phil Miller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Sep 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Minnesota Twins have wandered into a playoff race this weekend at Kauffman Stadium. The effect is not much different than had they wandered onto the interstate highway just beyond center field.

Joe Ryan lasted only two innings Saturday night, tying the shortest start of his major league career, and the Royals pounded the Twins 11-2 to remain one game out of the final American League playoff spot. It’s the Twins’ sixth consecutive loss, and the third time in that streak they have given up 11 or more runs.

Ryan’s only other two-inning start came last August at Wrigley Field, the day he walked off the mound with a shoulder injury that ended his 2024 season seven weeks early. This one appeared painful, too, in a different way.

The right-hander gave up four runs before he retired a batter, opening the game with a pair of walks before Vinnie Pasquantinto hit a double off the right-field wall. Salvador Perez followed by bashing a first-pitch fastball just short of the fountains behind the seats in left field, a three-run shot and Perez’s 36th career home run against the Twins.

Another walk and a double by Nick Loftin made it a five-run first inning — more runs in one inning than Ryan, who needed 33 pitches to get through it, had given up in all but three of his starts this year.

Ryan, who said on Friday that he was sick but still hoped to pitch Saturday, issued another walk and gave up a hit in the second inning, but threw 29 more pitches. That was enough for manager Rocco Baldelli, who turned to his overworked bullpen for the final six innings.

They didn’t go particularly well, either. Thomas Hatch gave up a double and three singles in the third inning, adding three runs to the Royals’ total, then a single and RBI double — rookie Carter Jensen’s first big-league hit, in fact — in the fourth. Hatch, who appeared in one game for the Royals on Aug. 1 before joining the Twins, retired Kansas City in order in the fifth, but Brooks Kriske relieved him in the sixth and gave up two more runs.

In all, the Royals collected five doubles and a home run in beating the Twins for the seventh time in 12 games this year, clinching the season series for the first time since 2021 with Sunday’s finale remaining.

Right-hander Stephen Kolek, acquired from San Diego at the trade deadline for catcher Freddy Fermin, pitched his second game for the Royals and had little trouble with the Twins, whom he had never faced before. Kolek gave up six hits and a walk over seven innings, the longest start of his career, and retired 10 consecutive batters as he teammates added to his cushion.

Only in the third inning did Kolek encounter any serious trouble, when James Outman led off with a double to left and Byron Buxton followed with his third triple in his past four games, driving in Outman. Two batters later, Buxton scored on Luke Keaschall’s groundout.

Buxton has eight hits in his past seven games, and all eight were for extra bases: three doubles, three triples and two home runs.

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