TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen entered Friday night’s game with a league-worst earned-run average. That’s not who the Twins saw for most of the day.

Instead, they had to scratch and claw for eight innings against starter Yusei Kikuchi, who has been among the best in the majors this season.

They weren’t able to get much going off Kikuchi — but they didn’t need to. Their starter, Joe Ryan, was just as good.

Using some early offense, a fifth-inning home run, a late-insurance run and seven strong innings from Ryan, the Twins took a 3-2 win in the series opener at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday night. It marked their 16th win in their past 18 games.

The Twins finished the day with just four hits off Kikuchi. Three of them came in the first inning when Carlos Correa, Willi Castro and Jose Miranda strung together consecutive singles, producing their first run of the game.

They were unable to execute a double steal later in the inning when Miranda broke for second, drawing a throw. The speedy Castro left for home, but second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s throw back to the plate beat him there, ending the inning.

That was the only rally the Twins had all night against Kikuchi, who then retired 21 of 22 batters in innings two through eight. The one he didn’t was Carlos Santana, whose opposite-field home run ended up giving the Twins a permanent lead.

When the Twins finally did have their chance to face that Blue Jays bullpen, they added an important run in the ninth inning. Max Kepler’s single off Genesis Cabrera extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games and brought home Correa, who had doubled.

Those three runs were enough for the Twins on a night where Ryan was very strong.

Minnesota Twins’ Willi Castro reaches third base on an RBI single by Jose Miranda against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, May 10, 2024, in Toronto. (Cole Burtson/The Canadian Press via AP)

The only blemish on his night, a home run to Kiner-Falefa, tied the game up in the third inning. He ran into some more trouble in the fifth inning when a a pair of runners reached scoring position with no outs but was able to escape the inning unscathed.

He capped off his outing, his longest of the season, by retiring the last nine batters he faced in order, before turning it over to the bullpen. Griffin Jax ran into some trouble in the ninth inning, allowing a run, before third baseman Ernie Clement hit a ball off him that took a fortuitous bounce towards first base to retire the last out.

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