Ryan loses perfecto, but still has historic gem

CLEVELAND -- If all had gone according to plan for the Twins this season, Joe Ryan wouldn’t even have been at Progressive Field on Wednesday night, clad in a navy blue uniform with “Minnesota” stamped across his chest, caught up in a pursuit of history.

In fact, the trade that brought Ryan to the Twins on July 22 began the process of turning the page on the struggles of 2021 and looking ahead to ‘22, as the organization dealt away Nelson Cruz, the leader of the clubhouse and the cornerstone of two consecutive playoff runs who helped to end a nearly decade-long division championship drought in the Twin Cities.

If this chilly evening in Ohio was any indication, that future can be just as bright -- with Ryan at its center.

The 25-year-old never looked like a rookie in his second Major League appearance as he mowed Cleveland’s hitters down, again and again, retiring 19 in a row to begin his start and carrying a perfect-game bid into the seventh inning. And even after Amed Rosario’s clean one-out single through the left side ended his quest for the record books, Ryan finished strong for seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball to earn his first MLB win in a 3-0 Twins victory.

“To be honest, I’m not going to be thinking about results as much,” Ryan said. “I’m not chasing a win, I’m not chasing a loss, I’m not chasing a perfect game, a no-hitter, whatever it may be. I think just focusing pitch by pitch, as simple as it is.”

Unflappable as Ryan seemed on the mound in either of his first two big league starts, he was just as stoic when Rosario smacked an 0-1 slider to the left of third baseman Luis Arraez and into the outfield grass. He stared, gave his gum a few chews, brushed his long hair behind his ear and got right back to work, making an errant pickoff throw before he induced a groundout and a flyout to complete his 85-pitch outing.

“I was kind of like, ‘[expletive],’ and then that was it,” Ryan deadpanned. “‘Whatever, next one.’”

All told, Ryan allowed only the one baserunner, becoming the first pitcher in American League history to throw seven or more scoreless innings while allowing no more than one baserunner in either of his first two Major League starts. He’s also the first player in club history to allow one or fewer hits across at least seven innings within his first two big league outings, and the first Twin to retire his first 19 hitters in a start since Francisco Liriano, on June 12, 2011, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

And once Ryan exited, Caleb Thielbar and Tyler Duffey threw two perfect innings of their own as the Twins allowed only one baserunner in the shutout victory, marking the second such nine-inning pitching performance in club history, joining Jack Kralick’s no-hitter on Aug. 26, 1962, when he issued only one walk.

But at the heart of pitching Minnesota to its first consecutive shutout wins over Cleveland since 1963 was Ryan, whose apparently seamless transition to the big leagues could prove huge for the Twins in their quest to build a viable starting rotation for 2022.

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Of the 12 innings Ryan has pitched in the Majors through his first two career starts, 10 have been perfect -- leading those around him to praise the poise beyond his years he’s shown on the mound.

“I think Joe believes in himself and believes in his heart he can pitch here in the Major Leagues,” acting manager Bill Evers said. “He conducts himself like a professional Major Leaguer. His preparation is great and his stuff works up here in the big leagues. He believes he can do it, and I believe that’s a big part of pitching here in the Major Leagues.”

Maintaining that poise was much easier this time around. The adrenaline was much more manageable in Ryan’s second start, he said, and he was much more locked in with focusing on his breathing, allowing himself to reset when he felt he was trying to do too much, and remembering that he owned control of the game -- as he did throughout the performance.

There were a handful of deep fly balls hit to the warning track early in the game and a flare hit to shallow right field, but those almost helped to keep Ryan even looser as he saw Byron Buxton and Max Kepler nonchalantly saunter over to make the plays, relaxing him as he spoke of a different mindset in attacking big league hitters versus Minor League hitters.

Considering he led the Minor Leagues in strikeout rate in 2019, it’s no surprise that Ryan has sometimes tried to chase strikeouts, but he said he understood the lower margin for error considering the heightened adrenaline at this level -- so he just stayed in the zone and trusted his stuff to do the job, only collecting four strikeouts without a walk.

“I think just trusting the defense and throwing strikes and using all four pitches really helped me,” Ryan said. “I'm just going to hit my spots, execute the pitch that I want to throw and keep them guessing.”

It’s easier to do that when José Ramírez and Franmil Reyes are popping balls up, and only six of the 18 batted balls Ryan allowed qualified as hard-hit (in excess of 95 mph), making life easier on the defenders behind him as he still relied heavily on his trademark fastball (61 percent) but mixed in his offspeed pitches earlier and more often.

“We didn’t square many balls up on him, for sure,” said Cleveland acting manager DeMarlo Hale. “I think the second time around the order, especially with the righties, he showed the slider a little bit more. Really just kept us off balance and putting the ball in different locations. ... I mean, you take a no-hitter, perfect game into the seventh, that’s saying something.”

Ryan is saying something indeed -- loudly enough to lead a historic pitching performance even as he fell short of perfection.