Buxton’s bombs, Ryan’s shutout bounce BoSox as Twins hit .500 again
MINNEAPOLIS – Joe Ryan pitched a threehitter for Minnesota’s first complete-game shutout in five years, Byron Buxton became the first player in at least nine seasons to hit a pair of 460-foot home runs in a game and the Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 6-0 Thursday.
Ryan (8-4) pitched his first complete game in 47 big league starts, striking out nine, walking none and facing no more than four batters in an inning. He had not pitched a complete game since 2018 for Cal State, Stanislaus.
“I’ve had a couple of opportunities where I thought I was pretty close and was looking at the scoreboard and thinking, ‘Oh, if I just line this up and do this and do that.’ Today, I didn’t,” Ryan said.
He pitched Minnesota’s first complete game since José Berríos’ six-hitter against the Chicago White Sox on June 7, 2018, and first complete-game shutout since José Berríos’ threehitter at Baltimore on April 1, 2018.
Just last Friday Ryan allowed a season-high six runs against Detroit that raised his ERA in June to 5.03.
Buxton hit a 466-foot home run in the first inning and a 465-foot drive in the third, his ninth multi-homer game and first since June 10 last year. He is the first player with two 460foot homers since Statcast started tracking in 2015.
Thursday’s other games
Guardians 6, Athletics 1: Josh Bell homered off an “Ohio” sign beyond the left-field wall and Myles Straw hit an RBI triple, leading host Cleveland to a three-game sweep of Oakland, which lost their eighth straight.
Bell’s 430-foot shot in the fifth inning off JP Sears (1-5) smacked the “H” on the sign affixed to a pedestrian walkway in Progressive Field.
The A’s have baseball’s worst record at 1958.
Diamondbacks 5, Nationals 3: Ketel Marte hit a three-run homer over Washington’s bullpen in right field, leading visiting Arizona to its fifth win in seven games after Nationals manager Dave Martinez was ejected for complaining about umpire Doug Eddings’ strike zone.
Tommy Henry (4-1) earned his first victory since May 31 for the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, who moved 16 games over .500 at 46-30.
Braves 5, Phillies 1: Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run homer to cap a five-run 10th inning, and visiting Atlanta picked up its seventh straight win. The Braves swept the rain-shortened two-game series in their first appearance in Philadelphia since falling to the Phillies in four games during last year’s NL Divisional Series.
Padres 10, Giants 0: Manny Machado and Gary Sánchez hit three-run homers and visiting San Diego ended San Francisco’s 10-game winning streak.
Blake Snell (4-6) won his third straight decision, striking out 11 and allowing three singles in six innings as the Padres avoided getting swept in a four-game series for the first time since 2017. Snell has an 18-inning scoreless streak and has allowed one one run over 31 innings in his last five starts.
Marlins 6, Pirates 4: Garrett Cooper doubled, singled and hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning as host Miami extended Pittsburgh’s losing streak to 10 games. Luis Arraez went 1-for-3 for the Marlins, and his MLB-leading batting average slipped a point to .397.
Royals 6, Rays 5: MLB-leading Tampa Bay lost ace Shane McClanahan to mid-back tightness, then fell to lowly visiting Kansas City, which rallied in the ninth inning. McClanahan was looking to become the majors’ first 12game winner of the year before leaving with two outs in the fourth. The left-hander, 11-1 this season, gave up two runs, four hits and two walks in a 66-pitch outing. Maikel Garcia drew a walk from Pete Fairbanks (0-2) to start the ninth, then stole second and third. After Fairbanks got a pair of strikeouts, Garcia scored on MJ Melendez’s infield single down the firstbase line to put the Royals ahead 6-5. The Royals stole seven bases overall.
Keuchel agrees to minor league contract with Twins
MINNEAPOLIS – Former American League
Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel has agreed to a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins.
The 35-year-old left-hander was 2-9 with a 9.20 ERA in 14 starts last year with the Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. He was released by the Rangers on Sept. 4 and had been a free agent.
Keuchel, a two-time All-Star and 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner, is 101-91 with a 3.98 ERA in 257 starts and 11 relief appearances.
Rob Manfred says granting sign-stealing Astros immunity was 'maybe not my best decision ever'
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says if he could do it over again, he may not have granted immunity to Houston Astros players while investigating the team’s sign-stealing scandal.
Manfred oversaw Major League Baseball’s investigation that confirmed the Astros stole signs with banned electronics en route to a 2017 World Series title. Manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were fired in the fallout, as was ex-Astros bench coach Alex Cora from his managerial job with the Boston Red Sox.
Astros players, though, were granted immunity during the probe – a decision that peeved players and fans alike when MLB’s report and discipline were issued in January 2020.
During an interview with Time magazine published Wednesday, Manfred said it was “maybe not my best decision ever.”
“I’m not sure that I would have approached it with giving players immunity,” he said. “Once we gave players immunity, it puts you in a box as to what exactly you were going to do in terms of punishment.
“I might have gone about the investigative process without that grant of immunity and see where it takes us. Starting with, I’m not going to punish anybody, maybe not my best decision ever.”