Joe Ryan's strong start, Ryan Kreidler's three-run homer lift Twins past Astros

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — There have been a lot of changes to the Minnesota Twins roster this week, ones that could carry massive ramifications for how the season looks in a couple of months.

But the team still has Joe Ryan as the ace of its pitching staff.

Ryan allowed one run across six innings to carry the Twins to a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday at Target Field. The Twins won two of the three games in the series and completed their nine-game homestand with a 5-4 record.

In one week, the Twins opted to demote Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner to Class AAA St. Paul and lost catcher Ryan Jeffers for more than a month because of a left hamate bone fracture. Those three players were viewed as key offensive pieces when the Twins started the season, and Jeffers was playing at an All-Star level.

In a game in which Tristan Gray, Ryan Kreidler and James Outman formed the bottom three hitters in the lineup — reaching base a combined five times — they provided all the offense Ryan (3-3) needed.

Kreidler hit a go-ahead three-run homer with two outs in fourth inning against Astros starter Mike Burrows (2-6) in front of an announced crowd of 23,522.

Ryan handled the rest. He struck out a season-high nine batters, generating swings and misses with his fastball, sweeper and curveball.

The Astros scored a run against him in the second inning. Zach Dezenzo and Cam Smith both reached on infield singles. Christian Vázquez, who caught 258 of Ryan’s innings across the previous three seasons, followed with a two-out RBI single that he lined to center.

After Vázquez’s hit on a 93-mph fastball that sat over the middle of the plate, Ryan retired his final 13 batters. There was only one hard-hit ball, and it turned into a diving catch by center fielder Outman to end the third inning.

Outman, starting in center because the Twins wanted to give Byron Buxton an extra day as the designated hitter before Thursday’s day off, sprinted into the right-center gap, lunging for the line drive to secure the highlight catch.

When Ryan raised his arms in the air out of excitement for Outman’s catch, his glove flung in the air behind him. Ryan, with a stunned expression on his face, clapped his hands before turning around to pick up his glove. Fellow outfielders Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemens both turned to watch the replay on the videoboard before they went into the dugout.

Ryan started feeling like his old self, particularly with his pitching mechanics, after an injury scare at the beginning of the month when he left a game after throwing only nine pitches. His velocity is up, hitters look helpless against his fastball, and the results have followed.

He made some changes with his routines in the weight room and training room, and it unlocked some consistency. In Ryan’s last three starts, he has yielded 10 hits and three runs over 18 innings (1.50 ERA) with 21 strikeouts.

For all the concern in the moment when Ryan left a game because of right elbow soreness, and what it would mean for the rest of the Twins season, that injury-shortened start became a positive turning point.

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