Twins lose Joe Ryan to COVID injured list
Joe Ryan has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been placed on the COVID injured list, the Minnesota Twins announced Wednesday.
Ryan was scheduled to start against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, but has now been replaced by left-hander Devin Smeltzer, who was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul. Smeltzer pitched against the Royals last week, allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings.
Ryan has thus far been the ace of the the Twins starting rotation that boasts a 3.12 ERA, ranking fifth-best in baseball, trailing only the Dodgers, Yankees, Astros and Angels.
The 25-year-old right-hander has a 2.98 ERA in eight starts, which ranks 15th among qualified starting pitchers in the big leagues.
Vaccinated players who test positive need to produce two negative tests within a 24-hour period – after their symptoms are gone – before they are allowed to return to baseball activities. Players or coaches who continue to experience symptoms have to isolate for 10 days and then be evaluated before being allowed to return.
It is unclear if Ryan is experiencing symptoms.
Earlier this season, the Twins lost manager Rocco Baldelli, utility player Luis Arraez and starting pitcher Dylan Bundy to the COVID injured list. All have since returned, with Bundy scheduled to start for the Twins against the Tigers Wednesday afternoon at Target Field.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.