Twins defeat Mariners, end losing streak with Joe Ryan's strong pitching and just enough hitting

Jerry Zgoda, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 25, 2025

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, defeating Seattle, 2-0, on Wednesday night at Target Field.

They won for the second time in 12 games — and the first time on a seven-game homestand that has one game left.

Byron Buxton broke a scoreless tie by scoring a sixth-inning run after Twins pitcher Joe Ryan and Seattle’s George Kirby dueled in a game in which the biggest excitement previously was a Mariners runner thrown out stealing in the fourth inning.

Buxton singled to center field to start the Twins’ sixth, then advanced to second on Trevor Larnach’s slow roller out to Seattle first baseman Donovan Solano.

Buxton scored easily from second base when third baseman Willi Castro singled sharply to right field with one out.

Twins reliever Louis Varland came on in the top of the seventh for Ryan, who pitched six innings, allowed three hits, no runs and no walks and had eight strikeouts.

Ryan is 8-3 after getting Wednesday’s win. He did against a team that hits four-seam fastballs — Ryan’s best pitch — and was 3-0 lifetime against him.

Twins second baseman Koby Clemens homered in consecutive games for the second time in his major league career. This one was a two-out solo shot to left-center field, his ninth homer of the season.

His eighth home run came Tuesday night in a 6-5 loss.

The Twins were winless in the first five games of a seven-game homestand that ends with a Thursday matinee against the Mariners.

They were swept by Milwaukee in three games over the weekend and then beaten by Seattle on Monday and Tuesday, the first two games of four against the Mariners.

After Thursday afternoon’s game, the Twins head on a six-game, seven-day road trip to Detroit and Miami with a Monday off day between the two series.

The Twins played their season’s 80th game Wednesday. Thursday’s game will be the halfway point of the season.

Wednesday’s game started nearly on time at 6:43 p.m. after rain poured down on Target Field all afternoon. More was forecast but no rain dropped until after Wednesday’s final out.

The skies cleared more than an hour before the first pitch, and the tarps were removed from the field. A loyal gathering of fans arrived a little late but without a drop of rain falling. The announced attendance was 15,850.

The temperature was 66 degrees on a summer’s night.