Inside The Twins

Joe Ryan gem leads Twins to much-needed shutout win over Seattle

Ryan threw six scoreless frames and Minnesota snapped out of its recent slump with a big victory.
Will Ragatz|
Jun 25, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Joe Ryan (41) pitches against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning at Target Field.
Jun 25, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Joe Ryan (41) pitches against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning at Target Field. | Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Twins

Joe Ryan threw six scoreless innings and the Twins' top three bullpen arms finished off a three-hit shutout in Minnesota's much-needed 2-0 win over the Mariners on Wednesday night.

Ryan, who has been one of the best pitchers in the AL this season, stepped up and delivered a gem for a starting rotation that has been struggling mightily since Pablo Lopez and Zebby Matthews went down with injuries three weeks ago. He allowed just three singles and hit one better over six frames, pitching around a couple fielding errors to keep the Mariners off the board. Ryan struck out eight and lowered his season ERA to 2.86. He's making a strong case for his first All-Star selection.

Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, and Jhoan Duran combined for three hitless innings to wrap it up, with Duran securing his 11th save of the season. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, the MVP candidate who had a couple big games to start this series, was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

All the offense the Twins needed came in the form of an RBI single from Willi Castro in the sixth inning and a solo home run from Kody Clemens in the seventh. Castro drove in Byron Buxton — whose single was just the second hit of the day for the Twins — with a clutch hit off of Mariners starter George Kirby, who was sharp all night. Then Clemens added some insurance with an opposite-field blast, his ninth of the season, off of reliever Eduard Bazardo.

The Twins, who had lost 15 of their previous 18 games, improved to 38-42 with the win. They still have plenty of work to do to shake off this rough month of June, but they're also only 3.5 games back of a wild card spot in the AL.

The finale of this four-game series against the Mariners will be at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday. Simeon Woods Richardson gets the start for the Twins as they look to salvage a split. Emerson Hancock will be on the mound for the Mariners.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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