Ryan dishes up five home runs as San Diego routs Twins 10-1

SAN DIEGO – If there was a fire alarm, Dylan Bundy would have pulled it. If there were signal flares, Chris Archer would have ignited one. And on Friday, Joe Ryan all but scrawled SOS on his cap and dialed 911.

The Twins' starting rotation seems to be frantically summoning emergency help this week, with the opportunity to trade for more pitching closing in just three days. After Bundy and Archer allowed five and six runs, respectively, in just four and three innings in Milwaukee, Ryan, the most successful starting pitcher on the Twins' staff in 2022, inexplicably melted down at Petco Park.

The rookie righthander, who had never given up more than two home runs in an MLB game, served up a franchise-record five of them to the Padres and gave up all 10 runs in the Twins' third consecutive loss, 10-1.

Minnesota's starting rotation now owns a collective 7.02 ERA in July, and that's not ever the most dire number the Twins face. The Twins' fragile hold on their AL Central lead dwindled to just one game over the Guardians, who have won three of their last four games.

BOXSCORE: San Diego 10, Twins 1

A sellout crowd of 43,171, the largest crowd to witness a Twins game since 2019, enjoyed watching the Friday night fireworks provided, practically once an inning, by Padres pouncing on mislocated fastballs from Ryan. Luke Voit got it started with a first-inning blast, Ha-Seong Kim connected in the second inning, Eric Hosmer blasted one to center field in the fourth, and after Manny Machado drilled a homer in the fifth, Jorge Alfaro's three-run shot finally knocked Ryan out.

Only Carlos Silva in 2006 and Bert Blyleven in 1986 had ever surrendered five homers in one game, and no Twin since Rick Reed in 2003 had been charged with 10 runs. Ryan's ERA, which started the day at a team-best 2.89, ballooned to 3.78 in just 4 2/3 innings.

The lone bright spot for the Twins was provided by Byron Buxton, who hammered a first-pitch fastball from Blake Snell into the left-field seats, becoming the fifth Twins player ever to hit 25 home runs in a season's first 100 games. But Snell only allowed three other hits in his six-inning stint, striking out seven.