Taj Bradley
vs
Joe Ryan
Twins best starter by ERA and innings pitched looks to continue the winning streak. The Twins lead the Royals by a single game and since they now get to play the A's, the Twins need to keep racking up wins against the middling opponents too.
The Twins' homestand continues tonight as they kick off a four-game series with the 26-and-44 Athletics. We currently stand eight games back of Cleveland and three behind Kansas City and just three games ahead of the Tigers. It doesn't sit well to be the third-place team in what is widely considered a weak division, but here we are. If we want to gain ground we have to win these games and series against weaker teams, because we sure seem to crumble against the good ones. So maybe that's what we are this year, a little less mediocre than Detroit but a lot better than the White Sox. And friends, that is not an enviable position.
Joe Ryan gets the mound to start for the Twins. His 3.30 ERA, 85 strikeouts and 0.97 WHIP over 13 starts are better than his 4-5 record would indicate, but run support has been scant when the ass bats show up. Luis Medina gets the call tonight for the A's in just the third start of the year for the 25-year old righthander. His short sample size ERA is 5.23 and he's struck out 7 batters over 10 innings. Who know what he'll do tonight.
Play ball!
Jack Chesbro (1874)
Sandy Thompson (1895)
Harry Williams (1905)
Eddie Joost (1916)
Lou Brissie (1924)
Duke Sims (1941)
Bill Spiers (1966)
Ray Lankford (1967)
Mike Coolbaugh (1972)
Russ Ortiz (1974)
Robinson Chirinos (1984)
Manny Pina (1987)
Jake Petricka (1988)
Andrew Heaney (1991)
Dereck Rodriguez (1992)
Joe Ryan (1996)
Royce Lewis (1999)
Prior to beginning his major league career, Lou Brissie served in World War II. He suffered severe leg injuries, receiving the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, but overcame his injuries to spend seven years in the majors.
Mike Coolbaugh was the first base coach for the Tulsa Drillers when he was struck on the head with a line drive and killed.
MEMORIAL DAY GAME ALERT!
The surprisingly good Royals come to town for a four game series against the unsurprisingly flat Twins. Ryan has been pitching well of late, so let's hope the streak continues.
Twins go for eight straight great games here in Chicago tonight. While you never want to get too confident, this is the kind of team you want be playing (though they did just sweep the Rays(!)).
Joe Ryan has been pitching pretty all right this year, though he's only faced AL Central teams which usually takes the edge off things. He gets another Central opponent tonight though, so we can hope the trend continues. Also, he's starting on my fantasy team, so let's bring it home for papa.
Crochet hasn't had as good a go of it lately. Perhaps he should take up knitting instead. Once again, let's hope the trend continues.
And the bats of fire trend is another welcome one. Trifecta tonight, please!
Garret Crochet
vs
Joe Ryan
The 2023 Oakland Athletics got their fourth win on game 20 and by game 23 were 5-18. They scored 81 runs in their first 22 games (3.7 runs/G) while the White Sox have scored 50 (2.3 R/G). If the 2024 White Sox have one thing going for them compared to last season's Athletics, it's the 129 runs allowed through 22 games compared to the 178 runs allowed for the Athletics.
Crochet strikes out a lot of batters, doesn't walk many, and gives up a few too many home runs but everything else is good enough for his 3.86 FIP. His current ERA of 5.61 comes from being shelled in his last two games. The Twins need to study the Phillies game and repeat that for today.
I didn't see a game log, so here's one. The Twins really need Joe Ryan to take a step forward this season. Not that he was bad last year, but they need him to be better this year. Hopefully this will be the start of that. Go Twins!
José Urquidy
vs
Joe Ryan
FS1 at 6:07 p.m. CDT
NLDS games:
TBD vs Aaron Nola, TBS at 4:07 p.m.
Lance Lynn vs Brandon Pfaady, TBS at 8:07 p.m.
Urquidy's strikeout rate is down compared to last year (6.4 K/9 compared to 7.3 K/9 last year), his walk rate is up (+1.5 BB/9) and his home run rate is steady yet high (1.6 HR/9). All of these things match up well with what Twins batters can feast on. The rest of the league already has with his 5.39 ERA this year in 61 innings. I doubt Houston will let him pitch deep so Twins need to get their scoring in early and often.
Day game alert!
Joe Ryan
vs
Gavin Williams
A much better showing against Cleveland this year in September that last year. The division is nearly clinched so finishing off the sweep will cut the magic number to 15, give the Twins a winning record against Cleveland, and put them into the (AL Central) vaunted air of eight games over .500.
Gavin started the middle game of the series in Minnesota, pitching only a single inning due to injury. He hasn't pitched since so it might be another short start from either injury or rust.
Joe Ryan
vs
Dakota Hudson
Yesterday's game marked two-thirds of the season. Pro-rating to the full 162 games puts the Twins at 82.5 wins, a mere tenth of a win below their preseason forecast. FanGraphs is more optimistic now, projecting them at 83.5 wins.
Cardinals tore it down while the Twins did nothing (on deadline day). I can't really blame them after making big trades last year that did poorly. Sure would be nice to have Steer's .320/.377/.602 versus lefties with the Twins this year.
