Joe Ryan Dominates, Minnesota Rolls New York 6-1

Joe Ryan threw 7.0 innings of three-hit, zero-run ball with 9 strikeouts, and Minnesota's offense piled on early to make it a laugher. The Twins beat the Yankees 6-1 on July 5th, and it wasn't nearly as close as the final score suggests.

Ryan Weathers never found his footing. Bell singled to right in the first to score Martin, and Minnesota was off. The Twins kept coming in the fourth — Lee singled to left, scoring Lewis to make it 2-0 — and by the fifth inning, New York's night was effectively over. That's when Royce Lewis singled to center, scoring Keaschall and Martin to push the lead to 4-0. That two-run single was the gut punch: New York's win probability cratered from 29% to 13%, a 16-point swing on a single swing. Weathers lasted just 4.0 innings, allowing 6 hits and 4 earned runs against 2 walks, though he did punch out 6. The damage was done.

Minnesota wasn't finished. In the sixth, Martin drew a walk that scored Lee, and then Clemens delivered a sacrifice fly to right to score Kreidler — suddenly it was 6-0, and the game had the feel of a team running up the score on a bad night. The story of the game, though, was always going to be Joe Ryan. Seven innings, three hits, zero earned runs, one walk, nine strikeouts — that's a performance that looks like a pitcher operating at a completely different level than everyone else on the field. Andrew Morris followed with a clean inning of his own, striking out two in 1.0 scoreless frames. New York's lone run came in the ninth on a Domínguez groundout double play that allowed Grisham to score — a consolation tally that did nothing to change the narrative.

Brooks Lee went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, and Austin Martin reached base repeatedly, scoring twice and driving in one. Royce Lewis finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run. This appears to have been a complete, wire-to-wire dismantling — Minnesota scored in the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings before Ryan even needed to break a sweat in the late frames. For New York, Jake Bird provided 1.2 scoreless innings in relief, but the game was long gone by then. Minnesota controlled every phase of this one.