No news yet on Twins pitcher Joe Ryan, who left Sunday's start against the Toronto Blue Jays with right elbow soreness after facing just two batters.
Ryan struck out Yohendrick Piñango to start the game. He then walked Kazuma Okamoto and immediately signaled to catcher Victor Caratini and the dugout. After conferring with manager Derek Shelton and an athletic trainer, Ryan left the game.
“He felt it back-to-back pitches," Shelton said after the game, a 4-3 win for Minnesota. "He felt it on the fastball and then get on the slider, or slider or the fastball. But he felt it, you know, back-to-back pitches. We got imaging, so we'll kind of evaluate from there."
Minnesota had an off day on Monday before starting a series in Washington on Tuesday.
Rookie Andrew Morris came on in relief, pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings for his first major league win in his sixth appearance since debuting on April 12.
"Obviously, we've talked about our bullpen a ton and they stepped up today," Shelton said Sunday. (They) won a game for us and every single guy that was available contributed."
Ryan (2-3, 3.72 ERA) made his first All-Star appearance in 2025 and was the unquestioned ace of the Minnesota rotation with Pablo López out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in February. Ryan has been remarkably healthy, making 30 starts last season and at least 23 each of the previous three seasons.
"Yeah, we're resilient and I mean, we're going to fight till the end," added the Twins Luke Keaschall. "And just because we lost a certain pitcher in the first inning before literally anything has happened, we're not going to give up."
Chosen to play in the World Baseball Classic this year, Ryan did leave his first spring start with lower back tightness. But he went on to make three spring starts and made all seven scheduled starts this season, including on opening day in Baltimore.
Twins radio voice Kris Atteberry told the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar that Ryan did travel with the team, which is a good sign.
"Always fun to have him around, but I have not heard anything about what's going on, and that certainly will be a topic today when everybody gets to the ballpark," Atteberry adds. "But he is here and that's always a good thing."
Atteberry adds there are a rash of injuries to pitchers, and that is nothing new across MLB.
"I mean, look at Tarik Skubal, out right now with Detroit," says Atteberry. "There's a long line of guys in the pitching world who end up missing time. Hunter Brown's on the IL, Garrett Crochet's on the IL. It's just not a natural act to do what these guys do with the ball every five days, or even every other day out of the bullpen. So yeah, you hope for the best, and Joe seemed to be in good spirits, and I like that."
Minnesota Twins (15-20, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Washington Nationals (16-19, third in the NL East)
Washington; Tuesday, 5:45 p.m. and pregame at 5:00 p.m. on 830 WCCO or the Audacy app.
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Taj Bradley (3-1, 2.85 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 44 strikeouts); Nationals: Cade Cavalli (1-1, 3.82 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 38 strikeouts)
LINE: Nationals -113, Twins -106; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Twins will look to end a five-game road slide when they face the Washington Nationals.
Washington has a 16-19 record overall and a 4-12 record at home. The Nationals are seventh in the NL with 37 total home runs, averaging 1.1 per game.
Minnesota has gone 5-10 on the road and 15-20 overall. The Twins have an 11-4 record in games when they scored at least five runs.
The teams meet Tuesday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: C.J. Abrams has eight home runs, 17 walks and 27 RBIs while hitting .297 for the Nationals. Nasim Nunez is 10 for 31 with seven RBIs over the last 10 games.
Brooks Lee has a .255 batting average to lead the Twins, and has two doubles and five home runs. Byron Buxton is 13 for 43 with five home runs and seven RBIs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nationals: 5-5, .197 batting average, 2.90 ERA, outscored by four runs
Twins: 3-7, .245 batting average, 5.28 ERA, outscored by 16 runs
INJURIES: Nationals: Luis Garcia: day-to-day (wrist), Cole Henry: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Clayton Beeter: 15-Day IL (forearm), Trevor Williams: 60-Day IL (elbow), Ken Waldichuk: 60-Day IL (forearm), Josiah Gray: 60-Day IL (elbow), DJ Herz: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Twins: Cody Laweryson: 15-Day IL (forearm), Joe Ryan: day-to-day (elbow), Cole Sands: 15-Day IL (forearm), Garrett Acton: 15-Day IL (shoulder), David Festa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Mick Abel: 15-Day IL (elbow), Pablo Lopez: 60-Day IL (elbow)
