Logan Gilbert tossed six innings and the Mariners bullpen finished off a 5-0 shutout of the Minnesota Twins Tuesday night in Seattle.
The Twins mustered just four hits all night, two each by Carlos Correa and Gilberto Celestino, while the rest of the lineup combined to go 0-for-24. Byron Buxton, as a bit of a consolation prize, drew a pair of walks to account for the only other Twins baserunners.
Minnesota’s lead in the AL Central is down to 2.5 games over the Cleveland Guardians and three ahead of the Chicago White Sox. Both Cleveland and Chicago won Tuesday.
After playing Seattle again Wednesday and then three games at Arizona Friday-Sunday, the Twins and Guardians will square off in seven of the next ten games, so the stage is set for dramatics.
Meanwhile, Joe Ryan made his first start since going on the COVID injured list three weeks ago. He rattled off three hitless innings before serving up a two-run homer to Eugenio Suárez in the fourth inning, and then another two-run shot to Ty France in the fifth.
Ryan said afterward that he didn’t have the endurance he’s used to following his bout with COVID.
“Definitely frustrating to not have that endurance that I had before this, but we’ve been working on it, and we’ll keep building it,” Ryan said, according to MLB.com. “Shouldn’t be too long.”
As Do-Hyoung Park reports, Ryan’s average fastball velocity decreased every inning.
- 1st: 92.5 mph
- 2nd: 91.2 mph
- 3rd: 90.9 mph
- 4th: 90.4 mph
- 5th: 88.5 mph
“As the pitch count got up, after everything he’s been through, we’re really just looking for next start out, to strengthen up and to feel better and to be able to get through five or six innings and be able to do it the way he normally does,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
The Twins and Mariners meet in the rubber game of the series Wednesday afternoon. Sonny Gray returns from the injured list to start for the Twins. First pitch is at 3:10 p.m. Central Time.
