Joe Ryan struggles, Twins' offense remains quiet as Braves finish sweep

After taking a series against the Mets earlier this week at Target Field, things appeared to be setting up nicely for the Twins to turn their season around. The rest of their April schedule looked quite favorable, starting with a weekend trip to Atlanta to face the struggling Braves.

As it turns out, this Twins team might've been just what the Braves needed to turn their season around. Following a late comeback win on Friday and a one-run victory on Saturday, Atlanta cruised over Joe Ryan and Minnesota 6-2 on Sunday afternoon to complete a three-game sweep.

The Twins (7-15) have lost 11 straight games against the Braves (8-13) dating back to the 2019 season. Here's another jarring statistic: the Twins are now 0-13 this season when their opponents score at least four runs. Including the end of last season, they've lost 24 consecutive games when that happens, with the most recent win being a 6-4 victory over the Angels on Sep. 11, 2024. That feels like it sums up Minnesota's offensive ineptitude pretty well.

In total, the Twins are 19-42 since August 18th of last year. That's a 50-112 pace over a full season.

Ryan allowed six earned runs on eight hits (including three home runs) across five innings. It's just the seventh time in 89 career regular season starts he's allowed 6 ER or more, and the first time since 2023. Two of the seven have come in Atlanta.

All of the early damage against Ryan came with two outs. He retired the first two batters in the opening inning, then walked Marcell Ozuna and gave up a two-run homer to Matt Olson. In the second inning, he allowed three consecutive two-out hits as the Braves added another run. In the third, Michael Harris II doubled with two outs and Drake Baldwin hit an opposite-field homer to make it a 5-0 game.

The Twins' offense had some chances, but couldn't come up with a big hit with runners on base. They were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine baserunners on the day. Minnesota had the bases loaded with just one out in consecutive innings and only managed one run. In the fourth, Luke Keaschall popped out, and after a wild pitch got the Twins on the board, Harris saved two runs off of Brooks Lee's bat with a running catch in the gap. In the same situation one inning later, Trevor Larnach struck out and Carlos Correa bounced into a forceout.

Minnesota also stranded multiple runners in the third and sixth innings.

Ozuna added one more run against Ryan with a homer in the sixth. Georgia native Byron Buxton doubled in the fifth inning and blasted a 434-foot homer in the seventh, but no one else on the Twins' offense really joined him in producing. Keaschall singled and walked in his third MLB game, extending his career-opening hit streak to three.

The Twins are off Monday before returning home for a six-game homestand this week against the White Sox and Angels. If they're going to start digging out of this hole, they probably need to go at least 5-1 this week at Target Field.

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