Joe Ryan became the latest pitcher to lock up one of the most offensively challenged teams in the major leagues Thursday and Carlos Correa continued his hot hitting as the Minnesota Twins beat the Athletics 6-2 at Target Field.
Ryan, from San Anselmo, improved his record to 5-5 by going seven innings for the fifth time in the last seven games. He gave up a second-inning home run to Tyler Soderstrom and almost nothing else, surrendering three hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
“He’s a quality starter. It’s tough to get base runners against him,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay told reporters. “We did cut down the strikeouts against him and put the ball in play, but not any hard contact except for Tyler’s home run.”
The Athletics struck out 18 times Wednesday in a loss to San Diego and had just seven against Minnesota but base runners were few and far between, as they had just three runners left on base.
Correa essentially put the game away for Minnesota with a two-run home run against Sean Newcomb in the bottom of the seventh inning and was 3-for-4. It was Correa’s sixth home run of the season.
After Soderstrom’s home run, the A’s never put another runner in scoring position against Ryan. Griffin Jax and Jorge Alcala finished up for Minnesota, which improved to 37-32 on the season while the A’s fell to 26-45.
It was the ninth loss in the last 11 games for the A’s and 12th in the last 15.
Soderstrom homered in the second inning for the Athletics, his fourth in the last eight games. Soderstrom, who had potential game-winners die at the left field fence against Toronto and San Diego of late, drove a Ryan pitch 431 feet to dead center field at 112.1 miles per hour for his fourth homer of the season.
The home run gave Soderstrom a five-game hitting streak and he’s hitting .357 during that span.
“He kind left one up in the middle and I put a good swing on it,” Soderstrom told reporters. “I’m just trying to go day by day, enjoying being up here and enjoying the process. I put my head down and keep working hard.”
Kotsay, who in the pregame said he felt good about Soderstrom’s approach, echoed that sentiment afterward. Soderstrom was a first-round draft pick in 2020 (No. 26 overall) who struggled last season after he was promoted to the big leagues.
“The at-bats have been better,” Kotsay said. “He’s showing signs of maturity, signs of growth and becoming the hitter we know he can be.”
Athletics starter Luis Medina (0-2) was done after five innings, giving up eight hits, four runs (all earned) with one walk and three strikeouts. In his three starts since being recalled from Las Vegas, Medina has pitched 5 2/3, 4 2/3 and five innings.
Minnesota made Medina work even if they weren’t drawing walks, as he threw 102 pitches, 67 of them strikes, before giving way to Vinny Nittoli in the sixth.
Ryan, by contrast, retired the last 10 batters he faced and threw 95 pitches in seven innings, 65 of them strikes.
The Twins reached Medina for a pair of runs in the second to tie the score 2-2 when Byron Buxton grounded a single up the middle to bring home Max Kepler and Carlos Correa.
Sode is on fire pic.twitter.com/pYD3v7MArP
— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) June 14, 2024
Kepler opened the inning with a single to right and Correa, coming off a five-hit game Wednesday and in a 15-for-29 streak, had luck go his way on a swinging bunt that Medina couldn’t handle. Both runners moved up when Medina uncorked a wild pitch three-quarters of the way up the screen.
Correa struck again in the third with a ground single past Zack Gelof at second base. He brought home Trevor Larnach, the former College Park High star who had walked, to put Minnesota up 3-2. The Twins added another run in the second on Austin Martin’s infield out, an inning that began with an infield single by Buxton and a single by Jeffers that sent Buxton to third.
Correa’s home run in the seventh brought in Royce Lewis, who reached on a single.
The Twins out-hit the A’s 13-4.
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NOTABLE
— Soderstrom and Gelof collided in the second inning pursuing a foul ball off the bat of Ryan Jeffers down the first base line. Gelof caught the ball for the out, but hit Soderstrom in the head with his elbow. Soderstrom was shaken up but remained in the game after being checked out by the training staff.
“All is good. Just shaken up for a little bit,” Soderstrom said. “No problems.”
— The A’s turned their 70th double play of the season in the sixth inning. They went into the game trailing Colorado by one for the major league lead.
