Five weeks out, back on a Monday in Detroit
Joe Ryan has not pitched in a major league game since early August, when a strained left glute muscle put him on the shelf. Derek Shelton confirmed today that the right-hander is lined up to start the series opener in Detroit. “I would say it’s a very strong chance that Joe’s going to start that game,” the Twins manager said.
Ryan threw three innings in a rehab outing on Tuesday and came through a bullpen session on Saturday. “It felt better than … I was throwing as hard as I was in the rehab game in the bullpen early,” he told MLB.com. “That’s probably a good thing.”
He takes a 6-8 record and a 3.65 ERA into the start. Against Detroit specifically, his career line reads 5-2 with a 3.43 ERA across 10 starts, which makes this about as gentle a re-entry as the schedule could offer him.
Try it for $0.99.
A series with nothing left to settle
Minnesota sit at 68-75 and have already clinched the season series, having taken seven of the first 10 meetings. The two clubs do not play again after this week. Detroit are 65-78 and have lost 17 of their last 22 games, including three walk-off defeats in four games at Cleveland over the weekend.
“The walk-offs are painful,” A.J. Hinch said. “It’s the worst feeling coming off somebody else’s field while they’re celebrating. We’ve played a ton of close games against these guys, but close games don’t matter unless you win.”
The Twins arrive carrying their own bruise. They lost 10-1 to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Melton has seen enough of this lineup
Detroit hand the ball to Troy Melton, who owns a 2.20 ERA and a 7-4 record and has been their most reliable starter since coming off the injured list in late May. The recent trend runs the other way. He has allowed at least three runs in each of his last three outings.
The worst of them came against these Twins on Tuesday: seven runs, five earned, six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with Kody Clemens taking him deep in the first and Royce Lewis hitting a three-run shot in the sixth. Minnesota won 15-2. In a five-inning June start against the same lineup, Melton gave up four solo homers, one of them to Clemens again.
“The slider to Lewis was really bad,” Melton said. “It was right down the middle. Process-wise, I don’t think it was as bad as the results were.”
Discover the rest of the SPORT news on our site and the mathodds app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply