I fear that Joe Ryan may be, as they say, cooked.

Ryan hasn’t had a good start in a month, and Wednesday’s was his worst one yet. He gave up four homers in the first three innings, the Twins were down 7-0 before there were two outs in the third, and from there it was smooth sailing for St. Louis, which beat the Twins 7-3.

Minnesota managed just four hits, AND bounced into three double plays, which is pretty hard to do. If it hadn’t been for a three-run homer from Matt Wallner, the game would have stayed 7-0. Wallner now has five homers in seven games, but hasn’t had another hit other than the homers in a week and a half, and has struck out 13 times.

Why do the Twins even need Joey Gallo? They have Young Gallo right here.

Like so many young pitchers, Ryan was affected by the lost Covid season, but there was hope that he wouldn’t run out of gas this year. He threw 147 innings last year, and posted a 2.20 ERA in September, so it wasn’t like he was dragging as the year progressed.

This year, though… on June 22, Ryan threw a three-hit shutout against Boston. At that point, he had a 2.98 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP - absolutely sterling numbers. He’d allowed eight homers, in 15 starts.

Since then, he’s made seven starts. He’s allowed 17 homers in those seven starts, with an 8.63 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP. He has been throwing batting practice for over a month.

Something’s wrong there, and it does feel like maybe he needs a break. It might be time for the Twins to invent a stress injury for him, just so he can take a couple of starts off and try to get right; all they need to do is copy any of their updates about Brock Stewart, and they’ll be fine. They can bring up Dallas Keuchel in the interim, and see if Keuchel can still get a few guys out in the major leagues.

The Twins are leading the AL Central by two games. They are behind every AL East team in the standings, and every AL West team except for the hapless Oakland A’s. It feels like they are winning a competition to fall down a flight of stairs.

Down in Triple-A, St. Paul held Columbus to just two hits, beating the Clippers 5-3. It was a walk-fest - the teams combined for just nine hits, but fifteen walks - and the Saints managed to boot the ball around a bit too, as none of the three Columbus runs were earned.

Simeon Woods Richardson started for the Saints, and still can’t find the strike zone; he gave up just one hit in four innings, but walked six. Woods Richardson has walked 44 and struck out 64 this year, in 75 innings, which is not the kind of numbers you want to see for a potential major-league pitching prospect.

Gilberto Celestino had two hits for St. Paul, and drove in two runs - one with a single, and appropriately, one with a walk.

TODAY’S SLATE

TWINS at St. Louis, 6:45pm
SAINTS at Columbus, 11:05am

ON DECK

LOONS at Columbus, Friday
LYNX vs New York, Friday