Byron Buxton exits because of injury, Joe Ryan roughed up as Twins blown out by Nationals

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jul 26, 2025

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Ryan delivered his worst start in nearly two months during a 9-3 loss to the Washington Nationals, and Byron Buxton exited Saturday night’s game because of left side soreness.

It was a tough day for the Twins’ two All-Star players, and an ugly performance for a struggling team attempting to stay afloat in the wild-card standings.

Buxton didn’t return to the field after the sixth inning, and the Twins announced his injury status as day to day. He was hitless in three at-bats, but he made a leaping catch at the center-field wall in the first inning.

Ryan, making his final start ahead of Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, watched his start implode during the fifth inning. With the Twins trailing by two runs, Ryan surrendered two singles to begin the frame before inducing a pop-up to shallow right field against Nationals outfielder Alex Call.

No Twins fielder took charge on the pop-up, and with three players standing near each other, the ball dropped after it deflected off second baseman Brooks Lee’s glove. Right fielder Willi Castro picked up the ball and could’ve salvaged an out at second base as runners froze on the pop-up. Instead, Castro threw high, and shortstop Carlos Correa lost the glove off his hand as he jumped for it.

After pitching coach Pete Maki made a mound visit, an attempt to give everyone a chance to reset after the comedy of errors, CJ Abrams lined Ryan’s next pitch down the right-field line for a bases-clearing, three-run double.

The Twins weren’t charged with any more errors beyond Lee’s drop, but it was a sloppy game in front of an announced 26,928 fans. Correa whiffed on an over-the-shoulder catch in the sixth inning, a tough play he typically makes, and he mishandled a hard ground ball in the eighth. Left-hander Kody Funderburk allowed one runner to score after throwing two wild pitches.

Ryan yielded six hits and five runs (four earned) in five innings, raising his ERA to 2.82 through 21 starts. He entered Saturday with five runs allowed over his last five starts, a 31-inning stretch.

Call, from nearby River Falls, Wis., hit a pinch-hit RBI single in the third inning after Jacob Young injured his finger attempting to drop a sacrifice bunt, and Luis García Jr. hit a solo homer off Ryan to begin the fourth inning.

At least eight teams sent scouts to watch players from the Twins and Nationals on Saturday. The sense among scouts is that Ryan is expected to remain with the Twins past the trade deadline. It’s rare for top starting pitchers to be traded midseason when they are two seasons from reaching free agency.

Call homered off Justin Topa in the seventh inning and Funderburk gave up four hits and three runs in the eighth.

The Twins, meanwhile, went hitless in their first seven at-bats with a runner in scoring position, stranding five runners in the first five innings against Nationals starter Mitchell Parker, a lefty who entered Saturday with a 5.08 ERA in 20 starts.

Ty France and Lee opened the fifth inning with back-to-back singles. After a pop-up and a flyout, Correa ended the inning with a flyout to right field, one pitch after he lined a ball that dropped foul by about a foot next to the right-field line.

Two pitches after Castro led off the sixth inning with a double to left field, Royce Lewis laced an RBI single into left field. Lewis scored on a double from France, but García, the Nationals second baseman, saved a run with a leaping catch on a liner from Lee.