The Minnesota Twins blanked the Boston Red Sox 6-0 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday. It was a memorable game for Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan of San Francisco, California, and Twins designated hitter Byron Buxton of Baxley, Georgia. Ryan became the first Twins pitcher in five years to throw a complete game shutout, and Buxton became the first player in 10 years to hit two home runs in a game where each home run went 460 feet or more.
Joe Ryan
Ryan threw 112 pitches of which 83 were strikes. He had nine strikeouts and zero walks, and only gave up three hits. The last Twins pitcher to throw a complete game shutout was Jose Berrios of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Berrios accomplished the feat in a 7-0 Twins win over the Baltimore Orioles on April 1, 2018. Ryan is one of 10 pitchers to throw a complete game shutout this season. He is joined by Chris Bassitt of the Toronto Blue Jays, Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees, Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers, Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros, Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins, Alex Cobb of the San Francisco Giants, Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves, Mitch Keller of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Marcus Stroman of the Chicago Cubs.
In 93 2/3 innings pitched this season, Ryan has a record of eight wins and four losses with an earned run average of 2.98. In 156 games, he has given up 70 hits, 31 earned runs, and 15 walks, to go along with 100 strikeouts and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.91.
Byron Buxton
Buxton’s first home run was 466 feet. It was a solo home run, came in the bottom of the first inning off of Red Sox starting pitcher Justin Garza with two out, and put the Twins up 2-0. Buxton’s second home run was 465 feet. It was a leadoff home run in the third inning off of Red Sox reliever Brandon Walter, and put the Twins up 5-0. The last player to hit two home runs in a game 460 feet or more was Mike Napoli of Hollywood, Florida in a 10-1 Boston Red Sox win over the Toronto Blue Jays on May 1, 2013.
This season, Buxton is batting .215 with 13 home runs and 27 runs batted in. During 209 at bats and 241 plate appearances, Buxton scored 35 runs and had 45 hits, 10 doubles, one triple, six stolen bases, one sacrifice fly, 96 total bases, an on base percentage of .315, and a slugging percentage of .459. Buxton’s triple came in a 2-0 Twins win over the Kansas City Royals on March 30.
With the win, the Twins have a record of 38 wins and 38 losses. They have a one game lead on the Cleveland Guardians.
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