ATLANTA — Fresh off throwing a complete-game shutout last Thursday, the Twins' first in more than five years, Joe Ryan watched his first pitch Tuesday sail over the wall in center field.
It didn't stop there. Ryan yielded a triple on his sixth pitch, another homer on his ninth pitch and a third home run of the first inning on his 20th pitch. From his best start of the season to his worst in five days.
Ryan, who had permitted four homers in his last 11 starts, surrendered five homers to his first 10 batters in a 6-2 loss at Truist Park. Entering with a 2.98 ERA, he lasted three innings in his shortest start of the year while giving up a season-high nine hits and six runs.
In Ryan's last start, he relied heavily on his fastball in his three-hit shutout. It turned from fastball to meatball in front of a sellout crowd of 42,635. All four hits he gave up in the first inning — three homers and a triple — came off his fastball with an average exit velocity of 106 miles per hour. The homers kept flying farther too: Ronald Acuña Jr. (406 feet), Austin Riley (417 feet) and Sean Murphy (445 feet).
In the second inning, Ryan conceded back-to-back homers to Michael Harris III and Acuña. When Ryan saw Acuña swat a splitter over the left-field wall, he shook his head and mouthed "wow" after he received a new ball. Acuña became the fifth leadoff hitter in Atlanta's history to homer twice in the first two innings.
It was the fourth time in Twins history a pitcher allowed five home runs in a start, matching Bert Blyleven (Sept. 13, 1986), Carlos Silva (Aug. 22, 2006) and Ryan last year in a July 29 start at San Diego. Ryan is the sixth pitcher in MLB history since 1901 to give up five homers in multiple starts.
Ryan received two mound visits from pitching coach Pete Maki. Catcher Christian Vázquez and shortstop Carlos Correa came to the mound to chat with Ryan after a two-out single in the second inning. None of it could salvage an outing on his worst day against the best team in the National League. He required 82 pitches to record nine outs.
The Twins are averaging 3.21 runs in their last 14 games, and they couldn't produce more than two in a game that Atlanta's defense committed four errors. A run scored on an error in the first inning and Edouard Julien hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, but they went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
Bryce Elder, Atlanta's starter, walked four batters and threw only 59 of his 98 pitches for strikes. Despite four errors behind him, there were some timely defensive plays. Acuña made a leaping grab on a line drive in the gap to rob Royce Lewis of a potential double in the fourth inning, which loomed larger when the next three batters reached base.
Second baseman Ozzie Albies and shortstop Orlando Arcia combined on a highlight play in the fifth inning when Albies dove to his right to stop a ground ball, flipped to Arcia as he sat on the ground and Arcia made the throw to first for his teammate to toss out Max Kepler by a step. The middle infield duo was rewarded with a standing ovation.
The loss dropped the Twins below .500 at the halfway mark of the season with a 40-41 record.
