MILWAUKEE >> With injuries increasingly becoming a factor in the Minnesota Twins’ season, their manager talked of the need for versatility before they took the field to face the Brewers on Friday. Then a versatile lineup provided early offense and got solid pitching to win a 12th consecutive game.

Playing without standouts Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, the Twins scored three runs in the first two innings and right-hander Joe Ryan held down the Brewers in a 3-0 win in the opener of a three-game series in Milwaukee. Ryan improved to 4-2 with a six-inning shutout effort, surrendering just a pair of hits to the offensively-challenged Brewers.

“It’s just gorgeous stuff. It’s controlling the at-bats by just dominating the strike zone early in the count,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Joe did a great job of that, as did all the guys that followed him. But that was one thing that I think made Joe’s outing for him, that he was ahead of almost everybody.”

It’s the second straight year Minnesota has had a 12-game winning streak, which is the longest streak in the majors this season.

The franchise record is 15 straight, accomplished in 1991.

With dark skies and lightning flashing outside American Family Field’s closed roof, the Twins created some thunder in the opening half-inning.

Minnesota took an early lead after leadoff man Trevor Larnach was hit by the second pitch of the game. He went to third on a single by Ryan Jeffers and scored on a RBI single to right by Ty France.

“With the way things are going, the way they’re throwing the ball, I feel like taking the pressure off them early,” France said, praising the pitchers. “You know, let them just go out and do their thing. We’ve done a pretty good job of that lately.”

Adding to the injury woes, the next batter, Willi Castro, fouled a ball hard off his right knee and crumpled to the ground in pain.

He finished the at-bat with a strikeout. Kody Clemens doubled the visitors’ lead with a RBI single to center that scored Jeffers from second.

Ryan needed 30 pitches to escape the first inning without giving up a run, allowing a leadoff single to Brice Turang, but getting back to the dugout after Sal Frelick sent a two-out fastball to the warning track in right, where Larnach tracked it down.

When Brewers starter Chad Patrick gave up three consecutive singles to start the second, it drew a mound visit to try and calm the rookie righty. He got Jeffers to ground into a 5-3 double play, but a run scored to give Minnesota 3-0 lead.

Castro played left field in the first inning, then left the game due, officially, to a knee contusion, with Clemens moving to the outfield and Ryan Fitzgerald entering the game at second base. It was the major league debut for the 30-year-old utility man. He flew out to center in his first two big league at-bats.

“I didn’t think I was getting into that game. At least not until later. I didn’t think it would be the second inning, third inning, whatever it was,” said Fitzgerald. “But, yeah, I mean, I’d rather it be that way, just get it out of the way. I don’t have to sit on it and think about it.”

Ryan settled into a nice groove on the mound, striking out the side in the second and third, before hitting Brewers leadoff man Christian Yelich with a pitch that ran inside to start the fourth. Ryan cruised through the first two turns of the Milwaukee batting order, allowing just one hit and retiring 13 of 14 batters.

Brewers catcher William Contreras dropped a double at the base of the wall with one out in the sixth, but Ryan got a groundout and a strikeout to elude damage.

It’s the second year in a row that the Twins have won a dozen in a row, but Ryan said this feels different than 2024.

“It feels great. It’s just the baseball we can play. We’re getting some good results and it’s true baseball. It’s not flukes. It’s not errors,” he said.

“I remember a couple of the games last year, there was a bunch of errors and plays they don’t mark. But it was bad defense. This feels like we’re playing really good baseball and I think that’s a really good sign for the whole season.”

Minnesota touched Patrick for eight hits over six innings before the Brewers’ bullpen took over. Patrick fell to 2-4 with the loss.

The Twins got an inning each from Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Cole Sands to preserve the shutout. Sands got the save, striking out the last two Brewers.

Correa was placed on the seven-day injured list earlier in the day on Friday, while Buxton is still being evaluated by the team for a potential concussion after he collided with Correa in Thursday’s win at Baltimore.

Game 2 of the Rivalry Series weekend is Saturday at 6:15 p.m. CDT, with Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez facing Milwaukee’s Tobias Myers.