April 28, 2022

Ryan, Kepler carry Twins to sixth straight win

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.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.