Joe Ryan continued his mastery of Kansas City hitters by tossing two-hit ball over seven scoreless innings as the Minnesota Twins posted a 4-0 victory over the host Royals on Wednesday night.
Ryan threw just 85 pitches, struck out four and walked none while improving to 7-0 in nine career starts against Kansas City. His ERA against the Royals dropped to 1.30.
Griffin Jax replaced Ryan (1-1) and gave up one hit during a scoreless eighth inning. Jhoan Duran worked around a walk in the ninth to complete the three-hitter.
Ty France went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs and Matt Wallner also went deep for the Twins. Edouard Julien contributed an RBI single as Minnesota ended a three-game losing streak.
The Twins also halted a six-game skid against the Royals dating back to last season. They will look for a split of this four-game series on Thursday.
The Royals had just two at-bats with runners in scoring position while having a three-game winning streak stopped. Bobby Witt Jr. drew the team’s lone walk with two out in the ninth before Vinnie Pasquantino grounded out to end the game.
Witt’s double off Ryan in the fourth was the Royals’ lone extra-base hit.
Kansas City’s Seth Lugo (1-1) allowed two runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked three.
Minnesota got on the board in the fourth after Lugo issued one-out walks to Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach. After France was retired, Julien delivered a single to right. Correa scored easily while Larnach was gunned out at third by Hunter Renfroe.
The Twins added another two-out run in the sixth. Correa doubled off Lugo and moved to third on a wild pitch before Larnarch was intentionally walked. France then hit an RBI single to right to drive in Correa and conclude Lugo’s night.
In the eighth, Wallner led off the inning and smacked a 2-0 slider off Sam Long over the wall in right center to make it 3-0.
In the bottom of the inning, Cavan Biggio singled with two outs for the Royals before Jax retired Maikel Garcia on a liner to end the inning.
One inning later, France belted a 1-0 slider from Chris Stratton over the wall in left.
