Joe Ryan and Rocco Baldelli react to decision to pull SP from no-hitter

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli made the call to pull Joe Ryan from a no-hitter after seven innings, and both responded to the decision after the game.

It was almost magical on Tuesday evening in the land of 1,000 lakes Minnesota twins Freshman Joe Ryan. And for his part, he got the magic brewing.

In the game against the Kansas City Royals, Ryan threw seven innings of no-hit baseball for Minnesota and was absolutely screwed with nine strikeouts and just two walks on the night. However, after 106 pitches, manager Rocco Baldelli made the decision to pull him out of the game.

The Twins continued to win the game, but the combined no-hitter dream went into a tailspin in the ninth inning when the Royals scored three runs after scoring their first hit of the night. A win is a win, but when fans in the stands booed when Ryan was pulled, it had to be a little bittersweet for everyone involved since they came so close to having a piece of MLB history.

Gemini: Rocco Baldelli explains decision to pull Joe Ryan from no-hitter

Everyone’s favorite Billy Hargrove lookalike, Joe Ryan, spoke to the media about being pulled from the no-hitter offer after the game. He explained he doesn’t think he “deserves the right” to be mad at his manager or to argue, while adding that he trusts Baldelli’s decisions – although he noted the competitive side of him wanted to stay.

Baldelli also spoke about the decision to draw Ryan and made a lot of sense noting that this is a Twins team still trying to claw a place in the playoffs and that the rookie is still five days from now must open once, which took his choice into account.

At the end of the day, Minnesota won, so there’s nothing too bad to take away from this game. More importantly, it seems like everyone is handling everything as well as it could be.

However, it would have been fun to see Ryan try to finish the job, which is always the feeling in these situations, even if the manager made the right decision, which Baldelli probably did here.