Joe Ryan pitched seven strong innings and Max Kepler stroked two home runs to beat the Detroit Tigers 5-0 on Wednesday. The win extended the Twins’ winning streak to six games. They go for a second straight sweep on Thursday.
Ryan cruised, allowing only one hit over seven innings with a walk and nine strikeouts. He improved to 3-1 with a 1.17 ERA. Ryan was backed by two home runs from Kepler, two doubles from Oregon State man Trevor Larnach and a double and home run from catcher Ryan Jeffers. And don’t overlook Luis Arraez, who continues to hit. He had two more singles on Wednesday.
The Twins are now 10-8 and atop the American League Central Division. They lead the Chicago White Sox by 2.5 games, who finally snapped an ugly eight-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Bailey Ober gets the ball Thursday.
Extra innings…
-Ryan pitched a 1-hitter for seven innings. But on April 27, 1994, the Twins’ Scott Erickson no-hit the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-0. He walked four and struck out five over nine innings. His was the first Twins’ no-hitter since Aug. 25, 1967.
In that game, Dean Chance no-hit the Cleveland Indians, 2-1. That’s right: Chance allowed one run but no hits. His first inning went like this: walk, walk, strikeout, batter reached on an error to load the bases, then Chance uncorked a wild pitch to allow a run to score. Chance walked five and struck out eight in his no-no.
The first no-hitter in Twins’ history was tossed by Jack Kralick, who beat the Kansas City Athletics 1-0 on Aug. 26, 1962. Kralick didn’t mess around, walking off the field after spending one hour, 57 minutes on the mound.
Kralick walked one and struck out three over nine innings.
Source: Baseball-Reference.com.