Byron Buxton exits because of injury, Joe Ryan roughed up as Twins blown out by Nationals

Joe Ryan delivered his worst start in nearly two months during a 9-3 loss to the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton exited Saturday night’s game because of left side soreness.

It was a tough day for the Twins’ two All-Star players, and an ugly performance for a struggling team attempting to stay afloat in the wild-card standings.

“We’ve been playing some pretty good fundamental baseball,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Today was not that.”

Buxton didn’t return to the field after the sixth inning, but Baldelli said Buxton was “relatively upbeat” when they chatted during the game. Buxton, who made a leaping catch at the center field wall in the first inning, will undergo medical imaging Sunday morning.

“He actually felt it more running than anything else,” Baldelli said. “When you have some soreness in your side, and you don’t feel it as much swinging, and you don’t feel it as much moving on the offensive end as you feel it running, that’s kind of a unique thing. I’m not going to speculate any more than that.”

Ryan, making his final start ahead of Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, watched his outing implode during the fifth inning. With the Twins trailing by two runs, Ryan surrendered two singles to begin the frame before inducing a pop-up to shallow right field against Nationals outfielder Alex Call.

No Twins fielder took charge on the pop-up, and with three players standing near each other, the ball dropped after it deflected off second baseman Brooks Lee’s glove. Right fielder Willi Castro picked up the ball and could’ve salvaged an out as runners froze on the fly ball. Instead, Castro threw high to second base and shortstop Carlos Correa lost the glove off his hand as he jumped for it.

“We’ve got to do a better job of supporting our pitcher out there, and we’ve got to do a few things better,” Baldelli said after the Twins dropped their record to 3-5 out of the All-Star break and 10-10 in July.

The Twins weren’t charged with any more errors beyond Lee’s drop, but it was a sloppy game. Correa whiffed on an over-the-shoulder catch in the sixth inning, a tough play he typically makes, and he misplayed a hard ground ball in the eighth. Lefty Kody Funderburk allowed one runner to score after throwing two wild pitches.

Ryan yielded six hits and five runs (four earned) in five innings, raising his ERA to 2.82 through 21 starts. He entered Saturday having given up five runs over his previous five starts, a 31-inning stretch.

Call, from nearby River Falls, Wis., hit a pinch-hit RBI single in the third inning after Jacob Young injured his finger attempting to drop a sacrifice bunt, and Luis García Jr. hit a solo homer off Ryan on a sinker to begin the fourth inning.

“You just kind of tip your cap,” Ryan said. “First time I’ve gotten [beat] on a front-door sinker.”

“As far as a trade goes, I don’t see it happening,” Ryan said. “At the same time, it’s completely out of my hands, so I really haven’t thought about it much. I think we have a good opportunity, years forward, to do something here. I would like to stay, but like I said, it’s out of my control.”

BOXSCORE: Washington 9, Twins 3

MLB standings

Call homered off Justin Topa in the seventh inning and Funderburk gave up four hits and three runs in the eighth.

The Twins, meanwhile, went hitless in their first seven at-bats with a runner in scoring position against Nationals starter Mitchell Parker, a lefty who entered Saturday with a 5.08 ERA in 20 starts.