Twins ace Joe Ryan is returning to Minnesota to be evaluated for a potential injury after he was hit hard in a loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.
The Twins, who are in the middle of a nine-game road trip, said Wednesday that Ryan returned to have back and glute issues checked by the team physician.
Ryan, an All-Star, allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits in 5⅓ innings Tuesday against the AL Central-worst Royals. In all, the veteran right-hander has taken losses in his past three starts, as he has watched his record sink (6-8) and his ERA rise (3.65).
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Twins manager Derek Shelton told reporters, according to The Athletic. "He's frustrated and not able to replicate his delivery. ... The ability to repeat his delivery, I'm not going to say it's not physical. But we owe it to him and to us to find out what he's feeling and how he's going about it."
Any loss of Ryan would be a big blow to the Twins, who are among a large group of teams fighting for a spot in the AL wild-card race.