A dozen, the hard way, as Twins blank Brewers
With injuries increasingly becoming a factor in the Minnesota Twins season their manager talked of the need for versatility before they took the field to face the Brewers on Friday Then a versatile lineup provided early offense and got solid pitching to win a th consecutive contest Playing without standouts Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton the Twins scored three runs in the first two innings and right-hander Joe Ryan held down the Brewers in a - win in the opener of a three-game series Ryan improved to - with a six-inning shutout effort surrendering just a pair of hits to the offensively-challenged Brewers It s the second straight year Minnesota has had a -game winning streak which is the longest streak in the majors this season The franchise record is straight accomplished in With dark skies and lightning flashing outside American Family Field s closed roof the Twins created various thunder in the opening half-inning Minnesota took an early lead after leadoff man Trevor Larnach was hit by the second pitch of the encounter He went to third on a single by Ryan Jeffers and scored on a RBI single to right by Ty France Adding to the injury woes the next batter Willi Castro fouled a ball hard off his right knee and crumpled to the ground in pain He finished the at-bat with a strikeout Kody Clemens doubled the visitors lead with a RBI single to center that scored Jeffers from second Ryan needed pitches to escape the first inning without giving up a run allowing a leadoff single to Brice Turang but getting back to the dugout after Sal Frelick sent a two-out fastball to the warning track in right where Larnach tracked it down When Brewers starter Chad Patrick gave up three consecutive singles to start the second it drew a mound visit to try and calm the rookie righty He got Jeffers to ground into a - double play but a run scored to give Minnesota - lead Castro played left field in the first inning then left the event due officially to a knee contusion with Clemens moving to the outfield and Ryan Fitzgerald entering the contest at second base It was the major league debut for the -year-old utility man He flew out to center in his first two big league at-bats Ryan settled into a nice groove on the mound striking out the side in the second and third before hitting Brewers leadoff man Christian Yelich with a pitch that ran inside to start the fourth Ryan cruised through the first two turns of the Milwaukee batting order allowing just one hit and retiring of batters Brewers catcher William Contreras dropped a double at the base of the wall with one out in the sixth but Ryan got a groundout and a strikeout to elude damage Minnesota touched Patrick for eight hits over six innings before the Brewers bullpen took over Patrick fell to - with the loss The Twins got an inning each from Brock Stewart Griffin Jax and Cole Sands to preserve the shutout Sands got the save striking out the last two Brewers Correa was placed on the seven-day injured list earlier in the day on Friday while Buxton is still being evaluated by the company for a foreseen concussion after he collided with Correa in Thursday s win at Baltimore Match of the Rivalry Series weekend is Saturday at p m CDT with Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez facing Milwaukee s Tobias Myers Related Articles Carlos Correa placed on -day injured list following collision Twins extend winning streak to by finishing another sweep of Orioles Twins stars Carlos Correa Byron Buxton collide in concussion protocol Twins sweep Baltimore running winning streak to Pete Rose Shoeless Joe suddenly eligible for Baseball Hall of Fame
