Joe Ryan went seven innings and struck out seven, but he also gave up six runs and the Tigers topped the Twins 7-1 Friday night in Minneapolis. Detroit has taken the first two games of the four-game series.
Ryan was good outside of a rough third inning when he gave up an RBI single to Jonathan Schoop, another run a sacrifice fly and then a three-run homer to Javier Baez. That made it a 5-1 game and erased momentum Minnesota generated on Alex Kirilloff’s solo homer in the second inning.
Matt Vierling made it a 6-1 game with a solo homer in the fourth off Ryan, and he homered again in the ninth inning to seal the final score.
The back-to-back losses drop the Twins back to .500 at 35-35. The Cleveland Guardians, who were still in action at the time this story was published, were just two games behind Minnesota in the AL Central.
Up next: Twins vs. Tigers, Saturday at 1:10 p.m.
