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Joe Ryan could make a big difference in the Minnesota Twins’ starting rotation this season, provided he returns to form after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Ryan missed the last seven weeks of the 2024 season with the injury. The right-hander’s comeback attempt will continue when he faces the host St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon in the middle contest of a three-game set.

The Cardinals recorded a 5-3 win over the Twins on Thursday in the season opener.

Ryan was 7-7 with a 3.60 ERA in 23 starts last season.

“Joe has the ability to be a great major league pitcher,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He showed a lot of that last year, actually, for a long stretch. I think his goals this year are to be that type of pitcher and do it for a full season.”

Ryan, who opens this season as the Twins’ No. 2 starter behind Pablo Lopez, was upbeat about his progress during spring training. He was 2-1 with a 5.54 ERA in four Grapefruit League starts.

“I’m getting better when I’m down here,” Ryan told KSTP-TV. “With all of the resources down here, it’s always a big help to lock everything in and have all of the data from years past to be able to make some small adjustments when we need to, but things have been going smooth.”

Ryan lost his only career start against the Cardinals. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in four innings of a 2023 outing.

St. Louis will counter with right-hander Erick Fedde, who was 9-9 with a 3.30 ERA over 31 starts last season for the Chicago White Sox and Cardinals.

He is 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA in three career starts (17 innings) against the Twins.

St. Louis rolled out its new-look batting order Thursday, with Lars Nootbaar hitting leadoff, while Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn added speed in the Nos. 8 and 9 spots, respectively.

Nolan Arenado, who has been the subject of trade rumors since the end of last season, hit clean-up behind Willson Contreras (batting second) and Brendan Donovan (third).

Nootbaar went 2-for-4 with a homer and two runs on Thursday.

“If he stays healthy, he’s got a chance to do some really special things,” Arenado said of Nootbaar. “He’s my boy, and I always support him and talk well about him, but I see something really good coming from him. I really think he can do it if he stays healthy. He’s got a great eye, he has power.”

Arenado also went 2-for-4 with a homer in the opener against the Twins, building on his strong showing in spring training.

Scott, who earned the center field job in the spring, made a terrific running catch to prevent a big inning. Donovan turned a diving stop at second base into a key double play.

“I think that tone was set months ago, and we’re now going to be able to put it into action,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You can talk about all of these different words of being electric and bringing energy and relentless and then actually doing it? And they did exactly that. Running all over the field. Making plays. Stealing bases. Our at-bats like that is what a relentless at-bat looks like, one through nine.

“When you have that mentality, one through nine, that’s putting the words into action.”

–Field Level Media