Twins have maintained their starting pitching strength despite losing ace Pablo López for the season
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Recent cost-cutting by the Minnesota Twins left a bare-bones bullpen they are trying to rebuild by committee with bargain pickups and a few top-flight prospects. The budget-friendly lineup has been in flux, too, with none of their young homegrown players reliably producing at the plate and a crushing setback this week when standout catcher Ryan Jeffers was sidelined until perhaps the All-Star break. The Twins have managed to stayed afloat in a wide-open American League during the first third of the 2026 schedule with repeated winning performances — hinting at a bright future for the foundational piece of any major league club — by their starting pitchers.
“We're starting to develop a little bit of an identity,” manager Derek Shelton said. Joe Ryan was the latest with a masterpiece on the mound, matching his career high with 12 strikeouts in six innings and retiring the last 16 batters he faced to beat the Houston Astros on Wednesday . The 2025 All-Star lowered his ERA to 3.
02, which would be a personal best over a full season, and shrunk his sparkling WHIP rate to 0. 971, which ranks eighth in MLB among pitchers with a qualifying amount of innings. After their selloff last summer that jettisoned 10 players off the major league roster, the Twins resisted a further teardown and kept their two best trade chips in Ryan and fellow ace Pablo López.
Their greatest strength was immediately tested when López was injured on the first day of full-squad workouts in spring training and lost for the year to Tommy John elbow surgery. Mick Abel and Taj Bradley, two of the starting pitchers received in the 2025 trading spree, have since been sidelined. But the rotation has kept on spinning with favorable results.
The Twins rank fifth in MLB with 21 quality starts of six or more innings and three or fewer earned runs. They're seventh in starter ERA at 3. 67.