Detroit Tigers' bullpen stymies Minnesota Twins in 7-1 win: Game thread recap
Detroit Tigers (28-39) vs. Minnesota Twins (35-34)
When: 8:10 p.m. Friday.
Where: Target Field in Minneapolis.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1 in Detroit; Tigers radio affiliates).
Probable pitchers: Tigers RHP Will Vest (2-0, 3.20 ERA) vs. Twins RHP Joe Ryan (7-3, 2.90).
Tigers lineup:
DH Kerry Carpenter
SS Javier Baez
2B Nick Maton
LF Andy Ibanez
C Eric Haase
P Will Vest
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Game notes: If there’s one pitcher who should be happy to share a division with the Tigers, it’s Minnesota’s Joe Ryan. In his third season since joining the Twins from the Rays (in a rare trade loss for Tampa Bay, who got a couple months of Nelson Cruz in exchange for Ryan), the 27-year-old has a 2.54 ERA in 28 1/3 innings vs. the Tigers. But that’s inflated — a bit — by his first start vs. Detroit in 2021, when he allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings. Last year, he made four starts vs. the Tigers and gave up two runs in 23 2/3 innings (a 0.76 ERA), while striking out 33 and issuing just three walks. Against the rest of the majors, meanwhile, Ryan posted a 4.09 ERA with 51 strikeouts over 123 1/3 innings.
So what’s his secret? According to the Tigers of last season, it’s his four-seam fastball. As Spencer Torkelson put it in April 2022 — back before we really understood how occasionally lousy the Tigers' bats could get — "You look on the board, and (his fastball is) only 92-93 (mph), not overwhelming," Torkelson told reporters. "But from that arm slot, it plays up a little bit, and then he has some good off-speed to go with it."
At least this season, Ryan’s mastery has spread to other teams, as he’s in the top 10% of nearly every metric offered by MLB’s StatCast, including the two that are generally obvious when watching a game: Chase rate (97th percentile) and barrel percentage (92%). And sure enough, his four-seamer has been elite, with a minus-13 run value already this season. (The cumulative stat hit minus-21 for Ryan last season, so he’s well on his way to topping that.)
Will the Tigers adjust? They managed to chase other frequent foe Sonny Gray after just four innings on Thursday night in their victory, so perhaps — for one night — it’ll be Ryan who’s trapped in the AL Central with the Tigers, rather than the other way around.
Meanwhile, the Tigers haven’t said who they’ll be sending to the mound announced Will Vest as Friday's "opener," with tonight and Sunday’s game getting the “bullpen game” label. Vest opened Sunday's game with a scoreless inning, then threw a scoreless inning Thursday night against the Twins. (Saturday features a start from Joey Wentz, who hasn’t completed a fifth inning of work since May 8, so that could be a “bullpen game,” too.)
After tonight’s game, the Tigers and Twins wrap up the series with a pair of 2:10 p.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers will then return home for another AL Central foe, the worst-in-MLB (yes, worse than the A’s) Kansas City Royals on Monday, while the Twins will host the Red Sox beginning Monday.
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford. R
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat Minnesota Twins, 7-1: Game thread recap
