ST. LOUIS – Before there was some light rain at Busch Stadium on Wednesday, the Cardinals showered Twins starter Joe Ryan with home runs.
The Cardinals hit three homers in a five-batter stretch in the second inning, and Alec Burleson hit a three-run homer in the third inning. It was the third consecutive start Ryan yielded multiple homers and the Twins delivered their biggest dud of a game since the All-Star break in a 7-3 loss.
It was an ugly start. The Twins trailed by seven runs in the third inning to a last-place team. A starter, Carlos Correa, was pulled for rest during the fifth inning. Michael A. Taylor ended Dakota Hudson’s no-hitter when he singled with one out in the sixth.
Ryan’s issues with home runs are a growing concern. He permitted four homers Wednesday, raising his total to 17 in his past seven starts. His 17 homers are the most allowed by a Twins pitcher over a seven-start stretch in franchise history.
Dominant for the first two months of the season, Ryan has been unable to regain his footing. He has allowed 48 hits and 31 innings in his past 32 ⅓ innings (8.63 ERA).
He labored through a 27-pitch first inning, which included a 10-pitch walk to Nolan Gorman. He threw a first-pitch strike to 12 of 23 batters. It took him 38 offspeed pitches, sliders and splitters, before he elicited his first whiff with one of them.
During the second inning, Ryan surrendered a homer on a low splitter (Tyler O’Neill), a belt-high fastball (Jordan Walker) and a splitter over the heart of the plate (Lars Nootbar). The Cardinals opened the third inning with back-to-back hits before Burleson blasted a three-run homer to right field on an elevated fastball.
As Burleson completed his home run trot, Ryan received a new ball from home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson and shook his head as he walked behind the mound. Ryan, possibly for the first time, didn’t wear long sleeves during his start. He wore them this year, including in hot weather, to avoid tipping his pitches because hitters might pick up his pitch grips by the way he flexed his forearm.
“We’ll make adjustments and we’ll be fine there,” Ryan said about the number of homers he allowed after his last start. “It’s not really concerning. You throw a lot of strikes and guys are going to swing and stuff happens. I think it’s more of an adjustment thing on my end, just recognizing certain patterns a little bit more.”
Ryan gave up nine hits and seven runs in four innings, the fourth time in his past seven starts he’s failed to complete five innings. He struck out three of his last four batters, but he required 103 pitches to record 12 outs.
The Twins drew two walks against Hudson in the first five innings. After Taylor ended the no-hit bid in the sixth inning, Willi Castro grounded into an inning-ending double play two pitches later.
Matt Wallner ended the Twins’ shutout in the seventh inning with a three-run homer to center field, a 431-foot blast on a slider, after the previous two batters reached on a walk and a hit by pitch. It was Wallner’s fifth homer in his past seven games.
Hudson, who hadn’t pitched longer than 4 ⅓ innings in any outing this year, was one out from completing seven scoreless innings. The Twins finished with four hits and didn’t have a runner reach third base outside of Wallner’s home run.