The Minnesota Twins haven’t played in over a week, but it’s given us time to reflect on how the final game of their season ended. We can question how Rocco Baldelli deployed his pitchers, but two-thirds of the lineup failed to get a hit or even reach base.
Joe Ryan was on the mound for Game 4 of the ALDS, but the Twins didn’t give him the opportunity to face every batter in the Astros lineup. Baldelli pulled him after two innings of work. Therefore, he didn’t allow Ryan to face the weakest batter in Houston’s lineup, Martín Maldonado, to start the third inning.
The game tied 1-1 after Royce Lewis and Michael Brantley hit solo homers. But the lack of high-level offense from both lineups didn’t mean the Twins or Astros had to go into their bullpens early. But Minnesota had a plan before the game and didn’t want to take any chances with Ryan. Even with Maldonado, who hasn’t hit above the Mendoza line since 2020.
Instead, they turned to Brock Stewart to retire Maldonado, Jose Altuve, and Alex Bregman. Stewart didn’t disappoint, though. He retired all three batters on only 12 pitches.
The Twins got the results they wanted. But Stewart returned from a shoulder injury on September 26. Therefore, he would only be available for one inning. They had to go to the bullpen again.
Returning to Ryan’s role in Game 4, it was no hidden secret the Twins were planning to give him a quick hook following his second half-of-the-season home run problem. The Astros (114) were only second behind the Twins (118) in the American League in post-All-Star break home runs.
Ryan made two starts against the Astros in April and May, well before his groin issue and subsequent home run issues. But the Astros still hit three homers off him in those two starts.
“These are different games, and these games are well removed from those last starts,” Baldelli said regarding Ryan’s regular season starts against Houston before Game 4 “I think there’s going to be some new nuance that kind of involved in the way that they’re going to approach what they’re doing. Our team looks different. We have a different ball club than we had last time around. And I’m sure Joe is going to try to bring in some new tactics this time around too.”
Ryan didn’t use his slider against Houston in the regular season. In his first start against the Astros on April 8, he only threw his slider once in 81 pitches. He used his sweeper most frequently as his secondary pitch, throwing 24 times.
Houston’s hitters made contact against his sweeper, but Minnesota’s hitters turned most of them into outs. In his second start against the Astros on May 30, Ryan changed up his pitch selection, pulling back on his sweeper usage, throwing it only 12 times. One of the 12 times he threw it, Bregman connected on it and hit it into the Crawford Boxes.
Ryan threw his slider 19 times and his splitter 20 the second time he faced Houston. The Astros made good contact, getting three of their five hits off Ryan’s slider in that game.
In Game 4, Ryan threw his fastball and splitter and avoided the slider and sweeper unless necessary. A two-inning start limited Ryan to only 26 pitches. Aside from two pitches, he used his splitter or fastball exclusively. The sweeper was the outlier. He only threw it twice. Both times he threw the sweeper, the Astros didn’t offer at it.
But the change of pitching arsenal tactics and going all-in through two innings didn’t change the length of Ryan’s outing. But Ryan’s quick hook from his final start of the year wasn’t his downfall in Minnesota’s loss. It was their four through nine hitters failing to show up.
Max Kepler, Carlos Correa, Ryan Jeffers, Willi Castro, Donovan Solano, Michael A. Taylor, and the pinch-hitting Byron Buxton all failed to make any sort of noise at the plate. Even with Caleb Thielbar giving up a two-run home run to José Abreu in the fourth inning, the Twins bullpen gave them an opportunity to win the game.
The four through nine hitters combined to go 0-19, striking out 11 times. They appeared lost at the plate all night and never showed up when the Twins needed them. Borderline strike calls hurt Kepler in his final two at-bats, but the bottom of the lineup had to be more productive
Ryan’s final outing of the year was cut short, even by one batter. Letting him face Maldonado once would have likely ended in the same results as his plate appearance against Stewart. From there, it could have played out similarly against Altuve, Bregman, and Alvarez the second time around. But now we’ll never know.
