Twins place rookie pitcher Joe Ryan on COVID-19 IL
Wednesday brought disappointing news for the Minnesota Twins, who had to place rookie starting pitcher Joe Ryan on the COVID-19 injured list. He was scheduled to face the Kansas City Royals to start a four-game series on Thursday.
The 25-year-old right-hander is having a standout season for Minnesota. With a 5-2 record and 2.28 ERA through eight starts and 43 1/3 innings pitched this year, he leads all rookies in wins and innings pitched. He is second among all rookies with 42 strikeouts.
With Ryan sidelined for his next couple of starts, the Twins recalled left-hander Devin Smeltzer from Triple-A St. Paul. The southpaw has a 1-0 record through two starts this season with a 1.74 ERA. That win, coincidentally, was against the Royals just last week before he was sent back down to St. Paul. Smeltzer will look to earn a longer stay in the big leagues with this latest opportunity.
"It gets worse," Smeltzer told the press on Wednesday about being shuttled back and forth between levels. "You want to stay the longer you've been around. Your first year, you're kind of playing with house money. You go up and down and you're just happy to be here," Smeltzer said. "Once you start to feel more comfortable here, perform, then it gets harder and harder once you get sent back down."
The Twins are in first place in the AL Central with a five-and-a-half-game cushion over the Chicago White Sox.
More must-reads: