It seemed odd and unwarranted at the time, giving a rookie the honor of starting on Opening Day. Six months later, Joe Ryan might have locked up the job for 2023, too.
Ryan, the young fastball specialist, finished up a splendid first full season on Friday by shutting out the Tigers for six innings, setting a new Twins record for strikeouts by a rookie, and kicking off the final road trip of 2022 with a 7-0 drubbing of Detroit at Comerica Park.
"I thought it was great for him to go out there and muscle through the lineup. He looked great. It was a perfect way to wrap up a great rookie year," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I expect more of the same from him [in 2023], but I couldn't be more pleased with what we got from him this year."
The scoreless start, Ryan's fourth since Aug. 26, earned his 13th victory of the year, fourth-most ever by a Twins rookie, and extended the right-hander's seasonlong dominance of Detroit. Ryan has faced the Tigers four times this season and breezed each time, going 4-0 with an 0.76 ERA, plus 33 strikeouts and only three walks.
Actually, Ryan has feasted on the AL Central in 2022, going 10-0 with a 1.39 ERA against the Twins' four division rivals. And in four September starts, he has allowed only 15 hits, and just three for extra bases, in 28⅔ innings.
This time, he limited the Tigers to five hits, all singles, and induced 16 swing-and-misses. But Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson didn't swing at a third-inning, two-strike fastball in the middle of the plate, going down as Ryan's 145th strikeout victim of the season. That's one batter more than Francisco Liriano whiffed in 2006, making Ryan the new record holder by a Twins rookie.
Not that Ryan had any idea.
"They just told me to throw [the ball] in the dugout" as a souvenir, Ryan said. "I didn't really think about it. … Really cool moment to get the ball from Rocco [after the game], though. And [Caleb] Thielbar told me he watched Liriano get that record."
