Joe Ryan's strong start helps Twins end nine-game losing streak vs. Yankees

Phil Miller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Aug 14, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — On a day in which status quo best summed up the Twins’ state of affairs, they unexpectedly changed something that has gone on almost as long as the Pohlad family’s ownership.

OK, not quite. But the Twins got strong pitching from Joe Ryan, a couple of crucial hits from Byron Buxton and, with his father here to see it, a go-ahead two-run double from Kody Clemens, helping them end their nine-game losing streak against the New York Yankees with a 4-1 victory at Yankee Stadium.

It had been more than two years, back on April 25, 2023, since the Twins had beaten their chief tormentors, or even held a two-run lead over the Yankees. Outscored 63-21 during the streak, not to mention 15-3 in the first two games here this week, the Twins have not been competitive in New York in quite awhile.

But Ryan, who started none of those nine losses, made them so. The All-Star right-hander struck out seven, never allowed more than one hit in any of his 6 2/3 innings, and surrendered only one home run to the MLB long-ball leaders, who had hit four Monday and three more Tuesday.

This one was to Cody Bellenger, his second of the series and 22nd of the season, but it came with bases empty in the third inning. So insulted by the foul line-hugging fly ball to right field was Ryan, he responded by striking out the next four hitters he faced.

It gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead, but for a change, the Twins lineup appeared energized by the deficit. Trevor Larnach drew a leadoff walk in the fourth inning off Yankees starter Cam Schlittler, and Buxton followed with a double. Luke Keaschall tied the score with a groundout RBI.

Two innings later, after Schlittler gave way to Yerry de los Santos, the Twins struck. OK, the first two hits, a couple of well-placed ground balls by Buxton and Keaschall, didn’t leave the infield, but Clemens’ hit definitely did. He smacked the eighth pitch of his at-bat, a 3-2 high fastball, into the gap in right-center, and it rolled to the warning track, scoring the two baserunners. Royce Lewis followed with a two-out double that landed just inside the foul line in the left-field corner — Cuzzi territory, for you Twins history buffs, though this one was called correctly — and Clemens scored the Twins’ fourth run.

That was plenty of support for Ryan, who gave up only four hits. The final one was notable, though: A seventh-inning double by Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, the 16th consecutive game against the Twins in which he has collected a hit. That’s the longest hitting streak by a Yankee in the teams’ 64-year history of playing each other, surpassing names like Thurman Munson and Derek Jeter.

The game drew 44,466 to Yankee Stadium, an early-arriving throng in order to collect Aaron Judge bobbleheads. They had to wait through a rain delay of nearly two hours before first pitch, as did an army of Twin players’ families, here as part of the annual “Family Trip,” with wives and children invited to fly on the team charter and stay in the team hotel.

The late start meant that planeload figured to arrive home around 4 a.m. But given the outcome, it’s not likely any of the fathers, at least, minded the late hour.