Joe Ryan stellar again as Twins stop bleeding by shutting out Guardians

CLEVELAND – If you're trying to escape from a deep hole, asking Joe Ryan for a ladder isn't a bad way to start.

Ryan extended his hitless-innings streak to 11 Sunday before finally surrendering a single to Tyler Freeman. But he kept his scoreless-innings streak intact, running it up to 14 in a row with seven shutout innings against the Guardians.

In the end, Ryan helped end the most important streak: the Twins' eight consecutive losses to the Guardians. With Ryan, Jovani Moran and Jhoan Duran providing the pitching, Jake Cave and Luis Arraez providing the hitting, the Twins shook off the previous day's doubleheader sweep over 24 agonizing innings with a 3-0 victory at Progressive Field.

"A stopper-type performance from him at a time when we needed someone to go out there and do something just like that — go out there and shut the other side down," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "He did that, and I thought it was fantastic."

Sure, but his team must hope it isn't too little, too late. The Twins' first victory over the Guardians since June 28 sliced their AL Central deficit to six games with 16 to play, in a race they must win outright in order to qualify for the postseason. The two rivals meet for the final time in 2022 on Monday.

Ryan, who on Tuesday against Kansas City became the first Twins rookie ever to throw seven hitless innings in a start, rolled through a lineup he has handled easily all season, retiring 12 of the first 13 hitters he faced. But Freeman's fifth-inning single to left field broke the spell.

Had he started thinking about the no-hitter again?

Myles Straw led off the sixth with a double off the left-field wall, too. But each time, Ryan induced a double play to get out of danger; the Twins turned three behind him, and Gilberto Celestino made a leaping catch of Jose Ramirez's long drive at the center field wall to keep the Guardians scoreless.

"Defense was just really good, Celestino's catch was pretty electric. Awesome all around. Probably the most double plays I've had all year too," said Ryan, who now owns a 1.42 ERA in five career starts against Cleveland. "That was pretty fun. I like those."

By keeping his pitch count low, he also managed a feat almost as rare as a no-hitter: Ryan became the second Twins starting pitcher this season to record an out in the eighth-inning, joining Dylan Bundy's eight-inning start June 18 at Arizona.

"I didn't even look at him. I didn't even look over" after Ryan completed the seventh inning, Baldelli said. "I wanted him to go back out there and keep going."

Ryan was finally lifted after giving up his third hit, a single with two outs in the eighth on his 96th pitch. Moran finished the inning, and Duran pitched the ninth to earn his eighth save in eight chances and protect the Twins' 15th shutout of the season, three short of the franchise record set in 1967 and equaled in 1973.

Cave provided Ryan with all the offense he would need by slicing a Cody Morris fastball wide of the strike zone over the left field wall in the second inning, a solo home run and his second of the series. In the ninth, two walks and a single loaded the bases for Arraez, who though hobbled by a variety of minor injuries, delivered a two-out, two-run single off Guardians reliever Enyel De Los Santos.