Joe Ryan Gives Up 6 Homers in 4 Innings as Guardians Win 13-4

Q: Was an All-Star's record collapse a personal failure or the symptom of a team-wide pitching crisis?

It was both, but primarily an individual collapse that exposed a larger Twins pitching problem. Joe Ryan’s outing was unmistakably his own failure on the night. He gave up a franchise-record six home runs and eight runs in four innings, and he said so himself: “It’s definitely all on me.” Manager Derek Shelton said Ryan “wasn’t sharp with anything,” and Ryan admitted he left too many pitches over the middle. The context matters too: Cleveland is not a prolific power team, entering the game near the bottom of the majors in home runs, which makes seven homers against Minnesota even more glaring. This was a case of a good lineup getting unusually hittable pitches and punishing them. But Ryan’s collapse did not happen in isolation. It came amid a broader pitching crisis for Minnesota. The rotation has been hit hard by injuries, with Pablo López out for the season and other starters sidelined or limited, forcing the club to lean on thin depth. The bullpen has also been unreliable, and recent starts from other Twins pitchers had already been poor. The staff’s inconsistency has become a real issue as the trade deadline approaches. So the record-setting damage belongs to Ryan, not the entire staff. Yet the conditions around him — injuries, overuse, lack of depth, and a run of bad starts — suggest this was also a symptom of a team-wide pitching breakdown. Ryan wore the worst of it, but Minnesota’s mound problems are clearly bigger than one disastrous night.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 21

Six home runs in four innings from Joe Ryan powered Cleveland's 13-4 win and dropped the Twins to 49-52, further behind the 53-48 Guardians in the AL Central and wild-card races.
Ryan's outing set a Twins single-game record for homers allowed and tied the modern-era MLB high, with Cleveland hitters repeatedly punishing his fastballs and overall game plan.
Petey Halpin and Rhys Hoskins each hit two off Ryan, while Travis Bazzana and Brayan Rocchio also went deep; Patrick Bailey added a seventh homer later off reliever Kody Funderburk.
Ryan was charged with eight earned runs, saw his ERA jump from 2.85 to 3.38, and said afterward he was "still trying to figure it out."
The outburst was especially striking for a Cleveland lineup that entered Monday with an AL-low 94 homers and finished the night with 101.