Twins beat Blue Jays 4-3 despite losing starter Joe Ryan to elbow soreness

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 3, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — As if things weren’t bad enough for the Minnesota Twins lately, even a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday came with a major loss.

Joe Ryan exited his start at Target Field because of right elbow soreness after throwing only nine pitches.

Ryan called for a trainer after he walked Kazuma Okamoto with a full-count 91-mph fastball. He faced only two batters and threw his last three pitches out of the strike zone.

There was a short conversation between Ryan, trainer Masa Abe and manager Derek Shelton before Ryan walked off the field. The Twins lost staff ace Pablo López to season-ending elbow surgery in February and they’re already without emerging starter Mick Abel, who threw his first bullpen session May 2 after he dealt with right elbow inflammation.

“When we walked out, he said he felt something in his elbow,” Shelton said during a midgame TV interview. “We’re getting him evaluated. It’s unfortunate, especially this early in the game, but it’s something we have to deal with. Hopefully, Joe is in a good spot.”

If Ryan’s injury requires a trip to the injured list, Zebby Matthews is the top candidate at Class AAA St. Paul. Matthews has a 5.13 ERA in six minor league starts, but he’s allowed only three runs across his last three starts with 18 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Ryan, who owns a 2-3 record and a 3.76 ERA, exited after one strikeout and one walk. It meant a battered and short-handed Twins bullpen, which blew two late leads in the previous four games and owned an 8.41 ERA during the first six games of the homestand, was asked to cover 26 outs.

They somehow survived. Okamoto hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning against Justin Topa, his fourth homer in the past three games. The Twins split their series against the Blue Jays, taking two of the four weekend games.

Andrew Morris, forced to warm up on the mound after Ryan’s injury, tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He threw 57 pitches, the first time he surpassed 40 pitches in two weeks.

Taylor Rogers, the veteran lefty, yielded one run in 2 1/3 innings. After Rogers gave up two singles to start the sixth inning, Daulton Varsho dropped a one-out RBI bunt single in the lefty-on-lefty matchup, beating Rogers in a foot race to the bag.

Rogers avoided more trouble, stranding the bases loaded in the sixth inning, and then returned for the seventh to strike out a batter. It was the first time Rogers recorded seven outs in a game since April 21, 2021, back in his first stint with the Twins.

Eric Orze, two days after he pitched 2 1/3 innings to provide cover for a short-handed bullpen, recorded four outs. Kody Funderburk, the most effective reliever in the Twins bullpen this year, stranded two of Orze’s runners in the eighth inning. Topa gave up an infield single and Okamoto’s two-run homer, and then he gave up two more singles before inducing a double-play grounder from Lenyn Sosa to secure his second save of the season.

Slumping hitters powered the Twins offense. Luke Keaschall hit two doubles, driving in a run during a three-run fifth inning. Kody Clemens made it back-to-back doubles in the fifth with his hit against Blue Jays reliever Braydon Fisher. Then Matt Wallner, who had two hits, produced a two-out RBI double off the left-center wall that fell a few feet from a homer.

The Twins will begin a six-game road trip, after an off day May 4, that starts with three games against the Nationals.

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