Joe Ryan shaky, Byron Buxton exits early as Twins get rocked by Nats

Joe Ryan had an uncharacteristically shaky outing and the Twins' offense floundered with runners in scoring position in a lopsided 9-3 loss to the Nationals at Target Field on Saturday.

To make matters worse, star center fielder Byron Buxton left the game early with what the Twins are calling "left side soreness." He's reportedly day to day, putting his status for Sunday afternoon's series finale in question. It's unclear what caused the soreness for Buxton, who hit the wall on a nice leaping catch in the first inning. He played six innings and went 0 for 3, extending a mini slump.

Ryan, who has been so good for the Twins this season, allowed four earned runs on six hits and a walk over five innings. It was the first time he's surrendered four runs since June 2 in Sacramento, nine starts ago. His ERA rose from 2.63 to 2.82 in the loss.

Ryan began his night with two clean innings, extending the Nationals' scoreless streak to 22 frames. But pinch hitter Alex Call, who came into the game due to an injury, put Washington on the board in the third with an RBI single. Luis Garcia Jr. then made it 2-0 with a bomb in the fourth.

The fifth inning is when the Nats broke it open. The first two batters singled off of Ryan, and Call benefited from some embarrassing Twins defense to load the bases. His pop fly landed in between Brooks Lee, Ty France, and Willi Castro in shallow right field due to poor communication. Castro then picked it up and had a chance to get a force out at second base, but his throw was too high for Carlos Correa to handle. One batter later, CJ Abrams made it 5-0 with a bases-clearing double.

cj. clearly. pic.twitter.com/YA5zOcdbfo
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 27, 2025

The Twins' offense generated plenty of traffic on the bases against Washington lefty Mitchell Parker but struggled to drive in runs. For the game, they matched the Nationals with 12 hits but went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. They stranded two in the third and two more (with no outs) in the fifth, and they also grounded into three double plays (two of them from Trevor Larnach).

Royce Lewis and Ty France drove in runs to cut into the lead in the sixth inning, but the Nats got a homer from Call in the seventh and then added three runs off of Kody Funderburk in the eighth to make it a 9-2 game. Parker, who came into the night with a 5.00 ERA, gave up eight hits but only two runs in 5.2 frames.

This was the type of game the Twins can't exactly afford to lose. They're now 50-54 and 4.5 games back of a wild card spot. When you've got Ryan on the mound against Parker and the 41-win Nationals (now 42-62) at home, that's one you'd really like to win.

It sets up a series finale on Sunday that has to be considered a massive game for the Twins. Travis Adams is expected to either start or work behind an opener for Minnesota against Jake Irvin of the Nationals. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. central.

We'll see on Sunday morning if Buxton is in the lineup or not. He's played in 85 of 104 games and leads the Twins by a wide margin in every major offensive statistical category.

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