ATLANTA – Fresh off throwing a complete-game shutout last Thursday, the Twins' first in more than five years, Joe Ryan watched his first pitch Tuesday sail over the wall in center field.

It didn't stop there. Ryan yielded a triple on his sixth pitch, another homer on his ninth pitch and a third home run of the first inning on his 20th pitch. From his best start of the season to his worst in five days.

"They probably took the best swings I've ever seen," Ryan said after a 6-2 loss at Truist Park. "I don't think anyone has ever hit my fastball like that."

Ryan, who had allowed four homers in his past 11 starts, surrendered five homers to his first 10 batters to the delight of the sellout crowd of 42,635. Entering with a 2.98 ERA, he lasted three innings in his shortest start of the year while giving up a season-high nine hits and six runs.

In Ryan's last start, he relied heavily on his fastball in his three-hit shutout. Atlanta's lineup was ready for it. All four hits he gave up in the first inning — three homers and a triple — came off his fastball with an average exit velocity of 106 mph. The homers kept flying farther as the inning continued: Ronald Acuña Jr. (406 feet), Austin Riley (417 feet) and Sean Murphy (445 feet).

"It seemed to me like they really got on the [pitching] machine before the game and hit some fastballs up in the zone," said Carlos Correa, who had a lengthy chat with Ryan on the mound after a two-out infield single in the second inning. "They were ready from pitch one that they were not going to give any strikes away."

In the second inning, Ryan conceded back-to-back homers to Michael Harris III and Acuña. When Ryan saw Acuña swat a splitter over the left-field wall, he shook his head and mouthed "wow" after he received a new ball.

"I felt like I was executing my pitches for the most part," said Ryan, who was most upset with a hanging slider to Harris. "Definitely a difficult outing. Definitely some surprise there, too."

Said Atlanta manager Brian Snitker: "That guy is a really good pitcher. I mean, he came in here hot. It's just where these guys are offensively. I know we're hitting homers, but they are just such good at-bats."

The Twins lead in the American League Central dropped to a half-game after Cleveland won in Kansas City, and Minnesota faces the prospect of being in second place by the end of Wednesday with another loss and another Guardians victory.

It was the fourth time in Twins history a pitcher allowed five home runs in a start, matching Bert Blyleven, Carlos Silva and Ryan last year in a July 29 start at San Diego. Ryan is the sixth pitcher in MLB history since 1901 to give up five homers in multiple starts.

“They probably took the best swings I've ever seen. I don't think anyone has ever hit my fastball like that.”
Joe Ryan

When Ryan was asked whether he may have been tipping his pitches to hitters, he said he wasn't sure.

"I don't want to make accusations or anything," he said. "It's so far out of the scope of my thought process, especially when I'm pitching. I'm not normally going to start changing things. We were talking about it. Yeah, you can change something and then the same result could happen and you're off your game."

The Twins' offense struck out only five times and Atlanta's defense committed four errors. Bryce Elder, Atlanta's starter, walked four batters and threw only 59 of his 98 pitches for strikes. It resulted in a measly two runs when the Twins went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

"The difference in the game is when they've got a guy on, they pop one over the fence," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

The Twins had two runners on base with one out in the first, third and fourth innings, and two runners on base with no outs in the seventh inning. They grounded into three double plays and Atlanta, despite its errors, made some timely highlight plays, including a leaping grab by Acuña in the gap to rob Royce Lewis of an extra-base hit.

The loss dropped the Twins below .500 at the halfway mark of the season with a 40-41 record.